News Release
Testing to Start on World’s first Hydrogen Dual-Fuel Piling Rig
8th June 2022 – Liverpool, UK – ULEMCo, the hydrogen fuel pioneer, Cementation Skanska and the world-leading building science centre Building Research Establishment (BRE), are working together on a project that will produce and evaluate a dual-fuel hydrogen and diesel piling machine – a world first. It’s being backed by Government funding from Phase 1 of the Red Diesel Replacement programme, part of the Net Zero Innovation Portfolio (NZIP) under the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS).
Named ZECHER for ‘Zero Carbon Hydrogen Construction Equipment for Real-world use’, the project will provide a proof of concept for converting on-site construction equipment. It will deliver the physical conversion of the rig, as well as exploring the viability of hydrogen fuel for construction site decarbonisation.
The trial is being carried out on a Soilmec SR30 rotary and CFA piling rig at Cementation Skanska’s state of the art plant and fabrication facility at Bentley Works, south Yorkshire. The rig with its Cummins QSB6.7 engine, is a medium-sized rig used in construction. Machines like these can typically use 100 litres of diesel per day of operation, leading to 262 kg CO2 in emissions. Decarbonising such machines will support the construction sector on its journey to achieving net-zero carbon by 2050.
While transport applications of hydrogen fuel are becoming better known, use of hydrogen to reduce or eliminate emissions in the construction sector is less developed. The test will be undertaken on a piling rig, but ZECHER will use these findings to explore the opportunities for using hydrogen to reduce carbon and significantly improve air quality for a range of heavy-duty, non-road machinery typically used in the early stages of large infrastructure construction projects.
The project will examine the range of equipment used at a construction site, create detailed energy use and duty cycle data, and investigate the requirements and options for addressing the challenges of providing hydrogen at scale across the country. Given the high volumes involved, conversion to hydrogen dual-fuel will enable costs for green hydrogen to fall below that of white diesel, if the barriers of meeting the on-machine storage challenge of energy density are addressed.
“ZECHER plans to show that conversion to dual-fuel will save up to 50% CO2 in this duty cycle, and we expect that it will provide additional emissions benefits such as reduction in NOx and particulates”, said Amanda Lyne, Managing Director of ULEMCo. “The machines used in construction are owned and used for many years, so demonstrating a decarbonisation solution that utilises these existing assets is not only cost-effective but also important for sustainability.”
“We are exploring a range of innovations that will support us in decarbonising our operations, with a target of achieving net zero carbon by 2045,” said Terry Muckian, Managing Director, Cementation Skanska. “Replacing diesel is key to achieving this target. We need solutions that will offer operational certainty and reliability, that will also set us on the pathway to full decarbonisation. We have already done this with HVO (hydro-treated vegetable oil), with all our plant fleet including piling rigs running on this fuel since the beginning of 2022. Exploring the role that hydrogen could play in our future operation is of strategic importance to us.”
“The UK construction sector uses around 1bn litres of fuel annually, generating about 2.7m tonnes of CO2, and therefore finding ways to decarbonise the sector is critical to delivering the UK’s targets for net zero”, said Ranjit Bassi of BRE. “BRE’s role in the project is to look across the sector and to help accelerate the transition to clean fuels. Hydrogen looks to be one of the only currently viable routes to doing this in the available timescale.”
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Notes to Editors:
Editorial contact:
Terry Nicklin
KeynotePR Ltd
Tel: +44 (0)7923 540695
E-mail: terry@keynotepr.com
At the company:
Amanda Lyne
Managing Director
ULEMCo Ltd
About ULEMCo
ULEMCo Ltd is the world’s first hydrogen commercial vehicle conversion company, enabling fleet and commercial vehicle owners to access to zero emission hydrogen fuel, as part of their strategies to reduce transport related carbon emissions.
ULEMCo is based in Liverpool, UK and was founded in 2014 to commercialise its globally unique UK capability in hydrogen technology to convert commercial vehicles (from LGV to HGV and specialist utility vehicles like refuse trucks, gritter and sweepers) to run on hydrogen. This is achieved using either the company’s technology for hydrogen dual fuel, or applying know-how and experience to developing zero emission engine vehicles and hydrogen fuel cell integration.
There are nearly half a million heavy duty trucks on the road in the UK alone; all of them need to be decarbonised by 2050! Battery electric technology is just not practical for most of these vehicles, whereas hydrogen with its fast refuelling and higher energy density is by far a better option. Using hydrogen instead of conventional fuels enables commercial fleets to benefit from a reduced carbon footprint, while still having the full range capability of standard diesel vehicles.
Alongside various partners, ULEMCo already supports a fleet of vehicles across a range of hydrogen hubs in the UK, and is rapidly extending its capability to provide ‘fleetwide conversion to hydrogen’ across the globe.
About Skanska
Established in the UK in 2000, Skanska has more than 3,300 local experts delivering projects across sectors including real estate, defence, education, highways, rail and water. Our work today includes:
• Connecting communities across the UK, with major highways improvement schemes including A428 and M42 Junction 6
• Improving the rail network by building a low-carbon, high-capacity railway that increases reliability and enables faster journeys, with the London tunnels section of the UK’s new high-speed railway, HS2
• Creating inspiring places to work including Blossom Street in London and Unity Place in Swindon
• Taking care of critical facilities for major organisations, including the Ministry of Defence and City of Edinburgh Council
• Providing sustainable homes for the many, with developments in Bristol and Worthing. (Delivered by BoKlok, a 50/50 joint venture with IKEA)
Cementation Skanska is an internationally recognised specialist piling and ground engineering subcontractor. It offers technical innovation and expertise in all aspects of geotechnical engineering, from specialist grouting and micro piling to diaphragm walling, and provides solutions covering everything from design and estimating to completing the work on the ground.
About Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy
The Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) brings together responsibilities for business, industrial strategy, science, research & innovation, energy & clean growth, and climate change.
This funding has been made available from the government’s £1 billion Net Zero Innovation Portfolio, which looks to accelerate the?commercialisation?of low-carbon technologies and systems, through its Red Diesel Replacement competition.
www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-business-energy-and-industrial-strategy
Terry Nicklin | Director
KeynotePR Ltd | St John’s Innovation Centre
Cowley Road | Cambridge | CB4 0WS
t: +44 (0)7923 540695
e: terry@keynotepr.com
w: www.keynotepr.com
