Order and method at Swedish Biogas
A new system that is streamlining the transport of biogas for Swedish Biogas is saving both money and the environment.
Swedish Biogas in Linköping supplies biogas to filling stations in several counties of central Sweden. Some of these deliveries, outside of the main supply network, are made by transporting the biogas in high-pressure bottles on a lorry platform. Each platform has a high value so it is understandable that Swedish Biogas is keen to know exactly where each platform is at all times.
When platforms are connected to the filling station, they can be monitored directly from Swedish Biogas, but when they are waiting to be connected or are being refilled, it is difficult to keep track of where they are. Furthermore, it is not always easy to know if a platform needs to be refilled or if there is enough remaining biogas to be able to postpone the distribution for a while.
To achieve better control, Swedish Biogas turned to Combitech for help in developing a monitoring and control system.
“Combitech has experience in developing systems for monitoring and management. So they are well placed to help us help us achieve more order and method in our distribution,” says Christer Setterdahl, former CEO of Swedish Biogas.
The new system, which is under development, uses GPS to display the position of each platform. In addition, pressure gauges on each platform report in how much biogas is left.
“Today we might go and pick up a platform for refilling that we should not have needed to collect because it is not empty yet,” says Christer Setterdahl. “We can avoid that with this system. We anticipate that there will be substantial savings as the new system will reduce our transportation costs.
Another advantage is that the lower the total cost of distributing biogas to various filling stations, the more attractive biogas will become as a motor vehicle fuel – and the use of biogas as a fuel is one of the best things you can do for the environment,” says Christer Setterdahl.
“Biogas is the best renewable fuel as it is completely emissions neutral,” he adds. “A biogas car emits 8-15 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometre, while the corresponding figure for a green car is 120.