Content on this page requires a newer version of Adobe Flash Player.

Get Adobe Flash player

Biomethane as a vehicle fuel

Used as a vehicle fuel, biomethane creates an environmentally closed loop: waste products are used to create biogas, which
is upgraded to biomethane that is used in vehicles, some of which collect the waste materials and return them to the
bio-digesters where the process starts again. 

Engine-fuel types:

Dedicated –

           runs on 100% compressed biomethane or compressed natural gas
Bi-fuel –
           runs on 100% compressed biomethane or compressed natural gas but also has a petrol tank and can run on 
           petrol if it runs out of gas
Duel fuel –
           runs on mixture of diesel and compressed biomethane or compressed natural gas.
           Typical ratio is 40% diesel, 60% gas
 
When produced from organic waste biomethane has the lowest greenhouse gas emissions of any biofuel. In fact, using it as
a fuel actually produces a net saving of greenhouse gas emissions, rather than simply reducing them, as decomposing
organic waste would otherwise emit methane into the atmosphere. Methane is 22 times more potent as a greenhouse gas
than carbon dioxide.

In transport applications, biomethane burns cleaner (and also more quietly) than liquid biofuels, helping to improve air quality.
Using biomethane as a vehicle fuel can therefore help to meet both greenhouse gas and air quality strategy objectives.
  
Biomethane produced from the decomposition of organic waste (e.g. anaerobic digestion) actually has a negative `well to wheel´ carbon balance. The 2006 ‘Biogas as a Road Transport Fuel’ report, estimated that using biomethane as a fuel in the HGV and
LGV fleets could provide a saving of up to 9.1 million
tonnes of CO2 per year.
 
Natural gas or biomethane fuelled vehicles have extremely low emissions of local pollutants, including NOx and particulates 
(PM2.5 and PM10) when compared to modern petrol and diesel vehicles. Substitution of diesel and petrol vehicles with biomethane (and also fossil methane) would have a beneficial effect on air quality.