California is Anti-Diesel

Just stumbled accross this web-site dedicated to fighting air-bourne pollution in California. Makes very interesting reading.

The Air Resources Board is dedicated to achieving emission reductions from diesel sources. Below are website links to categories of diesel-related sources to help you navigate this large area of our website. Also, please consider joining one or more of ARB's diesel related e-lists.

		Diesel Health Effects In 1998, California identified diesel exhaust particulate matter (PM) as a toxic air contaminant based on its potential to cause cancer, premature death, and other health problems. Diesel engines also contribute to California's fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) air quality problems. Those most vulnerable are children whose lungs are still developing and the elderly who may have other serious health problems.
		Mobile Vehicles and Equipment Mobile sources include on-road vehicles (trucks, buses, etc.) off-road vehicles and equipment (locomotives, tractors, cargo handling equipment, construction equipment, etc.) and marine vessels (recreational watercraft, commercial harbor craft, and ocean-going vessels).  For any diesel related inquiries, please call 1-866-6DIESEL (or 1-866-634-3735).
		Stationary Engines and Portable Equipment Stationary engines are used in emergency-standby generators, prime generators, and agricultural irrigation pumps. This area also contains information on portable equipment, such as portable generators and pumps, and transport refrigeration units (TRUs).
		Diesel Fuels In addition to diesel fuels, this area also includes information regarding alternative diesel fuels.
		Certifications/Verifications and Related LinksGo here for information regarding our Aftermarket Parts, On-road and Off-road Certification programs and our Verification of Diesel Emission Control Strategies (DECS).
		Related Programs, Plans, & Other Topics Additional links for related programs, such as Goods Movement, Railyards, the Diesel Risk Reduction Plan, Carl Moyer Program and Airborne Toxic Control Measures, Research Activities, Credits; Incentives, and Enforcement Activities, just to name a few.

EU Future of Transport Fuels Report

Vice President Siim Kallas

Good News for Natural Gas and LPG now, with a potential of 10% of all EU vehicles running on LPG by 2020.

Plus a growing Electric then Hydrogen Infrastructure in the future. The EU study concludes that "Alternative fuels such as electricity, hydrogen, biofuels, synthetic fuels, methane or LPG will gradually become a much more significant part of the energy mix."[At the expense of Diesel and Petrol].

No single substitution candidate, however, is seen. Fuel demand and greenhouse gas challenges will most likely require the use of a great variety of primary energies. There is rather broad agreement that all sustainable fuels will be needed to resolve the expected supply-demand tensions.

Acceptance, however, will be decisive for a competitive acquisition of market shares by the different fuels and vehicle technologies. Any new fuels should demonstrate their availability, affordability and reliability. Compatibility with existing fuels and vehicle technologies would facilitate a smooth market transition and optimise the total system cost and customer acceptance.

Energy Mix

Political and regulatory support will be decisive in the first phase to support the development and market entry of alternative fuels able to respond to the decarbonisation objectives. Liquid hydrocarbon fuels are expected to remain predominant over the next decades. But the use of electricity, hydrogen, biofuels, synthetic fuels, methane and LPG will steadily increase.

Methane/Natural Gas/Bio Gas

Methane gas vehicles can play an important role in urban and medium distance transport in the mid term (2020). A 5% market share for CNG/LNG vehicles could be possible by 2020, with some 15 million vehicles. A higher market share could be reached towards 2030 and beyond. In the city, all types of vehicles can be operated: passenger cars, light duty vehicles, taxis or buses for public transport and trucks, substantially reducing pollutant emissions.

Heavy duty trucks could in the medium range start to replace compressed methane by liquid methane, as the first new engines are currently appearing on the market. In 2050, these vehicles could still take an important share. In urban transport, passenger cars would shift from gas to electricity, while in the medium transport range gas would be more suitable.

The methane vehicle fleet development within the EU is very different from country to country: Italy, Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, the Netherlands, and Sweden have a reasonably good coverage of their territories with public methane filling stations allowing the development of the private use of light duty vehicles powered by methane. Sweden is leading in the use of biomethane, which is now accounting for 65 % of all the methane gas used in some 28.000 vehicles (as of June 2010). In Italy new passenger cars sold as methane vehicles in 2009 reached 7 % of all new registrations, and Sweden is close to a 5 % share.

A market share of 20 % of natural gas in transport fuels would allow a 5 % reduction of the CO2 emissions from all European vehicles. Assuming that 20 % of the gas used would be made up of bio-methane, the CO2 reduction would increase to 7 %. Over time, the share of biomethane in the overall natural gas supply could increase gradually and ensure further decarbonisation of methane powered vehicles.

***Methane use in buses and trucks substitutes for diesel fuel, and therefore can alleviate the imbalance in the European fuel market between gasoline and diesel. Decreasing pressure on diesel demand would then improve the overall energy efficiency of fossil fuel production.***

LPG

Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) was the first true alternative motor fuel. A mix of butane and propane, LPG is derived from oil refining (40% of the world total; 75% of LPG in Europe) and natural gas processing (60% worldwide; 25% in Europe). LPG can be burned in a slightly modified spark ignited internal combustion engine. Though retrofitted systems have traditionally dominated the automotive LPG market, both supply and demand for new, manufacturer-equipped LPG-powered vehicles is emerging in a series of EU markets.

