Multi-fuel technology could reduce emissions from HGVs

Newport-based G-Volution has developed a multi-fuel technology known as the Optimiser that allows HGVs to be powered by a diesel engine that simultaneously combusts more than one fuel.

The current system uses diesel as the primary fuel source and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) as the secondary source from a separate tank. Colin Gray, operations director at G-Volution, told The Engineer: ‘There is potential to mix diesel with greener fuels, such as liquefied natural gas, bio-ethanol, bio-butanol, methanol and hydrogen.’

The Optimiser uses a patented electronic control unit to determine how much diesel to release into the engine at any point in time. ‘We’re modifying the engine control unit [ECU] signal when it’s safe to do so to basically say “rather than inject 100 per cent diesel, reduce that by 20–30 per cent”. A signal is then sent to our system to say “introduce the secondary fuel”,’ said Gray.

‘Throughout the drive cycle, we introduce LPG at different ratios because we have to make sure it’s in harmony with the engine,’ he added. ‘In between an HGV being idle and at full power, there is a wide range of where we can introduce LPG as an effective supplement to the mixture of fuels.’