Duvenbeck, the logistics company, is using biomethane (biogas), a renewable and climate-friendly fuel, at its business site in Saarbrücken when providing services for the automobile supplier ZF.
In addition to switching the inter-factory traffic to battery-powered trucks for short distances, the company is introducing a source of energy obtained from renewable sources, such as agricultural waste, for its long-distance services.
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The biogas to be used is supplied by ‘ViGo bioenergy’ from certified organic waste processes. The switch involves 40 vehicles. As a result, the company will be able to reduce its CO2 emissions by up to 8,000 tonnes per annum. “We’re now reaping the benefit from having switched our fleet at our business site in Saarbrücken to liquid gas – so-called liquefied natural gas or LNG – from 2019 onwards – because tractor units, which use fossil LNG fuel, can process cryogenically liquefied biomethane without any problems – and any additional technical effort or expenditure either,” says Thomas Balcer, the Duvenbeck Branch Manager in Saarbrücken, explaining the process.
By switching to biogas, Duvenbeck is significantly reducing its emissions that damage the climate. Suppose it was possible to reduce CO2 emissions by 20 per cent using fossil LNG compared to traditional diesel fuel. In that case, reductions of up to 90 per cent are possible for CO2 and nitrogen oxide levels and almost 100 per cent for sulphur dioxide and particulate matter if biogas is used in the vehicles’ tanks.
There is another positive effect, too: trucks powered by biogas are only about half as loud as those running on diesel fuel. “Our declared aim is to operate in a climate-neutral manner by 2040, and this specifically includes transport operations upstream and downstream. As a result, the reductions in emissions being achieved by our logistics partner, Duvenbeck, directly support implementing our environmental goals,” says Florian Birkenkamp, the Commodity Buyer Freight Purchasing Transport Europe at the ZF Group, explaining this development.
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The technology company manufactures automatic car gearboxes at its factory in Saarbrücken, one of ZF’s most significant production sites. The factory is currently gearing up for the future production of drive systems for purely electrically-power vehicles. Regarding the internal factory traffic at ZF, Duvenbeck has been responsible for one part of the just-in-time production supplies for the past four years.
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