The Caddy Maxi EcoFuel crosses the Peru-Ecuador border on the Panamericana

NGV champion Rainer Zietlow left Lisbon, Portugal on October 4th, 2009, driving a VW Caddy Maxi EcoFuel, intent on driving the two longest highways in the world using locally-fuelled natural gas. Carrying extra cylinders for the occasional leg where fuel is a little scarce, Zietlow and his team have advanced through much of the South American leg of the Panamericana.

From Santiago, Zietlow and his team travelled south to Tierra Del Fuego, north east to Rio de Janiero, then west through Bolivia where they refuelled at the world’s highest elevation natural gas station in La Paz, before venturing into Peru. Now, they are in Ecuador and on the doorstep of Colombia.

Interest in the CNG technology has been expressed by communities throughout the journey, especially in high altitude areas of South America where the Caddy has demonstrated natural-gas capabilities with ease.

Follow the team’s progress on this map.

The Gascop CNG plant will be located in an area near the Lot II Petrolera Monterrico facility operating in Piura, from which it hopes to use the natural gas reserves, says CPGNV general manager, Jorge Juarez. ““The gas in this area will be compressed to take it to the cities of Piura and Chiclayo (Lambayeque). This system is expected to start working during the first days of April,” he added.

Meanwhile, local CNG conversion workshops are undertaking the government-required approval process in readiness for the anticipated demand.

The report cites a press release — “By signing this agreement, YAA commits to conduct training, which will start in Islamabad with training of 70 individuals divided in two categories; the CNG fillers and CNG station operators. This programme will give the trained work force a better chance of job placement in the CNG sector”.

“The availability of a trained workforce at CNG stations will increase the income, both at individual and enterprise levels, in this growing energy sector” said Brian Cavanagh, Chief of Party USAID Pakistan Jobs, in an earlier report.

Taxi Affiliation Services (TAS), which operates Yellow Cab Chicago, the nation’s oldest and largest continuously operating taxicab fleet, has awarded Clean Energy Fuels Corp. a 10-year contract to build and operate two new CNG fueling stations and sell fuel to the company’s growing CNG taxi fleet. Yellow Cab Chicago and its affiliates plan an initial deployment of 100 new CNG taxis.

In addition to serving Yellow Cab taxis, the stations will be open 24/7 for public access.

James Harger, Clean Energy’s Chief Marketing Officer and Senior Vice President, said, “We look forward to supporting their first 100 clean, green CNG-powered taxis, and to provide ongoing support as their fleet expands. These key stations begin a larger city network we intend to build.”

Clean Energy partnered with Yellow Cab Chicago to apply for and secure $1.5 million in grant funding from the City of Chicago and the Department of Energy to help defer the costs of station construction and acquiring new CNG taxi vehicles.

Michael Levine, CEO, Taxi Affiliation Services, said, “We operate approximately 3,000 cabs … Our new, growing CNG taxi fleets will provide benefits not only to the drivers and passengers in the form of lower fuel costs and clean, green performance, but to the City of Chicago at large, as greenhouse gas emissions are significantly reduced.”

Xebec Adsorption Inc. (Xebec), a provider of biogas upgrading, natural gas and hydrogen purification solutions, has been awarded a contract for a biogas upgrading plant to be used in a biogas project currently being developed by the Sudokwon Landfill Corporation in Seoul, Korea. The project is being managed by Halla Energy and Environment (Halla), a Korean company with considerable experience in environmental pollution control facilities and renewable energy generation facilities.

The Xebec plant will purify biogas produced from food waste, producing high quality renewable compressed natural gas (CNG) to be used as vehicle fuel. Renewable CNG produced from the project will be used to fuel the City of Seoul’s fleet of low-emission CNG buses from an existing CNG station at the Sudokwon landfill site. Halla will provide site civil engineering, construction and project management services for the Sudokwon project.

“The Sudokwon project is the first project in Korea to produce renewable CNG fuel from food waste and will serve as a model for the development of similar waste-to-CNG projects in Korea, and across Asia,” said Andrew Hall, Xebec Vice President for Asia/Pacific. Hall acknowledged the significant support provided by the Korean government for the construction of anaerobic digesters to process both food waste and agricultural waste such as manure.

Xebex’s biogas plant will incorporate the company’s proprietary rapid-cycle pressure swing adsorption (rPSA) biogas purification technology, with features including low energy consumption, zero environmental emissions and a compact design which minimizes installation costs and time.

