Page 42 - Food&Drink Magazine Jan-Feb 2019

COLD STORAGE & TRANSPORT
Cool new transport tech
Hydrogen-powered forklifts and liquid nitrogen engines: we take a look at some of the latest innovations that are coming down the line.
✷ COLD CASE
CLEAN MACHINE
Liquid nitrogen engines developed by UK technology company Dearman are designed to power transport refrigeration units (TRUs) used in trucks to keep food and other goods cold while it is on the road.
Currently TRUs are typically powered by diesel engines that are not subject to the same emissions standards as a vehicle’s main engine. As a result, these secondary engines can emit up to six times the amount of air pollution.
In contrast, Dearman’s liquid nitrogen TRU engines do not contribute to air pollution and emit significantly lower greenhouse gases than diesel engines.
The company recently compared the real world emissions from a truck running with the new technology and from a truck running with a TRU using conventional fossil fuel in a fleet of a UK-based logistics company.
The trial, which was undertaken as a partnership between Leeds City Council, Cenex and Dearman, found that the next generation of Dearman TRUs, ready in 2019, will be a approximately 20 per cent cheaper to run than TRUs powered by unsubsidised diesel.
Dearman’s liquid nitrogen TRU engines have been designed to emit up to 80 per cent less greenhouse gases than conventional diesel engines.
The results of the UK trial will be further disseminated in a bid to support other local authorities that are seeking to tackle emissions.
TOYOTA Material Handling Australia (TMHA) has put the first Toyota hydrogen fuel cell-powered forklifts outside of Japan into action during trials at Toyota Motor Corporation Australia's parts centre located at its former manufacturing plant at Altona, Victoria.
The zero C02-emission Toyota hydrogen fuel cell (FC) forklift demonstration is an extension of Toyota’s simultaneous trial for its Mirai fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV), which share the same hydrogen-powered technology.
The Toyota hydrogen FC forklifts with a nominal rating of 2,500kg lift capacity will also be featuring in the official opening of the new Toyota Parts Centre in Western Sydney's Kemps Creek. The hydrogen FC forklifts will also be trialled at the Kemps Creek Parts Centre.
The Toyota hydrogen FC forklifts and Mirai are not for sale in Australia, however, mainly due to a lack of hydrogen refueling infrastructure.
Toyota's mobile hydrogen fueling station installed on a Hino 700 Series truck fuelled the FC forklifts and Mirai during the trials.
Last year, forklift maker Hyster-Yale Group
demonstrated its own hydrogen-powered forklifts in Sydney. Hyster-Yale Asia- Pacific managing director Tony Fagg said at the demonstration that hydrogen- powered vehicles as these show the way ahead for a whole new generation of future-focused work vehicles, and perhaps ultimately for passenger vehicles.
reaction that produces electricity to drive various motors depending on demand for motive power or hydraulic power for steering, braking or lifting loads.
Toyota hydrogen fuel cell (FC) forklifts are suited to logistic and warehouse operations given they can be conveniently refueled in just a few minutes.
“ This means we can use these forklifts more often, without having to wait between charges or use second-shift batteries
to achieve the same utilisation.”
Hydrogen was also a topic of conversation focus at the COAG Energy Council in December when it was announced that a national hydrogen strategy would be developed to progress options to decarbonise Australia’s gas networks and to develop a hydrogen export industry. Australia is said to be ideally placed to lead the world in the supply of hydrogen.
Toyota hydrogen FC vehicles take pressurised hydrogen which is fed into a fuel cell stack, where it is combined with oxygen to create a chemical
With the hydrogen FC forklifts, it takes around three minutes to fill the hydrogen tank, compared with around eight hours to recharge a conventional battery.
“This means we can use these forklifts more often, without having to wait between charges or use second-shift batteries to achieve the same utilisation,”
Toyota Material Handling Australia general manager – corporate compliance and project development, BobWalmsleysaid. ✷
42 | Food&Drink business | January-February 2019 | www.foodanddrinkbusiness.com.au