Parkland, an independent supplier and marketer of fuel and petroleum products and a leading convenience store operator, plans to increase renewable fuel production at its Burnaby Refinery in British Columbia. The company said it will expanding existing co-processing volumes to approximately 5,500 barrels per day, and build a stand-alone renewable diesel complex within the Burnaby Refinery capable of producing approximately 6,500 barrels per day of renewable diesel.

The Burnaby Refinery co-processed approximately 44 million liters of Canadian-sourced canola and tallow bio-feedstocks in 2020, with a planned increase of up to 100 million liters in 2021. However, operations paused in late 2021 with the shutdown of the Trans Mountain Pipeline for 21 days following severe rain and flooding. The refinery co-processed 86 million liters of bio-feedstocks as a result (still, a record for the refinery).

The Burnaby Refinery was the first facility in Canada to use existing infrastructure and equipment to co-process bio-feedstocks such as canola oil, and oil derived from animal fats (tallow) alongside crude oil to produce low carbon fuels.

Renewable fuels produced through these plans will have one-eighth of the carbon intensity of conventional fuels. They will reduce related greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 2 megatonnes per year.

In addition, Parkland is designing the stand-alone renewable diesel complex to ensure it does not increase emissions from the Burnaby Refinery. The announcement follows collaboration with the Government of British Columbia and supports the Government’s ambition to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.

Parkland currently estimate that these projects will require an investment of approximately $600 million, with the majority of capital investment expected to be deployed in 2024 and 2025. Parkland has received BC Government support for more than 40% of the project costs in the form of BC Low-Carbon Fuel Standard Compliance Credits.

Following stakeholder consultation, Parkland aims to make a final investment decision in the second half of 2023, with production expected to commence in 2026.

The company said it is currently assessing the feasibility and availability of financial support to produce Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) as part of these plans, in support of decarbonizing Canada’s aviation sector.