Volvo Trucks announced that it has certified all of its Euro 5 engines for use with 100% Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil, a form of renewable diesel fuel.

In 2013, Volvo Trucks began field testing its engines with 100% HVO to see how it would affect engine performance and components. The six field test trucks were equipped with Euro 5 engines and covered over 600,000 miles in commercial service in a two-year period.

As a fuel, HVO acts like regular diesel and reduces CO2 emissions between 30% and 90%, says Volvo Trucks, depending on the feedstock used.

"The field test showed that the HVO works very well in our engines and can be used under the same conditions as regular diesel. It is also possible to freely mix diesel and HVO," says Tobias Bergman, product manager for alternative fuels and hybrids at Volvo Trucks.

With the positive field test results, Volvo Trucks has approved the use of HVO in all of its Euro 5 engines with unchanged service intervals. In September 2015, the company plans for a global certification of HVO in the D5 and D8 engines for Euro 6. Work is also underway to certify the D11, D13 and D16 engines.

HVO is produced from renewable raw materials such as vegetable and animal fats, rapeseed oil or abattoir waste. The fuel can be distributed through existing diesel depots and uses the same types of tanks and pumps as regular diesel.

"We believe in HVO's potential and see an increasing interest from both customers and transport buyers,” said Lars Mårtensson, director of environment and innovation at Volvo Trucks. “We therefore hope that our investment in fuel will contribute to increased demand and that the HVO can be used in many other parts of the world in future.”