BCP Council is trialling Crown HVO fuel in two of its Dennis Eagle refuse collection vehicles, at one of its Poole sites. The vehicles under test are both powered by Euro VI compliant Volvo engines. Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil is approved for use in Volvo engines as well as many other OEMs, ensuring long-term reliability when fuelled by the advanced renewable fuel.
Crown HVO fuel offers a quick and straightforward solution to BCP’s climate change responsibilities and marks a huge step in the right direction towards its pledge to become carbon neutral by 2030.
The Crown HVO fuel trial
BCP wishes to ensure that Crown HVO will have no detrimental effect on the operation of the two vehicles that have been earmarked for trial and have dedicated a 5000-litre tank to receive HVO. The trial is scheduled to run for an initial six-week period. Fuel offtake will be monitored for the test vehicles, thus enabling average fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions to be calculated and allowing a cost vs benefit model to be developed. Crown Oil expects that HVO will be able to save approximately 40Mt of GHG CO2 per year per refuse vehicle with further savings open to the user when used to fuel BCP Council’s wider fleet.
As part of the trial, Crown Oil also uplifted 5KL of redundant biofuel from BCP’s Hatch Pond facility, free of charge to clear space in what would have otherwise been a redundant fuel tank.
HVO fuel can be put directly into the vehicles, with no need for adaptations and is expected to perform faultlessly. The proven benefits of using HVO are vast, such as year-round use, up to a 90% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and direct drop-in functionality, making it a complete replacement for diesel.
It’s expected that both operability and fuel consumption will be significantly improved than if the vehicles were to be fuelled by mineral diesel.
With the current uncertainty around where ULEV and in particular where the large goods municipal fleet are heading in the longer term, Crown HVO fuel provides BCP Council with a quick and easy solution in terms of improving GHG emissions across their fleet.
At Crown Oil, we are thrilled that BCP Council are now seeing the value of this fuel for both its practical and environmental benefits. As a drop-in fuel, HVO can be used within existing fleets with no changes to infrastructure and no capital expenditure, removing cost barriers and enabling a pragmatic step toward decarbonisation quickly and efficiently.
Whilst HVO may not be termed a ‘silver bullet solution’, the use of biobased waste raw materials coupled with the transparency of the sustainability chain mean that HVO offers an organisation such as BCP Council a practical and measurable greenhouse gas carbon reduction without the use of early adoption technology which may prove to be more costly and less sustainable than anticipated, once deployed.
HVO’s credentials are being increasingly noted – proven by more than a two-fold increase in UK uptake in the last year and we hope that other Councils will follow in BCP’s green footsteps.
This partnership with Crown Oil provides us with the opportunity to explore the environmental benefits and operational impact of this alternative fuel within a large municipal fleet, and is another initiative alongside electric vehicles and Hydrogen technology that must be considered as part of our longer term fleet strategy.
Councillor Mike Greene, Portfolio Holder for Transport and Sustainability, BCP Council
What is HVO fuel?
Crown HVO is a second-generation biofuel, synthesised from waste stocks, such as used cooking oil as a source of biogenic carbon. HVO fully complies with the Renewable Energy Directive and is accepted by the UK RTFO as a renewable and sustainable fuel.
Unlike first-generation biodiesel fuels, HVO is a drop-in alternative to mineral diesel and can be supplied, stored and operated upon existing infrastructure and machinery with no capital expenditure or retrofit requirements. In addition, Crown HVO is not blended with mineral diesel and is, therefore, a 100% renewable and sustainable fuel.
Crown HVO offers a ca 90% reduction in NET CO2e emissions compared to mineral-derived diesel fuel, supporting BCP’s climate change responsibilities quickly.
Benefits of running HVO in your business
- Reduction of NET GHG CO2 in accordance with the protocols outlined in REDII of 90% compared to mineral derived diesel fuel, thus supporting BCP’s climate change responsibilities quickly and allowing time for future technologies to come to the market
- No requirement for CAPEX expenditure to realise the above savings.
- NOX and particulate reduction benefits
- Potential for service and maintenance benefits on equipment due to the clean burn nature of HVO fuel thus encouraging a cleaner engine and exhaust system
- Potential for fuel saving when compared to mineral diesel fuel
Join BCP Council on the road to becoming carbon neutral and switch to HVO fuel today. Call our fuel experts today on 0330 123 1444 to find out more or visit our HVO fuel FAQs page for more information, or view more of our Crown HVO fuel customer case studies.
