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Ede and Wageningen   (The Netherlands)
Since February 2006 the waste processing company Afvalcombinatie de Vallei (ACV) has started a trial with driving on PPO (Pure Plant Oil) and bio diesel. Two waste collection trucks are running now on PPO (rapeseed oil) and two trucks on bio diesel.

Fleet Characteristics

Afvalcombinatie de Vallei (ACV) is a waste processing company operating in the municipalities of Ede, Renkum and Wageningen. The fleet consists of 70 vehicles, operating mostly in urban environments. The propulsion and fuel used in the present fleet - besides the 2 PPO and 2 Bio Diesel Trucks - is conventional diesel.

Size/Implementation Quantity

In the beginning of 2006 two waste collection trucks were converted for driving on PPO. They had to be converted because it is not possible to start an engine with PPO. Therefore dual fuel tanks are utilised. The engine starts up on conventional diesel and after warm up it is switched to PPO.
The costs for converting were about €2500,- per truck. The extra (fuel) costs for driving on PPO are estimated on €6.000,- per year. The PPO is purchased from the company SolarOil Systems.
Also two waste collection trucks are running on bio diesel since the beginning of 2006. They didn’t needed to be converted. There was no change in the warranty conditions from the factory (DAF Trucks). ACV has purchased a special bio-diesel fuel pump. The costs were about €20.000,-.
In the future ACV also will add filters for particulate matter on a few trucks.The extra costs for driving on bio fuels during the first year are financed by the municipalities of Ede and Wageningen.

Experience

The experiences of ACV so far has been good. There were no significant start up problems and the first impression is that operational characteristics like acceleration, top speed and time to repair didn’t change significantly. During this first year ACV will monitor and evaluate the impacts on fuel consumption, the filter change intervals, the fuel pump and the emission of CO2 and fine particulate matter. ACV will use the results of the evaluation to make an investment choice for the longer term regarding the use of bio fuels.

Decision Process/Reasons

The main reason to start the trial was that ACV wants contribute to a reduction of CO2 and particulate matter emission: the waste trucks and other vehicles are operating to a large extent in inner cities where reduction of polluting emissions is even more important. An important reason was also the consideration that the drivers and garbage collectors are working in the vicinity of the trucks all day.

Company

Afvalcombinatie de Vallei (ACV) is a waste processing company operating in the municipalities of Ede, Renkum and Wageningen in the Netherlands. It’s main activities are waste collection and street- and sewer cleaning. ACV is a private company (NV). The shareholders are the municipalities of Ede, Renkum and Wageningen.