The waste collection truck for Keenan Recycling gives the opportunity to show environmental sustainability by combining the use of hydrogen to reduce tailpipe emissions with the ‘drop in’ renewable fuel.

The conversion shows that hydrogen dual-fuel can work equally well with diesel or the non-fossil fuel HVO, giving the opportunity to address both direct tailpipe carbon dioxide (CO2) emission reduction from the hydrogen (typically 30%), along with the use of a sustainable fuel that can avoid up to 90% of net CO2 emissions.

HVO, produced from waste material such as recycled vegetable oil, can be sustainable if it is produced from a waste-derived feedstock that does not contribute to deforestation. Combining this with the zero carbon fuel hydrogen opens up the opportunity for negative carbon solutions.

The waste truck will go into operation at the end of this month in Aberdeen where there is an existing hydrogen refuelling infrastructure supplied by electrolytic production. It provides a location for operators such as Keenan to access a reliable source of green hydrogen, and roll out scaled fleet-wide conversions.

Amanda Lyne, Managing Director of ULEMCo, said, “Hydrogen is recognised as an important part of the solution to decarbonise the UK economy in the transport and construction sectors where electrification is difficult to achieve.”

Grant Keenan, Managing Director at Keenan Recycling, believes it is the first HVO / hydrogen dual-fuel truck operating in the UK.

“Following the Aberdeen trial, we plan to include hydrogen increasingly in our transport road map,” he said.

Applying a drop-in alternative fuel with the ease of conversion to hydrogen on existing vehicle platforms and assets is an immediate route for heavy duty applications, such as utility vehicles and the construction industry, to start delivering on their sustainability and net zero targets.