Central Manitoba Railway Incorporates Biodiesel, Wins Award

Central Manitoba Railway (CEMR) received this year’s award for Marketing Innovation from the Railway Association of Canada (RAC) for its approach to finding a suitable, cost effective method of meeting the provincial government’s regulatory requirement that all diesel fuel contain a minimum of two per cent biodiesel.

To meet the transportation and logistics needs of the industry, CEMR developed a mobile system for blending multiple fuels together. The mobile design allows for the unit to be moved to specific locations where it is needed and the technology allows for up to four fuel sources to be blended into one formula at a rate of 1,200 litres per minute.

CEMR used its logistics facility to blend the fuels, with biodiesel coming in from the United States using the Canadian Pacific Railway. Diesel fuel was brought to the facility via Imperial Oil’s distribution facility, which is only six kilometres from the CEMR site, and provided a quick turnaround time to return the blended fuel to Imperial Oil for distribution.

By using transloading track infrastructure, CEMR was able to pump the fuel sources directly into the blending system and store it in another rail tank. This approach eliminated the need for expensive onsite storage tanks and piping systems. According to Mac MacDonald, CEMR’s sales and business development manager, “Existing fuel facilities were not designed or equipped to do the job, so new technology had to be created to allow us to quickly and precisely blend diesel and biodiesel together and get the final product back into the customer’s hands quickly. I’m pleased to say we managed to do just that, ultimately enabling a greener greenhouse gas footprint for transportation related activities in the province of Manitoba.”

The St. Lawrence & Atlantic Railroad (Québec) Inc. was runner-up with its plan for a distribution centre for windmill parts