July 28, 2024. The share of liquefied biomethane in liquefied natural gas (LNG) sales at German filling stations has increased significantly over the past two and a half years. While the share was at most 1% in 2022, it has consistently remained above 50% every month since the beginning of this year. In June it was even more than 70%. These figures make it clear that mobility fueled by Bio-LNG is available today to achieve climate goals in the transport sector.
The increasing popularity of liquefied gas in heavy transport is leading to significant greenhouse gas savings in the sector. Currently, more than 30,000 tonnes of LNG are filled at German filling stations every quarter. A comprehensive network has been set up at more than 150 locations that are easily accessible to trucks. Thanks to the rapidly increasing proportion of Bio-LNG in this volume, significantly less CO2 is emitted in transport than when diesel trucks are used. In the first half of this year, almost 140,000 tonnes less CO2eq entered the atmosphere.
The fact that biomethane’s share of LNG sales has increased rapidly is also due to the increasing expansion of liquefaction capacities. In mid-April, Shell put Germany’s largest Bio-LNG production plant into operation. The Rhineland plant can produce up to 100,000 tonnes per year, which can be used to fuel 4,000 to 5,000 trucks. The RUHE group of companies already operates two plants and more are being planned.
“We are calling for a CO2 correction factor that credits the vehicle with the CO2 savings that result from biofuel. The current fleet regulations only take into account the vehicle and not the fuel. This means that biogas trucks are no better off than diesel trucks,” explains Dr. Timm Kehler, CEO of Zukunft Gas.
The current legal situation in CO2 fleet regulation leads to a technological focus on battery-electric and fuel cell drives as well as hydrogen engines. “This technological definition limits the ability of transport and bus companies to operate commercial vehicles in a climate-neutral or low-emission manner by using renewable energies such as Bio-LNG and electricity-based synthetic fuels in the future,” Kehler adds.
