News 2 November 2020

Keltbray Group becomes first major construction firm to trial Green D+ Biofuel in excavator fleet

Keltbray Group, a leading UK specialist business that offers engineering, construction, demolition, decommissioning, remediation, rail, power transmission & distribution, reinforced concrete structures and environmental services is trialling Green D+ Biofuel as part of its ongoing commitment to sustainable innovation.

Keltbray excavator (unit 0044) on a construction site, showing rear view with tracked base and contact number 020 7643 1000.

Keltbray is trialling Green D+ fuel which is a Hydrogenated Vegetable oil (HVO), sold to the market with the potential of reducing carbon dioxide equivalent emissions by a significant 90% and through testing can achieve up to 6.4% higher fuel efficiency. The fuel is currently used in generators but until now, was yet to enter Keltbray’s excavator fleet and is being trialled to assess whether it can reduce the impact from construction plant operations.

The trial consists of running two identical Caterpillar 25tonne machines, one on standard red EN590 diesel and one on Green D+ fuel. Ongoing analysis will be carried out remotely using the machines own telematics as well as downloads from the machines on board logging systems. The trial is expected to last approximately 8 weeks.

To further reduce the carbon emissions, the fuel will be stored on site in bowsers with telematics which communicate with the supplier, Speedy, to indicate when the tanks need topping up. This in turn reduces the frequency of fuel deliveries to site.

Kiro Tamer, Group Energy Manager at Keltbray, said, “This is an important step in our ongoing commitment to sustainable innovation. The technology which will allow the industry to carry out this work is yet to exist, but to assist the UK Government’s goals to achieve net zero, Green D+ fuel could provide an immediate solution to reduce carbon emissions in the construction industry until the new technology arrives on the market.”

Mike Derome, Head of Fuel at Speedy, said, “We’re delighted to be running this trial with Keltbray. Green D+ HVO fuel is now provided as Speedy’s standard low emission fuel and is the only HVO fuel approved for use in Speedy equipment. For every 350 litres of Green D+ HVO fuel used, 1 tonne of CO2 is saved versus fossil fuel so we anticipate seeing significant reductions in CO2 throughout the trial”.