The project Beato Biobus joins Carris and Prio for decarbonizing urban transport

PRIO and CARRIS have joined forces to develop the Beato BioBus project that will be launched in the second half of 2021 to promote sustainable mobility in the city of Lisbon, creating a bus route powered by Zero Diesel.

This fuel developed by PRIO in the Biofuel Factory in Aveiro and which is produced entirely through residual raw materials is a "totally petroleum-free diesel" that allows an 84% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions of traditional fossil fuels, with no need to make any changes to the engines. In total, there will be up to 8 buses powered by Zero Diesel and that will serve the Beato Creative Hub, already from the second half of 2021.

In order to promote the circular economy, several advanced and simple containers will be installed in the Hub Criativo do Beato area in order to collect the largest possible amount of used cooking oil that will be transformed into biofuel to supply the buses that will serve the area. The two companies expect that with the Beato BioBus it will be possible to save more than 400,000 litres of diesel and around 1,118 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year.

 

 

This operation is the result of Startup Lisboa's application, with the technical direction of Lisboa E-Nova, to the EEA Grants, Notice #4, and Environment Program for the creation of the Hub Criativo do Beato Living Lab, which also includes 8 other operations.

In addition to the objectives set with the EEA Grants, PRIO and CARRIS will use the synergies to study and monitor the performance of the vehicles, which will allow the publication of a case study on the performance of buses based on different types of energy.

António Pires, Vice-President of CARRIS said: "This project fits in CARRIS' global strategy to improve the environmental performance of its operation and to seek new ways to engage with its customers. After having carried out a successful pilot to prove the feasibility of using this biofuel, we now want to promote an innovative example of circular economy in Lisbon, with our customers being able to 'fuel' the buses that transport them with their own waste."

For Emanuel Proença, Administrator of PRIO, "The concept of perfect circular economy that this project brings is a winning way to promote and accelerate the energy transition: waste that becomes clean energy, used in heavy vehicles that did not need any modifications and a fleet that overnight became ultra-sustainable. Zero Diesel is one more weapon in the full arsenal we have to fight climate change in mobility, joining 10 other products ranging from green electricity to green hydrogen. We will continue to accelerate solutions like these to bring to market the best ways to generate carbon savings for any fleet, in any usage situation and in any business or private context."

The two companies had already collaborated previously in the development of a pilot project – “Movido a Biodiesel” – which between August 2018 and May 2020 allowed to supply a line of 6 buses with Zero Diesel. During that time period, around 2 million passengers were transported for more than 320,000 km thanks to the recycling of 205,000 litres of used cooking oil, which saved the equivalent of 500 tonnes of CO2 emissions.

Having tested the feasibility of the solution by creating a permanent career entirely powered by Zero Diesel, CARRIS and PRIO take another step towards the decarbonisation of mobility, ensuring a faster and cheaper energy transition.