The carbon-neutral biomethane will be available from 2021, says the Solihull-based company, and it expects to offer this at the same price as the renewable biomethane fuel it already supplies.
Manure gives off methane, a greenhouse gas said to be 28 times more powerful than carbon dioxide. Using methane as an HGV fuel prevents it from going into the atmosphere and reduces overall emissions. The EU’s revised Renewable Energy Directive (RED II) recognises biomethane from manure as a carbon negative fuel, and the UK is expected to adopt it in 2021 regardless of Brexit.
CNG Fuels is also consulting on how its refuelling station network can prepare to deliver hydrogen and battery technologies for HGVs, so it is ready when these are commercially viable for truck operators.
“We want to help decarbonise freight transport and enable fleet operators to meet net zero targets now, supporting the UK’s climate targets,” says Philip Fjeld, CEO of CNG Fuels.
“Renewable biomethane sourced from manure is currently the best low-carbon solution for HGVs, but we want to be ready to support our customers when other technologies are commercially viable for freight transport.”
The announcement has been welcomed by the Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership, whose managing director Andy Eastlake says: “With all the focus on electrification, the low carbon combustion fuels might be overlooked. But it is vital to remember that net zero can be delivered in a number of ways.
“The LowCVP welcomes genuinely zero (or even negative) carbon solutions which exist here and now, and we must accelerate the uptake of these fuel solutions, particularly in the more challenging operations such as heavy road vehicles where they can best displace fossil diesel.”
CNG Fuels currently supplies bio-CNG, a biomethane sourced from food waste. By spring 2020, the company expects to have six public-access HGV refuelling stations in operation, serving major trunk roads and cities, and capable of refuelling up to 3,000 trucks a day. The stations are supplied with biomethane via the existing gas grid, compressing it into fuel at the point of delivery.