When LPG motor fuel is used in a properly equipped vehicle, it has advantages over conventional motor fuels, particularly environmental benefits:

•  On a well-to-wheel basis LPG’s CO2 emissions are 14% and 10% lower than those of petrol and diesel respectively.
•  NOx emissions are lower than for gasoline vehicles and much lower than for diesel vehicles.
•  No soot particles are emitted.
•  The octane number is high, which should improve engine efficiency.

In the long term, however, these differences may diminish, with exhaust emission requirements for the different engine technologies converging.

A major advantage of using LPG as a transport fuel is better efficiency in the exploitation of mineral oil, and natural gas wells and thereby improving the energy and greenhouse gas emission balances of those. But this only holds if no other use would exist, which is not the case. The amount of LPG channelled to transport therefore has to be balanced also against its deployment in other sectors.

Infrastructure
The core infrastructure is already established, as LPG is used, in addition to the transport sector, also in domestic, industrial, and other sectors. More than 27,000 public filling stations for LPG were in service in the EU-27 as of end 2009. The cost of individual filling station installations ranges from about €20,000 for a basic unit with dispenser to €125,000 for a station with remote underground tanks and a dispenser incorporated in a petrol forecourt.

Potential
In 2006, LPG consumption for European OECD countries stood at 5.7 Mtoe, up 6% year-on-year. As for the other alternative fuels, spot developments are currently supported by fiscal incentives.

LPG supply is expected to increase as a result of increasing natural gas production worldwide. This could lead to an oversupply situation in the LPG market, as less than 10% of the available total is being consumed at present (21 million tons out of a total of 240 million tons available). This supply situation could allow an increase of the current fuel share of LPG in Europe, from about 3% to 10% by 2020. 

Bio-LPG derived from various biomass sources is expected to emerge as a viable technology in the medium to long term as a by-product in the biofuel production process in bio-refineries. Bio-LPG would then serve the same purpose as now fossil based LPG, namely improve the efficiency and economics of the whole fuel chain.

The current HVO plants are designed to yield mainly paraffinic diesel fuel but they produce also some bio-LPG as side product. Low-CO2 LPG could therefore already be delivered for niche markets. LPG can also be blended with DME produced via synthesis gas.

No Power Sacrifice with LPG

660 HP BMW M5 in LPG

G-POWER is known first and foremost for spectacular supercars, enormous power hikes and world speed records. What is less well-known, however, is the fact that environmental protection and resource conservation also enjoy a high priority in all G-POWER developments.

The power increases achieved by G-POWER are not paid for by an exorbitant rise in fuel consumption, but by maximization of the specific efficiency of the modified driveline. In its December 2008 issue, German magazine “Auto Bild sportscars” calculated an average fuel consumption of 18.3 l/100 km for the G-POWER M6 HURRICANE equipped with a 635 hp bi-supercharger system. In the January 2009 issue, the series production BMW M6 was found to have a fuel consumption of 18.1 l/100 km. This equates to an added fuel consumption of around 1% paired with a power increase of around 25%!

Supercharged engine

The whole package becomes even more environmentally friendly when the increased output is delivered courtesy of LPG instead of petrol. The conversion, however, is not that straightforward, even for series production high-revving engines. The even bigger challenge comes when the engine in question is also supercharged via two ASA radial compressors. By lucky coincidence, G-POWER is not only a supercharging specialist, but also one that happens to have particular expertise with BMW V10 power units. It is not without reason that G-POWER is the only company worldwide to offer an aftermarket supercharger system for the BMW V10 engine.

The outcome is the G-POWER M5 HURRICANE GS equipped with one fully sequential five-cylinder LPG system per cylinder bank. The benefits of LPG as a fuel are both economical and ecological in nature – not only is LPG around 50% less expensive per litre than petrol, it also reduces CO2 emissions by around 15 percent.

That said, there can be no sacrificing the hallmark G-POWER performance increase. 660 hp and 650 Nm of torque are the figures achieved by the SK II bi-supercharger system thanks to low-pressure forced induction with a relative charge pressure of 0.6 bar. Each cylinder bank of the 5.0l V10 power plant is equipped with a belt-driven ASA T1-313 compressor. Compared with conventional mechanical superchargers, which consume a large proportion of the additional power generated to drive themselves, ASA compressors have an efficiency rating of up to 80 percent. They thus form the ideal foundation for efficient forced induction, as well as increased output with an eye on resource conservation.

