Following a successful six-month trial in London, truck manufacturing firm Iveco has selected UK-based Gasrec as its preferred supplier of liquid biomethane (LBM) for its natural-gas-powered range of Daily light commercial vehicles.

During the trial, a Daily cage tipper for recycling and street cleansing operations on behalf of Camden Council operated exclusively on LBM. The tests established LBM’s suitability as a fuel for natural-gas-powered vehicles.

Throughout the six-month period, the Daily travelled a total of 7,040 kilometres, consuming LBM at a rate of 24.6 kilograms per 100 kilometres.  Over the course of the same distance, on an urban cycle, a similar diesel-powered vehicle operated at 31.4 litres per 100 kilometres.

The LBM-powered Daily emitted just 2,771 kilograms of carbon dioxide over this period, compared with 7,295 kilograms for the equivalent diesel model.

“The trial demonstrated a 62 per cent saving in CO2 over diesel and highlighted the suitability of LBM as a high quality fuel,” said Martin Flach, product director at Iveco.

Flach continued, “The market for gas vehicles on the continent is many times that of the UK, but this is largely due in this country to the poor infrastructure and quality of gas from the Victorian mains that has high moisture content and has historically resulted in reliability issues when used in commercial vehicles.”

“The gas we use to make the LBM for this vehicle comes from a landfill site in Albury, Surrey, which means it is not depleting fossil resources,” said Richard Lilleystone, CEO of Gasrec. “Through creating and selling this fuel product, we recover the latent energy stored in material discarded by society, providing power which is particularly suited to vehicles operating in the urban environment. We are particularly pleased with the improvements achieved in air quality when using LBM to displace diesel.  Every Local Authority in the UK would welcome reductions of 90 per cent particulate matter, 60 per cent reduction in nitrous oxide, 50 per cent reduction in sulphur dioxide and even a noise reduction of around 30 per cent.”

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