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Environmentally-friendly heating pioneer The Energy Crops Company is underlining its ‘green’ credentials by running its new Mercedes six-wheeler on BioDiesel.
The Axor 2633 has a BlueTec® Euro 4 SCR (Selective Catalytic Reduction) engine which is being fuelled with a 50:50 blend of BioDiesel and standard mineral diesel. As a result, its emissions are exceptionally low.
Supplied by Aldershot dealer Rossetts Commercials, the new 26-tonner is The Energy Crops Company’s first truck. It has a tank body, with high-pressure blowing system, by Feldbinder UK, of Spalding.
BioDiesel is the first clean fuel that fleet operators can use without necessarily having to purchase new vehicles or construct additional facilities. Significantly, it can only be used by trucks equipped with SCR technology; those that rely on the rival EGR (Exhaust Gas Recirculation) system are not compatible with BioDiesel.
Using BioDiesel fuel is almost CO2 neutral. This is because the CO2 released was already contained in the vegetable matter as it grew. BioDiesel produces zero sulphur and aromatic emissions, and lower particulate emissions. It is biodegradable and non-toxic, so better for humans, animals and plants.
The Energy Crops Company is based in Cobham, Surrey. It was founded in 2005 to provide sustainable wood-fired heating solutions to a wide range of commercial and industrial customers. The company specialises in the supply of wood pellet fuel and, through its network of partners, offers a complete service for converting to biomass heating.
Managing Director Graham Hilton explains: “Given rising fossil fuel prices and increasing concerns over climate change, sustainable and cost-effective fuels such as wood pellets are rapidly gaining popularity and government support.”
Although immature in the UK, the wood pellet industry is well established on the Continent and particularly popular in Austria, Germany and Scandinavia. The dried pellets are produced from wood taken from sustainable forests and are a carbon neutral heat source, the CO2 absorbed by trees during growth cancelling out that emitted when they are burnt.
The pellets require specially adapted biomass boilers but are highly efficient, producing twice as much energy as ‘wet’ wood – 1kg of pellets provides as much heat as a 1 kilowatt electric fire running for five hours.
The new Axor has a maximum payload of 16 tonnes. Prior to its arrival, The Energy Crops Company’s wood pellet distribution was handled in its entirety by third-party hauliers.
The truck has been assigned to a prestigious contract with Nottinghamshire County Council which, over the last three years, has converted coal-fired boilers in 15 of its schools to wood pellet units; following the award of a £500,000 Bioenergy Capital Grant, more schools are now due to follow.
In January The Energy Crops Company was awarded the contract to supply Nottinghamshire with wood pellets. Now the UK’s largest distributor of this innovative fuel source, it currently imports the biomass material from Northern Ireland but is working with a number of sawmills to expand local production throughout the UK.
Mr Hilton says: “The Axor is working out of our store in Goole, East Yorkshire and has been very well received by our driver, while the support we’ve received from Rossetts Commercials has also been first-class.
“Moving forward, it is our objective to set up a reliable nationwide distribution network for our fuel. There is every chance that Mercedes-Benz and Rossetts will have a big part to play in what we confidently believe will be a very exciting future.” |
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