Coca-Cola trials LBM for use in delivery vehicles

The soft drinks company is running tests of a 21-tonne Iveco Stralis vehicle run on liquid biomethane, which is produced by Gasrec. The fuel is created by extracting naturally occurring methane from organic waste in landfill sites.

Gasrec’s fuel is now being used by major household names in the UK, including Waitrose (which announced in August 2010 that it will run an initial five home delivery vehicles on LBM); Sainsbury’s (which uses Gasrec’s liquid biomethane for a number of its dual-fuel vehicles); and Tesco which runs 25 home delivery vehicles on the fuel.

Richard Lilleystone, CEO of Gasrec, stated: “Some of the biggest companies in the world are showing a real commitment to reducing CO₂. Transport is often the biggest problem for them. But now, there is a real sustainable alternative to diesel for fleet vehicles. The performance of biomethane in vehicles far outstrips that of electricity. We hope that this step will be the beginning of a larger deployment for Coca-Cola Enterprises. It is apparent that growing numbers of like-minded organisations are electing to use biomethane as a fuel of choice which is good news for the environment and for local air quality”.

Liquid biomethane reduces CO₂, gives a much higher vehicle performance than electric vehicles and has a similar fuel consumption pattern to diesel. Refueling stations are being provided to CCE’s Enfield depot by Gasrec’s infrastructure partner, Gas Container Services (GCS).

The natural gas produced from biomass in landfill is then converted to liquid biomethane, has the lowest carbon footprint of all the renewable vehicles and is commercially competitive against diesel and petrol. The LBM is then used to fuel dedicated gas-powered or duel-fuel vehicles.