McDonald's UK distributor Keystone Distribution is running 45 trucks on 100% biodiesel, and has plans to roll the fuel out to its entire 155-strong UK fleet.
"Nine months ago we started looking at ways of taking our environmental agenda forwards," explains Mark Hatherill, engineering and quality manager at Keystone Distribution. "And biodiesel was one of the ideas we decided to explore."
Hatherill explains that before a trial could commence, it was vital to have the full support and backing of its truck suppliers so as not to affect warranties. He says: "Daf was extremely willing and helpful from the outset", and "Volvo eventually came on-board."
The fuel used is produced from 85% used oil. It is collected from 900 of McDonalds' 1,200 UK restaurants, and is delivered to a company in Newport Pagnell for blending with pure rapeseed oil. "We are looking to reduce the content of rapeseed oil, in fact our ultimate aim is to drop it altogether," says Hatherill.
Initially the test involved a couple of DAFs, and was later expanded to include a number of CF85 430 4x2 tractors, CF65 220 4x2 rigids, and Volvo FM12 420 4x2s.
According to Hatherill, the trucks require absolutely no modifications to run on the fuel. Oil filters have to be changed twice as frequently as with conventional diesel, but that is the only difference in terms of maintenance.
"We were initially told that fuel economy would fall by between 10% and 15%," he says, "and this was backed-up by our early trials. However we have since carried out a lot of work with the quality of the fuel used and are currently experiencing a drop-off of just 1%. This is extremely encouraging."
He adds that driver feedback to the fuel has been positive, with no loss of power and no smell of fried food coming from the vehicles' exhausts. "It does have a distinctive smell as it goes into the tanks" he says, "but it isn't offensive."
However he stresses that there are absolutely no financial benefits in switching to biodiesel, only environmental.
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