DelVal Concrete introduces new environmentally friendly equipment.
By Jack Firneno
Staff Writer
They’re cleaner. They’re quieter. They’re greener.
Last month, Delaware Valley Concrete (DelVal for short) debuted two cement mixers than run on compressed natural gas (CNG) instead of diesel fuel. They’re the first of their kind on the East Coast, and part of just a handful nationwide, and the company plans to introduce five more to their 88-truck fleet in the spring.
According to Tim Ketavongsa, spokesman for the Hatboro-based ready-mix concrete company, compressed natural gas is less expensive and easier to produce than diesel.
The trucks also lower DelVal’s carbon footprint, with 80 percent less carbon monoxide emissions. The CNG engines also run up to 90 percent quieter than their diesel counterparts, which can generate up to a potentially dangerous 90 decibels of noise.
“Our trucks are at the point where you need to be wearing hearing protection,” explained Ketavongsa. With CNG reducing that by nearly 90 percent, he said, “You’ll be able to hear a lot longer.”
Consisting primarily of methane, CNG is drawn from gas wells or from the production of crude oil. It’s stored in high-pressure cylinders and is colorless, odorless and tasteless.
Ninety-eight percent of CNG is produced in the United States, and according to the U.S. Energy Information Agency, it costs an average 42 percent less than diesel fuel.
“We’re jumping ahead of the industry trend,” said Ketavongsa. “There’s savings on fuel, but we’re taking away dependance on oil and foreign products. It’s using the stuff in your backyard.”
But while its use is catching traction, integrating CNG trucks into a fleet presents some challenges. Refueling stations are still rare, for instance, and DelVal had to re-outfit its repair areas into nonopen flame shops due to the gas’s flammable nature.
Fortunately, DelVal has other companies to look to for guidance. “Waste Management, school buses, they paved the way for us,” said Ketavongsa. “Our industry is like a brotherhood — we all talk. You see these other companies and we say, ‘Why can’t we do it?’ ”
And, that brotherhood was there to help: PECO lets DelVal use its CNG fueling stations, OshKosh Trucks lent new vehicles for a pilot phase before DelVal purchased them, and Ozinga Concrete in Chicago gave the benefit of its experience with adopting CNG technology.
The Greater Philadelphia chapter of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Clean Cities initiative also played a part. The group helped DelVal find the trucks and even secure some grant money to help fund the costs associated with integrating them into the fleet.
“It was the right combination of people to make us move forward,” noted Ketavongsa.
The move to CNG represents a direction that DelVal has been following for years. As the company has grown over the last decade — it now runs nine plants and 50 trucks serving seven counties in Pennsylvania — the leadership there has moved to be as ecologically conscious as possible.
Along with meeting all government standards for environmental protection. DelVal reuses all its water from concrete mixing, rather than discharging it. It also uses leftover cement from custom jobs into all-purpose cement blocks.
“Our president calls it ‘being stewards of the environment,’ ” explained Ketavongsa. “We’re part of the community and need to do our part.”
