Advanced Biofuels


UPM to Begin Field Testing of Wood-Based Biodiesel Fuel in Bus Traffic

Date Posted: October 22, 2015

Helsinki, 22 October 2015 at 10:30 EET — UPM is to start field tests of its novel wood-based diesel fuel in urban buses together with Helsinki Region Transport (HSL) and the VTT Technical Research Centre.

The field tests are also supported by St1, Volvo and Transdev Finland. The new round of tests with UPM BioVerno fuel will start in October and run for a minimum of one year.

UPM BioVerno diesel has previously been studied in several engine and vehicle tests conducted by various research centres as well as in fleet tests, all with excellent results.

The studies have shown that UPM BioVerno works exactly like the best quality diesel fuels and reduces tail pipe emissions significantly compared to fossil diesel.

The heavy duty vehicle field tests will focus on investigating UPM's renewable diesel in terms of fuel functionality in bus engines, their emissions and fuel consumption compared to fossil diesel.

These tests will be operated by Transdev Finland on HSL's regular bus route between the city of Kerava and Helsinki in Finland.

The tests will be done with four identical Volvo Euro VI Class buses that have low emissions and efficient engines.

"The tests will be conducted together with renowned partners.

"We are especially delighted to be able to take part in the Helsinki Region Transport initiative that aims for emission free public transport.

"One of the major targets of the initiative is to start using 100% renewable biofuels in their diesel vehicles in the coming years," says Sari Mannonen, Sales and Marketing Director at UPM Biofuels.

The bus field tests are also part of a larger "BioPilot" project coordinated by VTT. The goal of this project is to encourage companies to commercialise renewable energy solutions in traffic.

"Advanced, sustainable biofuels are a great opportunity for Finland - they could be our fast track to low emission traffic.

"When considering cutting traffic emissions both from the technological and economical point of view, Finland should invest in domestic biofuel production in the coming years.

"VTT has previously tested UPM BioVerno diesel both in passenger cars and bus engines with great results.

"The new bus field tests continue our long-term collaboration in testing with UPM," says Research Professor Nils-Olof Nylund at VTT.

Both VTT and bus manufacturer Volvo will test all the buses used in the field tests before the start, in the middle and at the end of the testing period.

In addition to operating the buses, Transdev Finland is responsible for the follow up of diesel consumption and the kilometres driven.

St1 is the distributor of the fuel used in this project - UPM BioVerno has already been sold by St1 filling stations in Finland as part of their Diesel Plus fuel since the spring.

For more information, please contact +358-40-588-3284.

See Related Websites/Articles:

more ADVANCED BIOFUELS...