Volvo Automobiles makes use of renewable fuels in ocean freight
The carmaker will begin to use fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) gasoline as a substitute of conventional fossil gasoline, which is predicated on renewable and sustainable sources akin to waste cooking oil. The FAME gasoline might be used for inbound ocean container transports of manufacturing materials destined for manufacturing crops in Europe and the Americas, in addition to spare elements distribution made globally by ocean container transports. By making the swap, Volvo stated it would instantly scale back its CO2 emissions from intercontinental ocean freight by 55,000 tonnes a yr.
The corporate is working with logistic companions Maersk, Kuehne + Nagel and DB Schenker to make the change for all container transports. Maersk has been engaged on trialling new sustainable fuels in its transport logistics. AP Moller-Maersk signed a cope with Hyundai Heavy Industries in 2021 to construct eight ocean-going container vessels that will be capable of run on carbon-neutral methanol and low sulphur gasoline. The Danish transport firm additionally just lately launched a bio-methanol sourcing settlement in Europe and invested in US-based sustainable gasoline start-up WasteFuel.
Volvo Automobiles goals to scale back its lifecycle carbon footprint per automobile by 40% between 2018 and 2025, which it stated requires a 25% discount in operational and logistics emissions.
“Renewable gasoline isn’t the top recreation for eradicating CO2 from the world’s ocean freight wants, but this initiative exhibits that we will act now and implement options that obtain important outcomes through the await long-term technological alternate options,” stated Javier Varela, chief working officer and deputy CEO, Volvo Automobiles. “We don’t view this initiative as a aggressive benefit. Quite the opposite, we need to spark different carmakers into motion as effectively, to extend demand for carbon-efficient ocean transports and to determine renewable fuels as a mid-term answer that works.”
Biofuels should not finally a long-term answer as they nonetheless contain burning lots of gasoline and releasing emissions into the air. FAME gasoline solely partly reduces carbon resulting from its use of fossil carbon-based methanol. Whereas some FAME fuels have been criticised for his or her ties to palm oil, which contributes to deforestation, Volvo Automobiles stated the FAME fuels it would use is not going to come from feedstock associated to palm oil or palm oil manufacturing. FAME gasoline can be not perfect for something greater than a short-term answer because the gasoline could cause contamination issues resulting from it having the ability to soak up extra moisture than petroleum-based diesel. When water contaminates diesel, it may present perfect circumstances for micro organism spreading all through the gasoline, which when untreated, can injury the gasoline completely.
To offset a number of the much less sustainable points of the gasoline, Volvo stated it would use a way generally known as mass-balancing. Because of this when the FAME gasoline isn’t obtainable on a Volvo Automobiles cargo, it will likely be utilized by the logistics agency for an additional buyer’s route to ensure the general discount in fossil fuels is saved on par with the use in container vessels. The tactic is often audited by a third-party, in addition to the gasoline itself being licensed and never produced in competitors with meals crops, making it sustainable in accordance with the EU Renewable Power Directive.
Varela stated: “We’re regularly exploring sustainability alternatives throughout all points of our provide chain and throughout our total enterprise. Our record of initiatives retains rising as we work in the direction of our ambition of turning into a climate-neutral firm by 2040.”
Volvo Automobiles claims to be “the primary international carmaker to announce such a swap”, however different OEMs have been utilizing comparable biofuels of their completed car logistics. In 2020, Volkswagen Group Logistics introduced that its European ro-ro vessels carrying its completed automobiles would use vegetable oil, together with oil recycled from eating places and the meals business. In street logistics, BMW just lately introduced that it could broaden its hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) powered vans in a pilot programme.
Learn extra: Delivery strains and OEMs make investments to decarbonise completed car transport
