Successful long-term test by municipal transport service and LIQUI MOLY
Fleet cuts costs and carbon dioxide
Fuel additives from Germany’s Ulm-based additive specialist are
reducing fuel consumption of the bus fleet by more than 3 percent and
335 tons of CO2. The potential annual savings in operating costs for
large fleets are worth millions.
Ulm, 3 December 2007 – Reduced consumption, lower emissions, fewer
repairs and lower costs. That’s the positive summary from Stadtwerke
Ulm/Neu-Ulm (SWU) (municipal utilities authority) in south Germany
following a one-year test with the company LIQUI MOLY, which is also
based in Ulm. Seven buses completed a total of approximately 440,000
test kilometres using the fuel additives. Cities like Berlin, London and
Hong Kong could save millions of euros and tons of CO2 every year.
“At a time when many German cities are debating whether to ban vehicles
that produce high levels of pollution and emissions, we want to make a
point. And we’ve succeeded,” says the technical managing director of
SWU-Verkehr, Ingo Wortmann, reporting on the far-reaching importance of
the test. As a public enterprise, SWU attracts notice, which is why it has
always worked on running its fleet more economically and with a lower
environmental impact. If the whole fleet were to use the additive, CO2
emissions would drop by 335 tons per year. An example from Reiner
Schönfelder – the application technician who managed the test for LIQUI
MOLY – lends weight to the abstract figures: “By using additives in three
articulated buses, CO2 emissions fell to such an extent that a car with a 1.9
TDI engine would practically become CO2 neutral as a result.” The
additives could mean around 27,900 cars becoming CO2 neutral when
applied to the current number of buses in Germany, which is around 83,600.
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CO2 potentially down by 5 million tons per year in Germany
“People should consider how much lower the environmental impact can be
with just one single fuel additive,” points out Ernst Prost, managing partner
of LIQUI MOLY: “Almost 1.5 million buses and lorries over 2.8 tons are
registered in Germany alone, and we can improve the combustion
performance of their engines using a simple method, forestalling the
production of some 5 million tons of carbon dioxide per year. That’s an
incredible amount! The environmental impact is lower and we’re making a
contribution to our health and future generations.”
There are currently many approaches and efforts being made to reduce the
carbon dioxide emissions of vehicles. One of these is fuel containing
bioethanol. But people overlook the fact that ethanol produced from
European rye barely saves any CO2 emissions. Because of the acreage used,
it is actually five times more harmful to the environment, and ethanol
produced from corn is no better. The high consumption of fertilisers,
pesticides, herbicides and diesel, which are needed to treat and farm the
fields, outweighs the savings made by ethanol fuel. “From this point of
view, additives are a realistic way of saving on fuel,” explains application
technician Schönfelder.
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A small figure of great economic importance
While passengers in the city of Ulm, with a population of more than
120,000, and the neighbouring city of Neu-Ulm with more than 50,000
citizens will be particularly pleased with the improved environmental
impact, SWU also values the economic aspect. During the test phase, the
vehicles required 3.2 percent less fuel – a small figure with a great impact,
according to calculations made by SWU fleet manager Helmut Schneider:
“At present we need 4 million litres of diesel per year to run all our vehicles.
Using the additive would save us 128,000 litres of fuel. If we deduct the cost
of the additives and take the current price of diesel as a basis, we would still
make a saving of almost €95,000 – and this is likely to rise.”
Thanks to the additives, the engines are also better cared for, with the fuel
injectors remaining clean, for example. This means that the likelihood of
repairs being required is also reduced and the life span of the engines is
increased, which again saves money. “The focus is always on the costs,”
says Wortmann, “because we want to lower the deficit and offer highquality local transport at the same time.” Other fleets in and around Ulm,
beside the city buses, can also benefit from this development, according to
the managing director of SWU-Verkehr. Since autumn 2006, SWU has been
looking after and maintaining around 50 regional and municipal fleets in
addition to its own 70 buses.
Test under special conditions
The additive specialist gathered the new, valuable data practically on its
own door step: Seven buses, including four articulated buses, completed
around 440,000 test kilometres under extreme conditions. The special
topography of the southern German city of Ulm played a particular role in
the test: “City traffic, overland journeys, flat and mountainous routes and all
kinds of different weather conditions made this a truly demanding test
programme,” confirms Schönfelder. Each bus travelled different routes with
different drivers.
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LIQUI MOLY bore the costs for the additive during the test phase. At the
same time, there was little personnel effort required for the municipal
transport service since only one litre of additive was needed for every 300
litres of diesel. The relevant quantity of the additive was mixed into every
tank of fuel.
Result of global importance
Working in close cooperation, fleet manager Schneider checked and logged
the test for SWU while application technician Schönfelder did the same for
LIQUI MOLY. “In October, we didn’t use the additive according to plan,
but we soon realised,” says Schönfelder, showing how much attention was
paid to ensuring an accurate test run. The Ulm-based automotive chemical
specialist has already gathered data in this field in the Iranian capital
Teheran. “However, we can’t compare those results directly to the ones
from here. The conditions and fuel quality are too different,” explains Prost,
the managing director of LIQUI MOLY. This is why the test results from
Ulm are so valuable because substantial savings were recorded despite the
excellent quality of the fuel. “Fleet managers around the world should prick
up their ears,” says Prost. This is about hard cash and the environment.
Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVG) provides an impressive example: Their
fleet of buses comprises 1,345 vehicles. The buses consume 46 million litres
of diesel for the approximately 89 million kilometres travelled every year.
With the additive, consumption could be reduced by almost 1.5 million
litres. At a price of €1.13 per litre of diesel and minus the costs for the
additive, BVG could save around €1.1 million annually. With more than
8,000 buses, London could outdo these figures by far. Of its annual 236
million litres of fuel, the capital could save 7.5 million litres. There, one litre
of diesel costs €1.39. The bottom line is that €7.5 million would remain in
the coffers of the London transport service.
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The impact of the additive on CO2 emissions is at least as impressive as the
financial savings: Annual emissions in Berlin could be reduced by 3,857
tons. “In London, you could multiply this value by six. And in Hong Kong it
could be even higher with the city’s 13,000 buses. That’s an incredible
potential for CO2 reduction,” says application technician Schönfelder,
looking to the future.
Making a point
From a mathematical and environmental point of view, it would only be
logical for transport services and fleet operators to apply this knowledge,
according to LIQUI MOLY’s managing director Prost, who made a plea to
the politicians: “Perhaps politicians around the world could make a
difference and really make a point. They all talk about climate protection –
we’re actually doing something about it.”
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For more information, please contact:
LIQUI MOLY GmbH
Tobias Göbbel
Jerg-Wieland-Str. 4
89081 Ulm-Lehr
Germany
Tel.: 07 31/14 20 890
Fax: 07 31/14 20 71
Tobias.Goebbel@liqui-moly.de
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