Shadforths Civil Engineering Contractors on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast is trialling B20 soy biodiesel in 20 machines at the Sunshine Coast Council’s new Nambour landfill site.

 

Shadforths fleet and environment manager Greg Jenkyns said the feedback from operators had been promising.

 

‘‘We’ve been speaking to our fitters on site and they haven’t had any problems since we’ve been using it," he said.

 

"Shadforths has more than 300 heavy machines and vehicles in our fleet and we consume a substantial amount of fuel every year. Converting our entire fleet to biofuel is estimated to result in saving of approximately 1800 tonnes of CO2 equivalent emissions into the atmosphere each year.”

 

Soy biodiesel is made wholly from the waste byproduct of soybean processing and the B20 form is used by a number of large organizations across the country.

 

Mr Jenkyns said a survey of staff had been the catalyst for the conversion to biofuel.The company hoped other Coast-based businesses would follow its lead and look to reduce the impact of their operations on the environment.

 

"There’s no modification required on the engines to make the switch," he said.

 

"All of the properties are similar to the mineral diesel and the cetane number is very similar to the mineral diesel," he said.

 

‘‘In the future if they do bring in a carbon tax, if we have already trialled it and we’re already using it then there will be big savings for us depending on what the Government does."