BOC has announced cooperation with logistics specialists, Stobart Group, to quantify the benefits of low-carbon Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) as fuel for its fleet of heavy goods vehicles. BOC is the largest supplier of compressed and liquefied gases in the UK.
The two organizations are taking part in a £23 million program coordinated by the Government’s Technology Strategy Board (TSB). This aims to encourage road haulage operators in the UK to buy and use low-carbon commercial vehicles.
BOC has developed a highly-efficient, ‘no-loss’ technology, using its unrivalled expertise in cryogenic cooling technology to temperature-condition the fuel just prior to dispensing. This ensures that no fuel is lost to evaporation and venting during the refuelling process. Typically, 20 per cent – and sometimes more – can be lost with more conventional systems, so this represents a major cost and carbon saving to users. The design and engineering of the new LNG dispensing systems have gas-leak detection sensors linked to automatic shutdown protocols and other innovative safety features.
“Stobart Group is always keen to help stimulate UK technological innovation in the logistics sector, and is therefore delighted to be one of a small number of winning bids from the TSB competition,” said Stobart Group Corporate Affairs Director, Kate Willard. “The dual-fuel technology will help deliver cost control and reduced emissions for the Group and our customers. We very much look forward to working with TSB and BOC to use this funding to encourage more investment in critical technological solutions such as these.”
The systematic evaluation of the vehicles and the refueling technologies in the field, as an integrated part of a large vehicle fleet, will help identify potential further refinements of the technology and provide opportunities to improve sustainability in the logistics sector.
“Minimizing fuel losses when refueling will make a major improvement to the already strong environmental credentials of LNG as a transport fuel,” said BOC’s Director of Bulk and Packaged Gases, Nathan Palmer. “This project will allow us and the Stobart Group to quantify just what is possible with this technology.”
