2005

Mack Touts Potential of "Landfill Gas" Fuel in New Jersey Pilot Project

LEHIGH VALLEY, PA (January 12, 2005) --Mack Trucks, Inc. today reported satisfaction with the progress of an experimental program to evaluate the conversion of waste gases derived from landfills into truck fuel. The company said if the concept proves to be both technically and economically feasible, full-scale implementation may hold significant potential for commercial application in the refuse industry in the U.S. and worldwide.

The project brings Mack together with a diverse group of private companies and public sector partners from the refuse industry, including Acrion Technologies, Inc., Waste Management, Inc., Air Products & Chemicals, Inc., and Chart Industries, as well as officials at the Rutgers University/State of New Jersey EcoComplex, Burlington County (NJ) Resource Recovery Center and Brookhaven National Laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy.

Landfill gas (LFG) is produced by decomposition of waste material within a landfill. The joint venture headed by Mack and Acrion is investigating the feasibility that refuse collection trucks serving a landfill operation could be run on fuel made from LFG produced inside the landfill itself.

"These waste gases are mainly methane and carbon dioxide, and they're a troublesome air quality issue for landfill operators," said Bruce Smackey, who directs Mack's involvement in the pilot project. "The operators are obligated to address the problem to meet environmental regulations, and the most popular methods of dealing with the gases right now are burning them off or using them to generate electricity to sell to electric utilities."

"But it's possible to purify and separate the waste gases into useful methane and carbon dioxide. Our effort is aimed at determining whether the purified methane can be made into liquefied natural gas (LNG) fuel that could power trucks hauling refuse to the landfill in the first place, thus contributing both to improved air quality and reduced reliance on fossil fuels," he added.

Mack is the leading provider of heavy-duty trucks to the U.S. refuse industry, responsible for more than 70% of sales in that market segment.

In the pilot project, two Mack MR models owned by Waste Management and equipped with natural gas engines pick up waste at Fort Dix and McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey and take it to the Burlington County landfill operation. At the Rutgers University/State of New Jersey EcoComplex facility, adjacent to the Burlington County landfill, LFG is purified through Acrion's proprietary CO2 Wash™ system and separated into methane and carbon dioxide, aided by liquid nitrogen provided by Air Products & Chemicals. Additional processing liquifies the methane into high-purity LNG truck fuel. The trucks are then refueled with the produced LNG fuel at the Chart Industries fueling station at the EcoComplex facility.

Smackey noted that the practical trial of the process has passed the first of two planned milestones - an inspection of each truck's engine at 300 hours of service - with outstanding results in terms of engine wear and maintenance. The final evaluation will be a full engine teardown and inspection at 600 hours of service by the end of January 2005, after which the engines will be reinstalled and the trucks returned to Waste Management's natural-gas-powered fleet.

If results of the second inspection also turn out positive, Smackey said, the next phase of the overall project will involve finding other innovative landfill operators who would be willing to host a LFG purification system and fueling station and to work with Mack and Acrion and their partners on further evaluation of the potential for full commercialization of the LFG concept.

Dedicated to quality, reliability, and total customer satisfaction, Mack Trucks, Inc. has provided its customers with innovative transportation solutions for more than a century. Today, Mack is one of North America's largest producers of heavy-duty trucks, and MACK® vehicles are sold and serviced in more than 45 countries worldwide.

Mack is a member of the Volvo Group, a publicly held company headquartered in Gothenburg, Sweden. With annual sales of approximately $20 billion, Volvo business areas include heavy trucks, buses, construction equipment, marine and industrial drive systems, aerospace, and financial services. In the United States, Volvo shares are listed on NASDAQ and are traded as ADRs (symbol: VOLVY).