Emmelev A/S and Robotti As a Service have entered into an agreement to supply biodiesel produced from Danish rapeseed for all the company’s field robots.
They will run exclusively on biodiesel, making the machine station 100 percent fossil-free and paving the way for greener fieldwork. The collaboration with Robotti As a Service is the first of its kind, where agricultural machines will operate entirely on biodiesel.
“We produce biodiesel as part of the green transition, and Robotti As a Service shares the same goal of being a greener alternative. Therefore, it made sense to start a collaboration. We want to demonstrate that biodiesel can be effectively used in fieldwork and that a transition to greener production can already be implemented in Denmark,” says Morten Simonsen, co-owner of Emmelev A/S.
Emmelev A/S is an oil mill and biodiesel factory near Otterup in Nordfyn, which has been producing biodiesel since 2001. The company operates on the principle of only sourcing rapeseed from fields within a 200 km radius. Emmelev A/S has established several agreements with companies to use 100 percent biodiesel in their operations – including Mollerup Mill, Lindø Port of Odense, and in November 2020, the ship MTKey Bora from Sea Tank Chartering.
The collaboration between the two companies will begin in the spring when fieldwork starts. At the newly established machine station Robotti As a Service, spring preparations are also underway, with the self-driving robots set to be fueled with biodiesel this year.
Kristian Møller, manager of Robotti As a Service, explains that all the machine station’s robots will be 100 percent fossil-free when they handle this year’s work.
“Becoming fossil-free is a low-hanging fruit that aligns well with our focus on being a climate-conscious and sustainable machine station. Diesel today already contains a small portion of biodiesel, so we know that our robots can run on it. Now we are simply going all the way and letting the robots run 100 percent fossil-free,” says Kristian Møller.
Biodiesel Displaces 72 Percent of CO2
Biodiesel from Emmelev A/S is produced from rapeseed, with 80 percent of the rapeseed used for protein cakes or glycerin, and 20 percent allocated to biodiesel production. This biodiesel can be directly used in cars and machines that currently run on fossil fuels, thereby contributing to CO2 reduction without requiring equipment replacements. Biodiesel produced from rapeseed displaces 72 percent of the CO2 emitted by regular fossil diesel. Thus, a machine running 100 percent on biodiesel will be four to five times more climate-friendly than if it were fueled with pure fossil diesel.
Funen Agriculture: “If We Want to Move Forward, It’s a Good Idea”
In the spring, Robotti As a Service will sow, hoe, and band spray TH Agro’s spinach fields. TH Agro manages 1,000 hectares of crops near Ebberup on Funen. For the company’s director, Torben Thomsen, it makes sense to have the machine station take care of special crops like spinach.
“We are already using the tractor that uses the least diesel for the task, and in spinach, you need to drive many times, so it will have an effect for us that the robots run on biodiesel,” says Torben Thomsen, adding: “It won’t make a big difference on our 1,000 hectares when the machine station only handles the spinach crops, but right now it’s important to send the right signal and show that if we want to move forward in this area, then every measure will have a positive influence.”
Facts
Robotti As a Service
• Machine station under AgroIntelli, operating with four Robotti and a 110 hp tractor.
• Handles sowing, hoeing, band spraying in row crops, and establishing catch crops.
• From spring 2021, the machine station will operate fossil-free.
• The field robots, Robotti, are proven to be more gentle on soil cultivation. Band spraying can save 65 percent of the chemicals, and they can operate 24 hours a day.
Emmelev A/S
• Produces biodiesel from Danish GMO-free rapeseed. There is also other Danish biodiesel production and large-scale production in Germany, Poland, and Sweden.
• When biodiesel is extracted from the rapeseed, the byproduct, which constitutes about 2/3 of the total amount, is used for protein-rich and GMO-free feed cakes for cattle, replacing imported soybean meal from other parts of the world.
• In Denmark, the diesel consumption for public transport is about 150 million liters per year. If this fossil oil is replaced by biodiesel, the CO2 savings would be approximately 300,000 tons per year.
