A bus fuels up with a blend of hydrogen and CNG at the Port Coquitlam Transit Centre. TransLink converted four transit buses to run on HCNG during normal service. Technology similar to the Hydrogen Highway in Canada will be employed in public bus fleets in Beijing and other Chinese cities.
The Natural Gas Vehicle Technology Forum reports that the U.S. Department of Energy has supported projects for generation and fueling of heavy-duty HCNG (Hydrogen-enriched Compressed Natural Gas) engines. Preliminary results from chassis dynamometer emission testing indicated that transit buses running on 20% hydrogen, 80% CNG mole fraction would have lower emissions, including a 50% reduction in NOx when compared to similar engines fueled with CNG alone. There is no significant change in fuel efficiency.
Green Car Congress relays an Economic Times report that Bajaj Auto, Ashok Leyland, Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra and Eicher Motors are participating in a project to develop hydrogen-blended compressed natural gas (HCNG)-run vehicles. If most of the public buses were to run on this cleaner type of gas, smog in packed Indian cities would be reduced.
Meanwhile, in The Netherlands after a year of trials the city of Beverwijk will begin a service that collects biogas from the sewage treatment process for domestic and transport use. This blog previously related an initiative by Svensk Biogas. Because of their commitment to better emissions standards, some European countries are well ahead in development of waste to energy. This topic of this post is conversion of agricultural waste associated with sugar production rather than biogas from other agricultural or municipal waste streams.
“India has the world’s second largest sugar industry, producing some 14 million tonnes per year grown on 3.6 million hectares of land. A total of 165 sugar mills are located in Maharashtra alone, more than half of all large facilities in India.”
Countries below the equator – most notably Argentina, Pakistan, and India – have converted public and private transport fleets to run on CNG (Compressed Natural Gas). In India, because it is a cheaper fuel than traditional liquid fossil fuels, demand for CNG is four times greater. With concerns that global production of natural gas is peaking, efforts are underway to convert biomass to a suitable CNG alternative.
Biopact reports that three sugar factories based in Maharashtra, India will employ technical know-how provided by Biogas Nord and Enersearch to produce ‘bio-CNG’ from sugarcane biomass as a transport fuel. “Bio-CNG” is a shorthand description for anaerobic digestion of biomass. A product of the process is bio-gas, which, when “cleaned up” to the quality of natural gas in pipelines, is called renewable natural gas or bio-methane. The renewable gas contains around 60 to 70 percent methane (CH4) with the remainder being CO2 with minor amounts of contaminants and trace gases. For bio-methane to be compressed and used as a transport fuel, it has go through further upgrading.
Because of scarcity, natural gas is quickly rising in price. Environmentalists count the diversion of biodegradable waste into anaerobic digestion and / or capture of bio-gas as a plus; it is less polluting than coal-fired generation.
Depending upon local and market prices it can be beneficial to enrich the biogas and use it for cost-effective, gas-fired electricity generation rather than upgrading to bio-methane. For instance, according to Biopact, a German bioenergy company, Nawaro Bioenergie AG, is “completing an integrated biogas power station in Klarsee, Penkun, in the German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania” that will generate 20 megawatts of electricity by fermenting energy maize.
It took 30 years of effort, required several billion dollars in incentives and involved many missteps, thus the path of freedom from a dependency on oil for Brazil provides clues to the real challenges facing other countries.
Still, bio-gas-fired electric generation is a source of carbon emissions because bio-gas is comprised partially of carbon dioxide. Projections are that the three cooperatives in Maharastra will be able to produce bio-CNG “at a competitive 22-24 rupiah (€0.38-0.41/$0.55-0.61) per kilogram.”
This compares favorably to current CNG prices in India, which range between 20 and 25 rupiah. On an energy equivalent basis, the bio-CNG would be 30 to 50% less expensive than diesel, the cheapest liquid fuel.
Biopact indicates that CNG already is a common fuel in cities, especially for vehicles. Bio-CNG from agricultural waste could become available to the larger rural population in India.
Sugarcane and its main processing residues – distillery sludge, bagasse and spent wash – make for an excellent biogas feedstock. In fact, if sugarcane as a whole crop were to be converted into biogas instead of ethanol, around 35 percent more energy could be obtained per hectare, because anaerobic digestion is a more efficient bioconversion process. Researchers have found that when the energy from sugarcane bagasse, which is used as energy for ethanol distillation, is included in the calculations, the energy output for sugarcane biogas could be up to to 130 percent higher than the figure for ethanol.
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It should be noted that Cummins Westport C Gas Plus engines now also are used in a CNG-electric series hybrid, similar to transit developed for use in Denver and on Long Island.
One might assume that a HCNG-electric series hybrid powertrain could use the same generator set. The traction motor and batteries may vary from these earlier configurations yet the batteries still would be recharged by plugging into the Grid and from regenerative braking, as well as by the inboard generator.
In the above post, is what is referred to as “distillery sludge” the same thing as what the Cuban Ministry for Science, Technology and Environment refers to as “cachaza”, which they attest can be used as feedstock for biogas production?
Mike Millikin relays a NGV Global report that Mercedes-Benz has launched a new natural gas semitrailer tractor.
Such a Class 8 truck could be exempt from congestion charges, for instance, in London, and possibly in New York or other cities, where such deterrence is under consideration.
The Mercedes-Benz Econic NGT 1828 semitrailer tractor is intended for urban and short-radius distribution. Mercedes-Benz launched it at the 2007 RAI International Commercial Vehicle Show in Amsterdam.
A key component for combustion of LPG or CNG is an ECU (Electronic Control Unit). The ECU in the Minda AutoGas / Impco kits supports CAN 2.0 communication and is EMC compliant.
While better emissions are achieved, when bio-CNG or HCNG is used to fuel public transit, there is a growing Asian market for personal transportation, so passenger cars like the CNG Prius would exemplify a comparitively, excellent emissions profile.
Mike Millikin relays word from the Economic Times that Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) will launch CNG fuel variants of its premium sedan Corolla and multi-utility vehicle Innova soon.
No doubt, this comes in part as a response to Tata Motors claims to be producing the cleanest small car for the India market.
Sugar production was estimated to top a record 28 million tonnes this year, resulting in a vast stream of bagasse from the 322 million tonnes of stalks harvested
The Biopact Team reports that the government of India aims to add 1,700 MW capacity through biomass and bagasse co-generation. Under its 11th Plan period (2007-2012), the target is 500 MW from biomass projects and 1,200 MW from projects based on utilizing bagasse.
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[...] can be transported and stored as liquids, yet easily become a combustible gas, to include HCNG (Hydrogen-enriched CNG), plus bio-energy sources of DME or butanol. With the double jeopardy of climate change and peak [...]
[...] the other hand, waste that is a byproduct from the processing of harvested crops, e.g., bagasse, rice husks, chaff, etc., and can be done with [...]
[...] India, sugar producers are learning that distillery sludge, bagasse and spent wash make an excellent feedstock for anaerobic digestion. [...]
[...] India, sugar producers are learning that distillery sludge, bagasse and spent wash make an excellent feedstock for anaerobic [...]
[...] This is the cached version of http://jcwinnie.biz/wordpress/?p=2602 We are neither affiliated with the authors of this page nor responsible for its content. The Sweet Smell of Maharastra Bio-CNG [...]
[...] efficiency is improved by diesel-like operation. And, mixing bio-methane with the natural gas or enriching the fuel gas with hydrogen reduces the grams of CO2 equivalent per kilometer even [...]
[...] engine technology optimized for hydrogen-natural gas blended fuel; [...]