Wood-based diesel used in buses gets thumbs up from UPM

Finnish forest industry company UPM has announced that it has successfully tested Finnish wood-based diesel fuel both in laboratory conditions as well as in traffic.

According to the frim its renewable diesel called UPM BioVErno, works just “like the best diesel fuels”.

The laboratory tests of renewable UPM BioVerno diesel were conducted in the VTT Technical Research Centre (VTT) and field tests in Helsinki region bus traffic together with Helsinki Region Transport (HSL).

The year-long bus field tests' measurements were done by VTT, and the tests were also supported by Transdev Finland Oy, Volvo and St1. 

The first laboratory tests were done with Euro III Class buses, which are still widely used on Finnish roads even today. UPM BioVerno diesel produced clearly lower emissions than fossil diesel. Compared to other advanced fuels, the emissions of UPM BioVerno diesel were at least as low as theirs.

"The use of UPM BioVerno diesel in the current bus fleet instead of fossil diesel would lower emissions from public transport significantly. This is good news as this Finnish wood-based fuel could immediately - and positively - affect the air quality in the Helsinki region," said Sari Mannonen, VPUPM Biofuels.

According to the company, UPM BioVerno diesel worked well in year-long bus field tests.

The field tests with buses were conducted by Transdev Finland on a regular bus route between the city of Kerava and Helsinki using four identical Volvo Euro VI Class buses that have low emissions and efficient engines, the company stated.

 The test runs were done using 20%, 50% and 100% UPM BioVerno diesel and St1 was the fuel logistics provider in the tests.