First biogas truck trialled

The country's first truck powered by biogas from a rubbish landfill is about to start work in Auckland - collecting rubbish.

After two years of research and trials, the truck was started by Auckland Mayor Len Brown today.

It will have more evaluation before collecting rubbish around Rodney, on the North Shore.

The truck had both diesel and biogas fuel and could switch between the two.

Engineers said a "waste to fuel" project at the Redvale Energy Park landfill had the potential to produce 54 million litres of diesel equivalent (LDE) annually.

Transpacific Industries, which owned Redvale, said at least five percent of New Zealand's transport fuel needs could be met with biogas from municipal and rural waste.

The project was a joint venture between Transpacific, Greenlane Biogas, Dieselgas International and the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (Niwa).

Methane gas at the landfill was already being converted to electricity and could power up to 11,000 houses but Niwa research engineer Stephan Heubeck said there were more benefits producing biogas than electricity.

Biogas was a mixture of methane and carbon dioxide produced when organic material such as food scraps, wood and garden waste microbiologically decomposed in the absence of oxygen.

Redvale had been producing methane for more than 10 years from pipes buried in the landfill and had been using it to produce electricity.

Transpacific's managing director, Tom Nickels, said most people considered biogas to be a harmful greenhouse gas but it was a valuable resource if managed correctly.

"Extracting biogas from waste, whether it's human waste, household, industrial or agricultural waste, is a huge environmental opportunity for Auckland and for New Zealand."

He said projected peak gas flows, forecast for 2025, would place Redvale as New Zealand's ninth-largest gas field, based on 2009 gas field outputs.

- NZPA