Downstream of the two ASA compressors, the pre-compressed charge air is brought down to performance enhancing temperatures by the twin-scroll, water-cooled intercooler finished in G-POWER’s characteristic orange. This sophisticated cast aluminium component replaces the series production airbox above the engine, where its short airways facilitate the same spontaneous responsiveness as the series production engine, albeit combined with a considerable benefit in torque. The superiority of the G-POWER compressor system is particularly evident when it comes to low-end torque, which is one weakness in the high-revving concept favoured by M GmbH. At long last, the 5.0l V10 offers impressive power delivery, of the kind that many customers might reasonably have expected from the series production version. Specifically developed mapping of the engine electronics and SMG transmission control ensure perfect interaction of all components.

Clean Installation

08.09.2010, 02:48 hours, local time. A desolate strip of autobahn close to G-POWER headquarters in Autenzell. The final test on the G-POWER development protocol is, as always, the calculation of top speed. With a sonorous growl from the G-POWER SPEED-Flow exhaust, the G-POWER M5 HURRICANE GS lets loose, just a few seconds later reaching its top speed of 333 km/h – a world record for an LPG car. With this world speed record, G-POWER delivers an impressive demonstration that high performance and environmental compatibility don’t have to be mutually exclusive.

Of course, it’s not just in top speed that the G-POWER HURRICANE GS achieves top marks. From a standing start, it sprints to 100 km/h in only 4.6 seconds. The 2-tonne saloon passes the 200 km/h mark in a total of just 11.4 seconds.

The immense forces that lie behind these figures are transmitted to the road via 9.0 x 20-inch and 10.5 x 20-inch forged SILVERSTONE CLUBSPORT alloy rims clad in 255/35 ZR 20 and 285/30 ZR 20 MICHELIN tyres. Thanks to their race-proven production technology, the G-POWER wheels are no heavier than the series production wheels, despite their larger dimensions. The resulting reduction in unsprung masses ensures better acceleration and greater agility through corners.

Further contributors to the high-speed capability of the HURRICANE GS are the G-POWER high-performance braking system and the G-POWER RS coil-over sports suspension, with 9-way adjustability for compression and rebound plus infinitely variable height adjustment.

The G-POWER SK II bi-supercharger system incl. conversion to LPG is also available for the current BMW M5 and M6.

PSV, HGV and CNG are ideal city partners

Compressed Natural Gas is ideally suited to heavier road vehicles in the UK. Its clean, far far cleaner than diesel and the conversion of existing diesel engines to CNG or LNG is a practical option. So 'Boris' (Lord Mayor of London)  lets bring in many more CNG (converted) buses rather than just experimental Hydrogen Fuel Cells. Even so CNG can power a fuel cell for the future.

The benefit for CNG is that the distribution networks are present in all our cities right now. We don't need Hydrogen fuel stations or electric re-charging points money needs to be spent effectively and efficiently. CNG is cheaper than diesel!

In addition gases (called Bio gas) from the Anaerobic Digestion (AD technology) of food, animal and human waste are mostly methane, the main component of natural gas. So we could see these buses filling up at the local sewage works. How about that for waste to energy and the community spirit!


Buses or Public Service Vehicles (PSV)

CNG Bus

Urban buses are one of the most popular uses for natural gas, usually utilizing CNG but occasionally using liquefied natural gas (LNG). A number of trials are currently under way testing HCNG, a blend of hydrogen and CNG.

Because the amount of mileage an urban bus travels doesn't vary much from day-to-day the fuel requirements can be catered for quite easily. Storage cylinders for CNG, LNG or HCNG are often installed on the roof of a bus, allowing the weight to be distributed evenly over the chassis.


Lorries or  Heavy Good Vehicles (HGV)

LNG fueled waste haulage vehicles in San Francisco

CNG or LNG Lorry dependant on duty Cycle.
Or even Dual Fuel for London Low Emission Zone 

The best fuel choice for a truck depends on the duty cycle of the vehicle. Trucks that do lower mileages or that return to a base frequently will often be suited for CNG, while trucks that do higher mileages might be more suited for LNG. In the past, the weight of CNG cylinders has often limited its application on heavy vehicles. This is becoming less relevant as natural gas engines are becoming lighter compared with their diesel counterparts and CNG cylinders are available manufactured with lightweight composite materials.

In some applications a fleet operator may choose a dual-fuel natural gas engine over a dedicated natural gas engine, giving them the option of switching to diesel if natural gas supplies become restricted.

Trains

Biogas powered trains are now operating commercially in Sweden

Trams and Trains on Natural Gas

Trains are a relatively recent application for natural gas. While experimental or small scale trials have happened in the past, larger scale commercial applications have only begun in recent years. Peru, Sweden and India have the most developed programs, with the Swedish operation making use of bio-methane, natural gas made from waste or renewable sources.

Boats

Boats can make use of CNG or LNG and, while still small in number, are becoming a popular choice for ferries or vessels which operate fixed routes.


Aircraft

Light aircraft in Brazil have been using CNG on an experimental basis

CNG Aircraft Development

The use of natural gas to fuel aircraft has only been conducted to date on an experimental basis, but the range of experiments conducted shows the flexibility of the fuel. Fixed wing aircraft from a small single engined prop plane to the massive Antonov AN-225 and even helicopters have been fuelled with natural gas.