Saving the environment – and Money for Scania

Scania has installed a diesel recycling system at the engine assembly line in Södertälje. Annually, a total of about 5,600 litres of diesel will be reused instead of being discarded.

After an engine has undergone testing, up to three decilitres of diesel are removed. Previously, this diesel was stored in 200-litre barrels that were taken to a recycling station and then transported to an external company for disposal.

Sinisa Jakovljevic works as a process technician at the engine assembly line. “With a closed system, we avoid some handling in the process,” he says. “It’s good for the work environment, too. Diesel fumes are reduced as is the risk of fire. Sometimes the barrels were overfilled. There is also more space along the line near the testing section as we have removed the collecting barrels.”

The investment in the recycling system will pay for itself within three years, in part because diesel is reused, in part because the engine assembly department no longer has to pay an external company to take care of the fuel.

“The diesel we save is enough to fuel a Scania Job Express coach driving round trip between Södertälje and Stockholm for a year.”

The engine assembly improvement team had asked for a more efficient handling of the fuel, and a working group evaluated different solutions. The group found that a closed system, without handling and with 100 percent recycling, was the best alternative.

Pjerin Marjakaj is a workshop technician at the engine assembly line. “It was a challenge to connect the drain to our existing systems in order to return the diesel to the tank in the basement,” he says. “We also needed to consider how the fuel was affected, and this was done in cooperation with the research and development department.”

The diesel is emptied from the engine, flows through pipes to a tank, and is cleansed by a filter. Then the fuel can be used again as more engines are fuelled.