New York City’s Sanitation Department Begins DME Test
DME-fueled Pinnacle tractor waited at Mack’s Allentown customer center last fall for test to begin. Photos: Tom Berg
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DME-fueled Pinnacle tractor waited at Mack’s Allentown customer center last fall for test to begin. Photos: Tom Berg
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Oberon Fuels and Mack Trucks say a demonstration of a dimethyl ether-fueled tractor has commenced with New York City’s Department of Sanitation. First announced last fall, the project got underway after issues with storage of the unusual fuel were resolved.
DSNY will run the vehicle at the Fresh Kills Landfill on Staten Island, New York, and evaluate performance and overall drivability. The test will take several weeks and results will be announced later this year.
The test is the first step in the city’s evaluation of both DME trucks and DME fuel as a potential long-term strategy to help greatly reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to achieve the city’s goal of sending no waste to its landfill by 2030, the announcement said.
The tractor is a Mack Pinnacle axle-back model equipped with a 12.8-liter MP8 engine modified to run on DME, which is stored at moderate pressure in steel fuel tanks like those used for propane. The tandem rear-axle tractor has an mDrive automated manual transmission, and will pull equipment trailers to support DSNY operations.
New York City recently announced a plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80% in 2050 compared with 2005. In order to achieve this goal, the city must cut 43 million metric tons of GHG emissions from its fleet vehicles. If produced from organic waste, DME also could effectively reduce waste stream to the landfill.
“The New York City Department of Sanitation is committed to seeking opportunities to reduce our environmental footprint,” said Rocco DiRico, DSNY’s deputy commissioner. “DME could be one solution to help us achieve this goal, and we are pleased to be partnering with Mack Trucks on this endeavor.”
“It is an honor to work with Mack Trucks and DSNY to …Read the rest of this story
