Teresa Madaleno

Electric, hybrid, ethanol, as well as biodiesel derived from vegetable and animal fats are well known eco-friendly ways to power vehicles, but few people have heard about the concept of running a transport truck fleet on plastics. That’s exactly what Sparta Group is doing.

Sparta, an environmental company focused on upcycling waste and optimizing energy, entered into a collaborative agreement with Phoenix Canada Solutions Inc. in June 2019 to transform plastic waste into eco-friendly synthetic diesel fuel additives. The goal is to divert plastics from landfills and turn them into a valuable commodity.

“In this particular case we are using the fuel produced from the Phoenix developed, plastics-to-fuel technology to run our own fleet of highway tractor trailers up and down the highway 401 corridor. We want to set an example for other fleet owners and companies – show them that you can save the environment and run a fleet more efficiently,” said Sparta President, John O’Bireck.

As part of the proof of concept process, Sparta will also be adding HydraGEN™ units to their vehicles. Developed and distributed by Canadian based DynaCERT, the HydraGEN™ Technology uses electrolysis to transform distilled water into H2 & O2 gases that are produced on demand. The combination of the plastics-based fuel additive and the HydraGEN™ are said to offer a solution to our growing environmental problem and soaring energy costs.

“To make sure we are monitoring and measuring performance properly we are utilizing dynaCERT’s HydraLytica™ telematics system,” O’Bireck added.

While this is a small-scale experiment, Sparta previously entered into an agreement with another company to transform unsortable plastic waste into synthetic fuel on an industrial scale. Pi. Eco Canada Ltd. and Sparta Group are currently working on logistics.