Shell will continue to use motorsport to test new sustainable fuels, announcing that they are to inject biomass into the diesel they use at the 24 Hours of Le Mans race on June 14.
In 2006, an Audi became the first winner of the annual day-long endurance event to be powered by diesel. The fuel used was Shell’s V-Power Diesel which includes GTL (Gas to Liquids), a natural gas element which makes combustion cleaner and more efficient. The pair repeated the feat in 2007.
This year, the fuel will also contain BTL – biomass to liquid. Shell says it represents the next stage of the development of sustainable low-carbon fuels. Developed in Germany by CHOREN Industries, it could produce up to 90 per cent less CO2 compared with regular diesel. CHOREN hope to market the fuel within a year.
Richard Karlstetter, Shell’s global technology manger of racing fuels, said: “It is still early commercial days for BTL but Shell sees motorsport as a technical test bed and we are excited about demonstrating the performance of Shell V-Power Diesel race fuel with both GTL and BTL.”
The V-Power Diesel including the GTL is now available at over 7,000 pumps across Europe. Despite costing an extra six pence per litre on average, it has been received well among motoring enthusiasts.
