CTS & Piusi announce compatibility of equipment with HVO & GTL

Tue, May 25, 2021

With the government's ambitious plans to reduce emissions by 78% by 2035, the fuel industry is quickly adapting to green liquid fuels as a more sustainable and environmentally friendly solution.

HVO statement

However, many alternative energy sources including electric vehicles come with drawbacks that result in infrastructure cost, spending money and time on staff training and even new vehicles. So, as part of the new generation green fuels adoption process, we believe that it is important to consider their compatibility with the current diesel fuel infrastructure as a more viable option.

With the rise in availability of such fuels, Centre Tank Services Ltd and Piusi have carried out extensive testing of their range of diesel fuel equipment with HVO, GTL and other paraffinic diesel fuels.

Piusi and CTS statement on HVO, GTL and other Paraffinic fuels

As the official UK agent of Piusi and a leading supplier of fuel equipment to OEM tank manufacturers, we are happy to announce that all Piusi products for diesel is 100% compatible with HVO, GTL and other paraffinic fuels made according to the EN 15940:2019.

After our own in-house testing, we are also pleased to find that our own product range including our tank alarms and probes are all suitable for use with HVO and GTL fuels as "drop in" replacements for diesel.

However, few things need to be considered when switching from diesel fuel to HVO/GTL:

  • Flow meters should be calibrated to take into account the different specific gravity (s.g.) of these new cleaner drop in fuels compared to diesel.
  • Gauges should be re-configured based on the calibration matrices published by the manufacturers in their instruction manuals considering the different s.g.
  • The S.G. of HVO is 0.78 versus 0.84 of traditional diesel fuel.

The future of the fuel industry

Fuel duty

The UK government has set a world-leading net-zero target, and it is one of the first major economies to do so, but there is a lot at stake to achieve this. And as we all need to adapt quickly in order to achieve the target, alternative fuels such as HVO and GTL are ideal solutions that can make a real impact.

Hydrotreated vegetable oil, also known as HVO, is a fossil-free, paraffinic fuel made from 100% renewable raw materials such as waste fats, vegetables, and oils. These green fuels are easy drop-in replacements as their similarities to traditional diesel mean that they are fully compatible with the already in place diesel fuel infrastructure and dispensing equipment, making it a cheaper and quicker solution for the end-user. The beauty of HVO for example is that it can be used in the same way and at the same time reduce emissions by up to 90%. However, these new generation fuels are slightly more expensive than diesel, which can be a potential barrier for end-users to switch to.

Therefore, industry bodies such as UKIFDA are actively lobbying the government for renewable fuels to be part of their plan and to look at the opportunity to decrease the tax to encourage people to switch to greener fuels. A great example where tax decrease boosted alternative fuel adoption is Sweden, which made HVO completely tax-exempt and saw a 124% increase in HVO usage.

As there are no additional requirements to store or use HVO and GTL, this alternative fuel has a cheaper switching cost compared to other alternative energies. Also, as HVO and GTL is quick replacement we believe that it is the future of the fuel industry in helping the government achieve plans of reducing emissions.


Need HVO refuelling equipment?

Our refuelling equipment is suitable for use with HVO and GTL fuels.