In collaboration with Gasrec, the first commercial producer of liquefied biogas (LBG), Hardstaff Haulage became the first major haulage company in the UK & Europe to use natural gas recovered from landfill waste.
Though the Hardstaff group have been using natural gas to power a large proportion of their own fleet, this is another first. Trevor Fletcher, MD of the Hardstaff Group comments “This is a major milestone in Hardstaff’s history. With a strong orientation to work in harmony with the environment we are committed to reducing our reliance on fossil fuels and improving the effect our business has on the environment. LBG is a viable renewable alternative to fossil fuels which will significantly reduce our CO2 emissions even further.”
Portal Gas Services, a member of the Hardstaff Group of companies, has formed a partnership with Gasrec to manage the logistics and bulk transportation of their LBG.
Landfill gas forms naturally from decomposing rubbish, and is normally flared to render it harmless, but increasingly landfill operators are utilising it as an energy resource.
This innovation in green fuel technology is turning what was previously regarded as a source of environmental blight – landfill waste – into an opportunity for companies to save money while bolstering their green credentials.
The new fuel, liquid bio-methane, will enable organisations to make significant savings on fleet fuel bills. The new fuel is potent enough to power even heavy vehicles with Sainsbury’s trialling the product with the view to roll it out to its entire fleet. Any vehicle equipped to operate on liquefied or compressed natural gas can also use LBM, but Gasrec claims it is even greener, offering twice the reduction in CO2 emissions compared with these other alternative fuels, while burning far more cleanly than diesel.
Once at full capacity, Albury could produce 5,000 tonnes of LBM annually – enough to fuel up to 150 HGVs or 500 LGVs for a year. And Gasrec envisages opening several plants to process 50,000 tonnes of LBM a year within three to four years.
As the processing does not involve distilling complex hydrocarbons LBM fuel is also cheaper than diesel – it is both cost-effective as well as beneficial for the environment
Additionally LBM is not sourced from potentially unstable regions such as Russia and the Middle East. ” So Gasrec can fix the price for a time that gives customers visibility of costs” explains James Ingall, Gasrec finance director.
This is borne out by Trevor Fletcher, managing director of Hardstaff Group, which not only distributes LBM but also uses it to run most of its dual fuel trucks.
“As a fleet operator we only considered cost-effective, reliable and sustainable alternative fuels that would lessen our impact on the environment. We chose natural gas and renewable methane, derived from household waste, because it satisfied all these requirements.”
