Natural Gas Powered Heavy Duty Truck Demonstration

1996 ◽  
Author(s):  
Buerebista Ursu ◽  
G. Campbell Perry
Author(s):  
Wahiba Yaïci ◽  
Michela Longo

Abstract With environmental concerns and limited natural resources, there is a need for cleaner sources of energy in the transportation sector. Renewable natural gas (RNG) is being considered as a potential fuel for heavy-duty applications due to its comparable usage to diesel and gasoline in vehicles. The idea of compressed RNG vehicles is being proposed especially because it will potentially significantly reduce harmful emissions into the environment. This initiative is taken in order to decrease vehicle emissions and support Canada’s commitments to the climate plans reinforcing active transportation infrastructure, in concert with new transit infrastructure, and zero emission vehicles. This study examines the feasibility of implementing a nationwide network of compressed RNG refuelling infrastructure in order to accommodate a conversion of Canada’s long-haul, heavy-duty truck fleet from diesel fuel to RNG. Two methods, Constant Traffic and Variable Traffic, along with data about compressed RNG infrastructure and vehicles, were developed and used to predict fuelling requirements for Canada’s long-haul, heavy-duty truck fleet. Then, a detailed economic analysis was conducted on various test cases to estimate how different variables impact the final selling price of RNG. This provided insight with the understanding of what factors go into pricing RNG and if it can compete against diesel in the trucking market. Results disclosed that the cost to purchase RNG is the greatest factor in the final selling price of compressed RNG. Due to the variability in RNG production however, there is no precise cost, which makes predictions difficult. However, results revealed that it is possible for compressed RNG to be competitive with diesel, with the mean compressed RNG price being 16.5% cheaper than diesel, before being taxed. Future studies should focus on the feasibility of the production of RNG and the associated costs, with emphasis on the Canadian landscape. An in-depth analysis on operational and maintenance costs for compressed RNG refuelling stations may also provide predictions that are more accurate.


Author(s):  
Usman Asad ◽  
Umar A. Shafique

Abstract Increasing emphasis on natural gas as a clean, economical and abundant fuel advocates its increasing use in transportation applications. In developing countries like Pakistan and India where, more than 80% of the goods are transported by trucks and where natural gas is available in abundance, development of natural gas conversion systems for heavy-duty truck engines offers a viable option to replace the use of expensive imported fuels. A complete dual-fuel (natural gas/diesel) conversion system developed using mostly commercially available components, for the Hino EC-100 diesel engine is described. Both diesel and natural gas operating modes are possible, without undermining normal engine performance as a diesel. The conversion system has performance similar to the ‘straight diesel’ operation, with comparable efficiency at full load. Furthermore, particulate and oxide of nitrogen (NOx) emissions are considerably lower than on diesel, however, carbon monoxide and hydrocarbon exhaust emissions are higher, particularly at light load.


2019 ◽  
Vol 141 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jinlong Liu ◽  
Hemanth Kumar Bommisetty ◽  
Cosmin Emil Dumitrescu

Heavy-duty compression-ignition (CI) engines converted to natural gas (NG) operation can reduce the dependence on petroleum-based fuels and curtail greenhouse gas emissions. Such an engine was converted to premixed NG spark-ignition (SI) operation through the addition of a gas injector in the intake manifold and of a spark plug in place of the diesel injector. Engine performance and combustion characteristics were investigated at several lean-burn operating conditions that changed fuel composition, spark timing, equivalence ratio, and engine speed. While the engine operation was stable, the reentrant bowl-in-piston (a characteristic of a CI engine) influenced the combustion event such as producing a significant late combustion, particularly for advanced spark timing. This was due to an important fraction of the fuel burning late in the squish region, which affected the end of combustion, the combustion duration, and the cycle-to-cycle variation. However, the lower cycle-to-cycle variation, stable combustion event, and the lack of knocking suggest a successful conversion of conventional diesel engines to NG SI operation using the approach described here.


2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
James P. Chiu ◽  
James Wegrzyn ◽  
Kenneth E. Murphy

2021 ◽  
Vol 41 ◽  
pp. 102985
Author(s):  
Beichen Ding ◽  
Benfei Wang ◽  
Ronghui Zhang

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