NGV Global

United Kingdom, Surrey

Maximum capacity of plant sufficient to power up to 150 HGVS or 500 LGVS
Hardstaff Group to transport using dual-fuel trucks

Gasrec (the UK’s first commercial producer of liquid biomethane fuel), BOC (a member of the global gases and engineering Linde Group) and SITA UK (one of the country’s leading recycling and waste management companies), have begun successful production of liquid biomethane (LBM) fuel from the Gasrec plant at SITA UK’s Albury landfill site in Surrey, UK. Gasrec has been working closely with BOC and SITA UK to develop an LBM production facility at Albury which can recover over 85% of the methane contained in the raw gas produced from the landfill site.

The Gasrec process cleans the landfill gas of all impurities before one constituent gas, methane, is separated and liquefied to create LBM. The liquefaction technology for landfill applications is provided under an exclusive UK agreement with BOC’s parent, The Linde Group. BOC provides plant operation and maintenance services as well as risk management and engineering expertise.

Gasrec is a producer of liquid methane fuel utilising gas generated by the decomposition of biomass. It obtains its gas supply from existing landfill sites or from controlled digestion of the biomass byproducts of food manufacture, retail and other industries.

According to Gasrec, LBM not only offers a renewable alternative to fossil fuels, which generate harmful Green House Gases, but also burns more cleanly and quietly than diesel, with a 90% reduction in PM10 particulate, a 60% reduction in Nitrous Oxide, a 50% reduction in Sulphur Dioxide and a 30% reduction in noise. The use of LBM as a fuel substitute for fossil diesel or petrol results in carbon dioxide savings in the region of 70%, throughout the chain from extraction of the fossil fuel from the ground to its use in a vehicle. All vehicles that can operate on CNG (compressed natural gas) or LNG (liquefied natural gas) can run on LBM, however LBM offers a reduction in CO2 emissions which is twice that of natural gas (source: JEC2006 and CONCAWE studies).

The initial target for the use of LBM is commercial vehicles operating in the haulage and waste management sectors. Used widely, this fuel could make a valuable contribution towards the UK’s short term CO2 reduction targets and lead to an overall improvement in air quality. LBM already meets the strictest criteria for sustainability and carbon intensity under the provisions of the UK RTFO.

Gasrec has signed an agreement with the Hardstaff Group, one of the largest LNG bulk transporters in the UK, to manage transport logistics and fuel transportation from Albury. The haulage trucks use Hardstaff’s dual fuel system (natural gas and diesel), running entirely on LBM.

Stuart Hayward-Higham, New Markets Business Development Manager at SITA UK commented: “We have produced electricity from landfill gas for many years but we believe there is a big future for generating fuel from waste. We have another waste-to-fuel project in Hong Kong and have been keen to see this type of technology take off in the UK. We are keen to expand our relationship with Gasrec to cover other types of waste recovery facilities.”

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