Food waste to fuel buses
4 Jan 2016
Hundreds of buses throughout Scotland will now run on biodiesel derived from used cooking oil and rendered fat from the meat industry, Argent Energy has announced.
The ‘B30’ biodiesel is manufactured by Argent Energy in Motherwell and will now account for 30% of the fuel used in 930 Stagecoach buses.
It is an increase of 25%, which the energy firm said will reduce CO2 emissions by up to 22%.
Argent Energy’s development director Dickon Posnett said: “Whilst low blends of biodiesel in standard diesel has long been the norm, we’ve seen increasing interest in higher percentage blends for economic and environmental reasons.”
Posnett said the biofuel is a “straight swap” for mineral diesel, meaning the vehicles require no modifications.
“Operational reliability is, of course, crucial,” Posnett said.
“We are the only UK biodiesel producer to use distillation technology as the final step in our production process. That delivers an extra level of purity and is one of the ways we ensure that all our fuel meets the European standard,” he added.
Argent Energy also supplies its B30 fuel to transport operations in London and Cambridgeshire as a means of highlighting the potential greenhouse gas savings, Posnett said.
