The natural gas-powered Iveco Daily light commercial vehicle in use for the trial is one of the latest generation of natural gas powered vehicle manufactured by Iveco and was supplied by Gasrec to Veolia Environmental Services. From left to right, Doug Leaf, Development Manager, Gasrec Ltd, Cllr Keith Moffitt, Leader of Camden Council, Keith Riley, Managing Director, Technical Services, Veolia Environmental Services, in front of the truck Camden and Veolia are trialing to run on waste-derived fuel provided by Gasrec.

Gasrec, the UK's first commercial producer of liquid biomethane fuel, Veolia Environmental Services, the UK's largest waste management company, and full range commercial vehicle manufacturer Iveco, today announce the commencement of a commercial trial of a liquid gas fuel that could drastically reduce society's reliance on fossil fuels.

Veolia is trialling Compressed Biomethane (CBM) produced from gas extracted from a landfill site in one of the Cage street cleansing vehicles used in fulfilling its refuse collection, recycling and street cleansing contract with Camden Council. The natural gas-powered Daily light commercial vehicle in use for the trial is one of the latest generation of natural gas powered vehicle manufactured by Iveco and was supplied by Gasrec to Veolia Environmental Services. Gasrec will provide CBM for a trial lasting six months and the performance of the fuel will be measured against existing vehicles running on Compressed Natural Gas (CNG). The vehicle will be refuelled at a CBM refuelling station installed by Gasrec at Camden Council's York Way depot.

The project aims to demonstrate that biomethane is a commercially competitive and environmentally sound fuel that can be directly substituted for natural gas. The Government considers biomethane to be the most sustainable biofuel in terms of impact on resource depletion in relation to alternatives such as biodiesel and ethanol. Biomethane also has the lowest carbon intensity of all commercially available biofuels - on a well to wheel basis, biomethane reduces CO2 emissions by up to 70% in comparison to fossil diesel, with the potential to significantly improve local air quality. One tonne of CBM is also equivalent to 1,200 litres of diesel, which is sufficient to fuel a 44 tonne heavy goods vehicle for an entire week.

This new fuel is also designed to bring an end to any issues associated with the quality of natural gas available in the UK and offers fleet operators a serious and renewable alternative. Gasrec supplies the fuel by tanker in liquid form for bunkered storage - proving an ideal solution for applications where vehicles operate on a regular back-to-base cycle.

Camden Council Leader Cllr Keith Moffitt said: "As part of our share in tackling climate change, Camden Council works with and encourages all our contractors to make sure they are providing services that are as sustainable as possible. This pilot is particularly interesting as biomethane is recognised as one of the most climate friendly fuels. "

Cllr Alexis Rowell, Camden Council's Eco Champion, said: "The average household bin is one third food waste. Rather than send it to landfill or an incinerator, we can turn it into a gas - called biomethane - and run our municipal vehicle fleet on it. Biomethane means virtually no carbon or noxious emissions so it's good for the environment and for our air quality.. This seemed like a dream 18 months ago when Camden's Sustainability Taskforce suggested it, but now we're trialling both food waste collections and biomethane in our vehicles. It's a sign that the Council is serious about cutting the carbon out of Camden."

Richard Lilleystone, Chief Executive Officer at Gasrec, said: "The gas we use to make the CBM for this vehicle comes from a landfill site in Albury, Surrey, which began production in June 2008. In creating and selling this fuel product, we recover the latent energy stored in material discarded by society, providing power particularly suited to vehicles operating in the urban environment."

Keith Riley, Managing Director for Technical Services at Veolia, said: "CBM has excellent potential to provide at least some of our vehicles with a fuel that reduces climate change impacts and contributes to reducing our dependence on mineral fuels. We have to look at environmentally friendly alternatives for our operations and gas-powered vehicles are one of those developing technologies we are keen to assess."

Henk van Leuven, Managing Director of Iveco UK, added: "This is the first new-generation Iveco Daily in the UK to be built as a dedicated natural gas vehicle and is subjected to all of the same build-quality standards as one of our line-built diesels. Amongst a whole wealth of environmental benefits, its natural gas powered engine means that it is immune to both current and future oil price fluctuations."

Gasrec

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. In creating and selling the fuel product, Gasrec recovers the latent energy stored in material discarded by society to power vehicles, especially those operating in the urban environment, or to generate electricity or CHP (Combined Heat and Power). The generation of power from landfill sites in the UK is tried and tested, with over 300 UK landfill sites generating approximately 1,700 MW/h each year. However, a proportion of sites continue to flare unused gas as hitherto their development was not economically viable, thereby wasting the energy potential of the gas.

Gasrec has identified a clean, efficient use for this gas in the production of LBM (Liquid Bio Methane), a commercially competitive and environmentally sound fuel that can be directly substituted for both CNG (compressed natural gas) and LNG (liquefied natural gas) for use in gas-powered or dual-fuel vehicles, or to generate electricity or CHP (Combined Heat and Power).

Veolia Environmental Services

Veolia Environmental Services is the UK's leading waste management company employing circa 12,500 people nationwide and serving over 16 million residents. Globally, the company employs over 100,000 people and serves more than 45 million inhabitants across 35 countries. Veolia Environmental Services is the only worldwide provider of a full range of services for handling solid and liquid waste. It provides waste management and logistics services, as well as materials recovery and recycling. Veolia Environmental Services generated revenue of EUR9.2 billion in 2007.

The company is part of Veolia Environnement, the world leader in environmental services. With more than 300,000 employees, Veolia Environnement is a global operator providing tailored solutions to meet the needs of municipal and industrial customers in four complementary sectors: energy management, freight and passenger transportation water and waste. Veolia Environnement recorded revenues of EUR32.6 billion in 2007.