Keeping emissions lower and vehicles moving at Copenhagen Airport

Introduction

Copenhagen Airport is on a journey from serving 25 million passengers annually to 40 million over the next few decades. They want that journey to be a responsible one.

The challenge

Copenhagen Airport had the aim of keeping its off road vehicles moving with lower emissions and less down time. Being the hub of northern Europe, a workplace for 23,000 people and close to both urban areas and nature, they are clear on their responsibility to run and develop the airport in a responsible manner. Aiming to create value for the region and Denmark, and doing so with respect for the environment and the people who are impacted by the airport.

The solution

The airport started to use the cleaner burning diesel alternative, GTL Fuel, in 2016. GTL Fuel burns cleaner with less smoke and odour, in relation to traditional diesel. Emissions can be up to 38% less particulate matter and significantly less NOx and CO2.

Peter Laybourn, General Manager for BKL fuel services at Copenhagen Airport explains how GTL Fuel is supporting airport operations to contribute to a cleaner environment. “All of our vehicles are diesel, and our engines need to run in idle mode throughout the entire refueling operation. Compared to other handlers, we do not have the option to switch to electricity mode. We were therefore particularly interested to try GTL Fuel.

Our fleet of vehicles operate off road, with engines predominantly needing to start, accelerate and idle. It is during these limited operating conditions where the benefits from GTL Fuel are most noticeable. No technical changes to the engines are needed, the fuel can be used immediately. After nearly two years, we have only encountered positive changes using GTL Fuel.

When we used traditional diesel, we had to take the vehicles on a monthly longer ride outside the airport (two hours full load on motorway) to have the particle filters cleaned and burned off. This is no longer needed. We monitor the differential pressure over the particle filter, and since November 2016 none of the filters are building up un-combusted deposits – a much welcomed operational side effect. We have also noticed, that older vehicles without emission control systems have a clearly noticeable reduction in both smoke and odor.”