The Pentair Biogas Upgrading System, Pentair BioCompact, has capacity for 450 standard m3  of biogas to be processed into biomethane every hour, enabling McCulla to operate their new green fleet of ten CNG trucks. The trucks are refueled directly at the company’s biomethane filling point. The organic material used to produce the sustainable fuel come from food waste collected from 41 chain supermarkets throughout Northern Ireland.

Commenting on the recent launch of the plant, Roland Folz, Pentair Food & Beverage Global Business Unit Leader, noted, “We are excited to be working with McCulla to help lead the refrigeration transport sector toward a more sustainable model.

"The transport sector has historically been dependent on fossil fuels and therefore is a contributor of greenhouse gas emissions. With innovations in biogas upgrading, the opportunity to mitigate the damaging effects of carbon emissions generated from fossil-based fuels is now within reach.”   

When compared with diesel, the benefits of Bio-CNG are promising. A 2020 transportation research study from Science Direct, which utilized validated models, compared a conventional diesel-fueled heavy goods vehicle with one that runs on compressed gas (CG): either CNG or biomethane for their transport performance, costs and carbon emissions.

The study found that the vehicle running on biomethane emitted approximately 78.2% lower equivalent carbon emissions than the diesel, and the vehicle running on CNG emitted 12.3% lower carbon emissions.

Ashley McCulla, Chairman of McCulla commented,“Since 2017, we have been producing our electricity from an anaerobic digester (AD) plant at our site in Lisburn. Our ultimate goal was always to use the energy produced by the AD plant to power our logistics fleet as well. Together with Pentair, we realized that ambition and are now utilizing green technology in logistics-a positive leap forward in helping to make this sector more sustainable.”