Sustainable mobility with biofuels
The decreasing availability of crude oil is pushing prices up which means that the cost of transporting goods and passengers is steadily increasing. Around ten million tons of oil are used for transportation purposes worldwide every day. At MAN therefore, one of our main concerns is the investigation of alternative energy sources to ensure continued mobility in future.
MAN also sees considerable potential in second generation synthetic fuels, such as biomass-to-liquid (BTL) or biogas. The benefit: BTL can be obtained from agricultural waste products such as waste wood, foliage, straw and other biological waste. This means that BTL and biogas is also greenhouse gas neutral by up to 85 percent. This is because the carbon dioxide produced during combustion was previously taken from the atmosphere by the energy-giving plants during growth.
MAN diesel and natural gas engines can run on second generation biofuels with no engineering design modifications required.
Second generation biofuels deliver more energy per hectare of area under cultivation, as the entire biomass of the plants can be used. A truck with a fuel consumption of 32 litres per 100 km can be driven a range of distances on the annual yield obtained from a hectare:
| Annual yield per hectare | Calorific value when compared to diesel | Range per hectare | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Biodiesel (first generation biofuel) | 1550 litres | 91 % | 4400 km |
| Biomass-to-liquid (second generation biofuel) | 4000 litres | 93 % | 11,600 km |
The benefits of BTL
- BTL and biogas can be obtained from agricultural waste products
- BTL fuels are synthesised which means they can be customised to ensure clean combustion
- Up to 85 percent fewer CO2 emissions
- Up to 30 percent fewer particle emissions
- Up to 10 percent fewer carbon oxide emissions
