Grant invests

Grant invests over 250k in biofuel R&D breakthrough

Grant, Ireland’s leading heating appliance manufacturer, has invested over 250,000 in pioneering a major R&D breakthrough that could help reduce carbon emissions in rural and hard to heat properties. Over the past six years the Grant R&D team has worked with third level institutions, industry partners and renewable fuel producers, focusing on more sustainable and carbon-saving fuels and innovating its boilers to be biofuel compatible.

Commenting on the R&D project, founder Stephen Grant said: “In the early days of our research, we identified potential bio and synthetic fuels that would both meet greenhouse gas reduction targets and be commercially viable. This began with developing a boiler that could use a biofuel called FAME (fatty acid methyl esters). Our team successfully used a 30% blend of FAME with regular kerosene, although problems arose when the blend of biofuel exceeded 30%. This resulted in increased NOx emissions, issues with fuel storage stability and more rapid aging or poor performance in cold conditions.

“The breakthrough came during testing and field trialling with boilers successfully using 100% biofuel known as hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO). HVO feedstocks are generally rapeseed oil, sunflower oil, soybean oil, certified sustainable palm oil and non-food oils such as jatropha oil and algae oil, in addition to waste animal fats. Even more sustainable are waste and residue oils, both of which are now a substantial contributor to the feedstock,” added Stephen.

While HVO is a relatively new fuel to Ireland (current distributors include Nicholl Oil in Carryduff, Co Down and Inver Energy in Blackpool, Co Cork), in Europe and the UK it is used for marine and public transport and to power generators.

Stephen comments: “The use of 100% HVO can result in around an 88% reduction in carbon emissions and, using this or a percentage blend of HVO with kerosene, will enable rural and hard to heat Irish properties to transition to a renewable green alternative from 100% kerosene, at an affordable cost, with minimum disruption to everyday home living.

“All new Grant condensing boilers are future-proofed to use HVO by making a slight modification to the boiler. Older Grant condensing boilers can also be adapted to HVO, and the modifications needed can be carried out by a service engineer during an annual service.

“One very important benefit of HVO to the Irish construction industry is that builders and relevant trades can continue to focus on building new houses in large numbers without being diverted to slow and costly deep retrofitting projects, enabling more heat pumps to be fitted.” Later this year Grant will introduce a service engineer biofuel conversion course through its eLearning Academy. This will cover a basic introduction to HVO, including the necessary steps required to convert boilers to run on this biofuel, and is open to qualified service engineers and technicians.

Visit www.grant.eu for more information on Grant’s range of innovative heating solutions and R&D breakthrough. Follow Grant on Facebook and Twitter @GrantIRL or Instagram @Grant_IRL.