Previous Air Canada biofuel flights used biojet that was segregated from regular jet fuel and loaded separately into an aircraft via tanker truck. By contrast, CBSCI’s objective is to start developing a more efficient operational framework that will introduce biojet into a multi-user, co-mingled airport fuel supply system.

The CBSCI project is a first in Canada and is aimed at creating a sustainable Canadian supply chain of biojet using renewable feedstocks. Canada has abundant agricultural and forestry biomass resources, with globally recognized sustainable production and harvesting practices.

The biojet used in this project will be sourced from commercially available, certifiably sustainable Canadian oleochemical feedstocks using the Hydroprocessed Esters and a Fatty Acids (HEFA) conversion process. The biojet will be blended with petroleum jet fuel to meet all technical quality specifications before being introduced into a shared fuel tank at Montreal-Trudeau Airport.

Air Canada is expecting to introduce approximately 400,000 liters of blended biofuel. The CBSCI project will also identify and help solve supply logistic barriers that arise when aviation biofuels are introduced at major Canadian airports.

CBSCI includes a strong research component with the participation of Queen's University, University of Toronto, and McGill University, who will be assisting in modeling feedstock availability, identifying and addressing barriers to biojet adoption in co-mingled fuel systems and implementing the IATA Sustainability Meta Standard.

CBSCI is coordinated through BioFuelNet Canada’s Aviation Task Force and managed by Waterfall Group, with primary funding from the Green Aviation Research and Development Network, a non-profit organization funded by the Business-Led Network of Centres of Excellence of the Government of Canada and the Canadian aerospace industry.

Participants in CBSCI include: Air Canada; ASCENT (US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Centre of Excellence for Alternative Jet Fuels & Environment @Washington State University; Massachusetts Institute of Technology; BioFuelNet; Boeing; Commercial Aviation Alternative Fuels Initiative (CAAFI); International Air Transport Association (IATA); McGill University; National Research Council; Queen’s University; SkyNRG; Transport Canada; University of Toronto; Waterfall Group.