By lyndamyer
As first in the world installation of four 30m-deep piles on a London site using a hydrogen dual-fuel piling rig was done by HS2.
The responsibility of advancing this trial was up to ULEMCo and Cementation Skanska, working with BRE, funded through the government’s Phase 1 Red Diesel Replacement competition.
Modifying a medium-sized CFA piling rig, ULEMCo and Cementation Skanska converted it so the machine operated using energy from on-board hydrogen tanks. In order to decreasing the fuel use and lowering CO2 emissions, both diesel and biofuels (HVO) can be mixed with hydrogen and displacing the fuel with hydrogen by benefiting the dual-fuel system.
Following successful yard trials simulating the technology, the rig was taken to an HS2 site in London where it completed piling works for the high-speed railway, demonstrating that the dual-fuel adaptation can be applied more widely across the construction sector. It cut the use of traditional fuel by 36%.
For decarbonizing construction sites and achieving diesel-free sites by 2029, several initiatives being undertaken and this trial is one of them. Also 19 HS2 sites operate entirely diesel-free until now.
According to HS2 head of environmental sciences Andrea Davidson: “The development of dual-fuel systems that could be used to adapt existing equipment could be a game changer across the construction sector.”
Currently the intended purposed of ULEMCo and Cementation Skanksa are how to use this technology more widely to reduce embodied carbon in construction and drop impacts on local communities near construction sites.
“The development was an exciting milestone. This project goes beyond piling and ground engineering; it provides proof of concept for converting other types of heavy construction equipment, paving the way to construction site decarburization,” said Cementation Skanska managing director Terry Muckian.
