Sustainable Scotland: Mobile hydrogen trailer created for buses and lorries to top up with green fuel on the go

A Scottish firm has invented an innovative mobile hydrogen supply unit that will allow trucks and buses to refuel in places where no supply of the gas is available.

The portable compression tank has been created by Logan Energy to accelerate uptake of hydrogen as a low-carbon fuel in the UK, helping to cut greenhouse gas emissions from transport and achieve Scottish and UK climate targets.

Housed in a trailer the size of a horse box, the unit can be easily attached to a vehicle and towed to wherever hydrogen needs to be moved from one cylinder to another.

Its automated compressor ensures a vehicle or cylinder can be filled in a single session with no manual involvement required.

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Logan Energy, based at Wallyford in East Lothian, is already providing trailers to end users and is in serial production to deploy many more to leading bus companies and HGV operators as well as other commercial applications.

The compression trailer was unveiled this week at the All Energy 2022 conference in Glasgow.

Bill Ireland, chief executive of Logan Energy, said: “This new mobile unit is the latest innovation from Logan Energy and is in response to the market.

Daniyah Rafique, process engineer at Logan Energy, shows off the East Lothian firm's innovative hydrogen compression trailer, which will allow trucks and buses to refuel in places where no supply of the gas is available

“It is a much-needed solution for companies adopting hydrogen as a low-carbon fuel for their bus or lorry fleets.

“The compression unit has been designed with safety and security in mind, using our specific hydrogen engineering expertise.

“Our aim was to build something that overcame the barriers that many companies have, getting access to hydrogen equipment where and when they need it.

“It is a great example of forward-thinking at Logan Energy and shows how we are helping businesses and society toward a net-zero future.”

Bus companies are increasingly switching to hydrogen in their efforts to achieve net zero emissions after establishing that battery-powered electric vehicles cannot meet the requirements of all routes.

Logan Energy says it developed the device in response to demand from the hydrogen sector – particularly for transport.

Refuelling from the hydrogen trailer is simple – the user connects the vehicle, presses a start button and then waits for the tank to be filled.

A similar process is followed to fill other systems, but different connections are used.

The launch of the unit is the latest in a series of recent developments at Logan Energy.

The firm is involved in a £3 million project at Arbikie distillery, which is working to install an onsite wind turbine and electrolyser that will generate green hydrogen to power whisky production at its plant in Angus.