CNG experiments in your part of the world ?

[eppie]

in 1989 an agricultural university in Holland, converted a Ferguson TEF to CNG. Problem was its short action radius, as CNG takes up 4 times more volume than LPG.

About 2 to 3 years ago, in England an agricultural university built a dual fuel system on a Scania 141 truck, which power rose from 350 to 380 hp whilst the specific fuel consumption dropped 10% because the CNG acted as a combustion accelerant in this 30 year old low injection pressure Diesel engine.

When taking the dual fuel route, you dont need spark plugs nor a throttle valve, nor lowering the compression ratio. This because a CNG-air mixture will only detonate at the correct mix ratio, but it will combust when the Diesel fuel ignites.

Over here in Holland, i only see city buses running CNG, because these buses have large amounts of unused space on the roof or under the floor, to mount big CNG tanks.


Is CNG used for anything else than cooking, power generation or city buses in your part of the world ? Any expermimental tractors ?

[kevanos]

School buses, some UPS trucks and some U.S. Postal trucks are all I've seen much of over the last several years. In Tulsa, at one time, there were public gas stations that had CNG pumps, and there were CNG cars available. Not around here though.

[Bernhard]

Mercedes is offering a Sprinter with CNG in Germany, local there is a Station, that offers CNG. The local energy plant is using Fiat, Ford and Mercedes Vans with CNG. A lot of manufacturers are offering Cars with bivalent drive system.

[kevanos]

The current thing here is flex-fuel vehicles that can run on various blends of ethanol. (Just about) all gasoline is now blended with 10% Ethanol, and many stations have now added new pumps that handle E85 (85% Ethanol) or various blends.

Bio-diesel is also gaining popularity, especially in the Ag world. Lots of farmers run it in their trucks, as well as tractors (off-road blend).

Reports say that CNG cars are gaining in popularity out west, especially in Utah and Calif.

[eppie]

How about agricultural applications ?? Does it seem a usable solution for tractors ? Or does biodiesel seem to be the first choice of alternative fuel for tractors ?

[kevanos]

I've seen no application for Ag use of CNG. Bio-Diesel seems to be the choice.

[eppie]

Kevanos, thats my observation too... the only CNG tractor was this converted TEF, about 20 years ago. (I have a lot of old magazines in a drawer under my bed, most of them are technical )
They already knew back then, that a farm tractor didnt have much room for large CNG tanks. City buses have plenty of room, and in a nearby city there are a few CNG buses.

At a dealer show last year, i saw a Farmet rapeseed press, whose product was directly thrown into the tank of a brand new Zetor proxima, which put out the same PTO hp at biodiesel as the standard diesel.
Biggest problem with biodiesel today, is the sensitivity of Common rail injection systems. That Zetor has an inline high pressure pump that did rapeseed without any modifications.