Carillion has launched a six-month trial to recycle waste cooking oil into vehicle fuel at its Regional Prime Contract on Catterick Garrison.

The project, set up by Rupert Webster and Nigel George of Carillion Planned Maintenance, converts used chip fat from the site’s 38 canteens into fuel to run a diesel Peugeot Expert van.

Carillion will run the Expert on one tank of fuel per week and expects to cut its annual fuel bill by £2,500.

If the trial proves successful, it could be rolled out to other vehicles – Carillion operates 100 under the Catterick contract. Catterick Garrison bosses are also following the trial closely with a view to converting their Land Rovers.

The initiative might even be rolled out across the Ministry of Defence, helping the army to achieve its emissions reductions targets of 20% by 2010.

The project uses a Green Fuel FuelPod to convert the cooking oil and added ethanol additive into 40-litres of fuel in around two hours.

Each batch of fuel (enough for one tank) requires five litres of methanol and 1.5 litres of methalate.

The only bi-product is glycerol (soap), which is used in the vehicle wash at the Garrison – there’s no waste.

It costs around 20p per litre of fuel, not including labour.

The Renewable Fuel Agency advises that used cooking oil typically offers a lifecycle greenhouse gas saving of 85% compared with normal diesel.

“We wanted to play our part in reducing emissions at Catterick. We did a lot of investigation into electric vehicles, but when we started to look at using waste oil, the benefits were immediately obvious,” said Webster.

“The rig we’ve now got on site enables us to produce 40 litres of biofuel per week, which is enough to run the van, and we’ll be analysing the cost benefits at the end of the trial.”

After just a few weeks of the trial, drivers say the new fuel hasn’t affected vehicle performance and could even be enhancing fuel economy.

“Once the initial trial has been successfully completed, the next phase will be to roll it out across the fleet,” added Webster.

“The commanding officer at Catterick already runs a hybrid vehicle and is very keen to follow our progress. He believes the benefits could play a vital role in helping to meet Ministry of Defence targets to reduce emissions by around 20% by 2010.” 

Biodiesel trials gather pace with fleets

Carillion is the latest of a number of fleets to undertake biofuel trials. However, each company has chosen to use a different formula.

The Environment Agency has been trialling 90 vehicles with a 22% mix of biofuel sourced from waste oils.

Its scientific study, which will be published soon, includes full testing at Millbrook Proving Ground.

Commercial Group invested £32,000 in a biofuel and diesel storage tank, buying in fuel recovered from used cooking fat.

A supplier purifies the oil to an acceptable level.

It expects a return on its investment within three years.

The company uses a 50:50 blend for all its Ford Transits. Most of its cars begin with a 10% blend, rising to 20%. Some, such as the Skoda Octavia go straight to 100%.

Given the possible sources of sustainable waste oil, it is perhaps no surprise that chip shop supplier Henry Colbeck was an early adopter.

It is using a 5% blend on its 12 cars and 28 trucks after investing £100,000 in a refinishing facility in Gateshead. The company says it is saving 20p per litre in tax.

HW Martin Waste has asked the household recycling centres it manages for public sector clients to recycle used cooking oil and is using the blend for its 210 vehicles.