As part of its initiative to transform Kuala Lumpur into a ‘green city’, Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) has been using B10 biodiesel blend in their vehicle fleet.
According to DBKL’s Mechanical and Electrical Engineering Department engineer Muhammad Alif Muhammad Noor, DBKL has been working closely with the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) since 2013 to materialize the project, which eventually went live on 9 January 2014.
The field testing involves a total of 50 diesel-powered vehicles of various types such as pickup trucks, lorries, vans as well as heavy-duty vehicles like excavators, tractors and shovels.
Out of the 50 vehicles, DBKL has chosen a Nissan Navara pickup truck and a Nissan UD tipper truck for carbon emission testing conducted by the Department of Environment (DoE), in which the former recorded 2.7% emission, while the latter 2.8% – both way below the maximum level of 50%. The city council is also in discussion with Nissan and Edaran Tan Chong Motor to strip the engines of the two vehicles for further research.
Alif said feedback from the drivers involved in the testing suggests that while there is no significant improvement in terms of performance, the usage of B10 biodiesel produces less smoke and noise. DBKL’s excavator operator, Hamdan Main, said that he managed to reduce the consumption from 11 litres to 10 litres per hour with B10.
After more than three years of testing, the fleet has managed to accumulate an average of 60,000 km to 70,000 km of travel without any issues.
DBKL gets its B10 biodiesel stock from private suppliers, which store the product in two skid tanks, each with a capacity of 8,000 litres. Quality checks are also done regularly by MPOB to ensure the quality of the blend is maintained.
“We have 2,040 vehicles. Half of them currently use diesel. We plan to migrate all of them by year end with the support of MPOB,” Alif said.
MPOB’s principal research officer, Wan Hasamuddin Wan Hassan, said that consumers would still be able to pump the current Euro 5 diesel, which uses a B7 blend, at all petrol stations even after B10 is introduced.
