October 10, 2007 Vol. 3, No. 21

Last time out I promised to tell you about a Volvo-sponsored conference in Brussels where the Swedish truck-maker presented a picture of our near-term fuel future.

Volvo Group CEO Leif Johansson said his company is ready to build and sell, with no more than 24 months’ notice, diesel-engined trucks that run on any of seven different
renewable liquid and gaseous fuels, a couple of them fairly exotic. They’re fuels that won’t produce a net gain of harmful carbon dioxide in the atmosphere after being manufactured, distributed, and burned.

“We are ready,” said Johansson. “Let’s get going.”

He was speaking at the 2007 European Transport Forum in Brussels, a two-day conference organized jointly by Volvo and Forum Europe. The event’s theme was “Making Sense of the Great Debate on New Fuel Technologies,” though to be honest, I haven’t heard a lot of debate that moves beyond the relative wisdom of exploiting the potential of biodiesel. There should indeed be such discussion at places other than
research labs, and I guess that was the point.

In his opening remarks, Johansson noted that by 2010 diesel engines will emit virtually no particulate matter or nitrous oxides. After that, the target will be carbon-dioxide, and he estimated that cargo transport accounts for only about 4-5% of total global CO2 emissions.

Each of the seven Volvo 380 trucks that rolled into view behind the outdoor podium as he spoke had a 9-litre diesel engine modified to operate on a renewable fuel or combination of fuels. All of them are produced from renewable raw materials, and they provide no net
carbon-dioxide contributions to the ecosystem. The fuels were:

Biodiesel — produced by the esterification of vegetable oils such as rapeseed and sunflower.

Biogas — a gaseous fuel that’s largely comprised of hydrocarboned methane.

Biogas + biodiesel – these two fuels are combined in separate tanks and injection systems. A small percentage (10%) of biodiesel, or synthetic diesel, is used for achieving compression ignition.

DME (dimethyl ether) — a gas that’s handled in liquid form under low pressure, produced through the gasification of biomass.

Ethanol/methanol — methanol is produced through the gasification of biomass and ethanol through the fermentation of crops rich in sugar and starch.

Synthetic diesel — a mixture of synthetically manufactured hydrocarbon produced through the gasification of biomass. Synthetic diesel can be mixed with conventional diesel fuel
without problem.

Hydrogen gas + biogas – in this combination, hydrogen gas is mixed in small volumes with compressed biogas (8% volume). Higher mixture levels are also possible. The hydrogen gas can be produced through the gasification of biomass or electrolysis of water with renewable electricity.

Some of these fuels are relatively exotic at this point, and in fact Johansson said he was worried that one of the trucks wouldn’t make it to the display because they could find only
three liters of that particular fuel.

Johansson said Volvo chose those seven fuels from a list of 30 or more but would not say that any one of them was superior in every respect. “It depends on local conditions,” he said, “though second-generation biofuels are very promising.” Those include synthetic diesel and methanol.

Technology is not the challenge here, he said. The issue is availability of fuels, and he expressed some frustration that there are not yet any technical standards – they should be international, he said — for fuels like these.

“What we are trying to say is, take away the uncertainty.”