Hydrogen fuel company ULEMCo has completed its first hydrogen dual-fuel conversion in which hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) is used on the vehicle rather than diesel, opening the possibility for carbon-negative transport.
The conversion of the truck – a waste collection vehicle run by Keenan Recyling – shows that hydrogen dual-fuel can work with diesel or HVO, giving the opportunity to address both direct tailpipe CO2 emission reduction from the hydrogen – typically 30% – along with the use of a sustainable fuel that can avoid up to 90% of net CO2 emissions.
HVO is an alternative to regular diesel and is produced from waste material such as recycled vegetable oil. It can be sustainable if it is produced from a waste-derived feedstock that does not contribute to deforestation. Combining this with hydrogen, which is a zero-carbon fuel, it opens the possibility of negative carbon solutions.
The waste truck will go into operation at the end of this month in Aberdeen where there is an existing hydrogen refuelling infrastructure supplied by electrolytic production, which produces ‘green’ hydrogen, and is the most sustainable method of production.
“Hydrogen is recognised as an important part of the solution to decarbonise the UK economy in the transport and construction sectors where electrification is difficult to achieve”, said Amanda Lyne, managing director of ULEMCo. “We are looking forward to seeing yet another customer make use of hydrogen in a real-world application, and actually save significant carbon emissions now”.
Grant Keenan, managing director at Keenan Recycling, added: “We believe this is the first HVO/hydrogen dual-fuel truck operating in the UK. Following the Aberdeen trial, we plan to include hydrogen increasingly in our transport road map.”