Southern California’s City of Burbank now has a 100-percent CNG-fueled solid refuse fleet, with the addition of a solid waste rear-loader collection truck completing the transition. Reported in Government Fleet, the move to CNG required a significant capital investment, while benefits include lower fuel and maintenance costs and reduced emissions. As David Rodriguez, fleet superintendent, explained, “The City’s stance has always been that we understand the technology costs money, and it’s our responsibility to use our money wisely. We feel it’s more prudent to pay extra initial capital outlay and give our citizens and geographical area better air quality.”  The City is seeing immediate benefits from the switch to CNG, with savings from reduced fuel costs (approx. $1 gallon compared with diesel and gasoline) and lower maintenance costs.

“Take a refuse truck that’s driving eight hours a day, five days a week, and gets about 5 miles to the gallon. That means a lot of savings, not only in the carbon footprint, but in dollars to us,” said Ari Omessi, assistant public works director.

Rodriguez added, “The CNG engine seems to be bulletproof. Other than oil changes, we’re not seeing any major component malfunctions.”

Methane hydrate vein in sediment (NETL image)

“Naturally occurring methane hydrate may represent an enormous source of methane, the main component of natural gas, and could ultimately augment conventional natural gas supplies,” says a new congressionally mandated report from the US National Research Council. Although a number of challenges require attention before commercial production can be realized, no technical challenges have been identified as insurmountable, the report says. Moreover, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Methane Hydrate Research and Development Program has made considerable progress in the past five years toward understanding and developing methane hydrate as a possible energy resource.

NGVAmerica reports that some of the remaining challenges to production identified by the committee include developing the technology necessary to produce methane from methane hydrate and understanding methane hydrate’s potential to behave as a geohazard. In addition, the committee recommended research and development areas for DOE’s program, such as designing production tests, appraising and mitigating environmental issues related to production, and determining with greater accuracy the methane hydrate resources on the Alaska North Slope and in marine reservoirs.

The report was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy. The National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine, and National Research Council make up the National Academies. They are independent, nonprofit institutions that provide science, technology, and health policy advice under an 1863 congressional charter. Committee members, who serve pro bono as volunteers, are chosen by the Academies for each study based on their expertise and experience and must satisfy the Academies’ conflict-of-interest standards. The resulting consensus reports undergo external peer review before completion. Copies of “Realizing the Energy Potential of Methane Hydrate for the United States” are available from the National Academies Press.

Additional information on methane hydrates is available from the US National Energy Technology Laboratory.

At the end of 2009 there were over 23,000 gas vehicles in Sweden and 104 public filling stations, reports Gasforeningen, the Swedish Gas Association. Vehicle fuel sales during 2009 amounted to more than 67 million cubic meters, an increase of 16 percent compared to 2008. The share of biomethane in vehicles’ gas has also grown, recording an increase  over 2008 of 27 percent. Vehicle gas replaced petrol and diesel equivalent to 45 000 passenger cars in 2009,  resulting in approximately 130 000 tonnes less carbon dioxide being released.

Biogas has in recent years come to represent an increasing volume of total fuel sales in Sweden, with the renewable fuel now representing 65 percent of all vehicle fuel. So much so that responsibility for collection of NGV statistics has now switched from the Gasforeningen to the government’s Energy Agency — the statistical authority responsible for the supply and use of energy, energy balances, and price trends in the energy field.

EPA-certified CNG retrofits now available for the GM Silverado and other GM 2010 models

Laboratory-proven reductions of 51% CO, 41% NOx, and 22% of CO2 greenhouse gas emissions

NaturalDrive Partners, LLC,  a small volume manufacturer of alternative fuel retrofits for fleet and consumer applications, has obtained model year 2010 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) emissions certification for its dedicated compressed natural gas (CNG) retrofit of the General Motors 6 liter three quarter and full ton trucks. Models covered include the C25, K25, and K35 Silverado and Sierra vehicles in 2WD and 4WD configurations.

These vehicles provide laboratory-proven reductions of 51% CO, 41% NOx, and 22% of CO2 greenhouse gas emissions as a result of converting to natural gas fuel, and qualify for the maximum federal tax credit of $8,000 for vehicles in this weight class, according to a report by The Auto Channel. Powertrain and emissions component durability is ensured via NaturalDrive’s proprietary calibrations, which provide cooler engine out and catalyst temperatures on CNG as compared to the original gasoline configuration.

With this certification NaturalDrive builds on existing model year 2008 and 2009 certifications for the General Motors 3.5, 3.9, 4.8, 5.3 and 6.0 liter platforms. As per the EPA certificate, ” Vehicle models covered by this certificate were originally produced by General Motors in model year 2010 to operate on gasoline and have been modified by the above named manufacturer to operate on CNG.”

Fleets can convert a wide variety of sedans, trucks and vans to CNG operation with certified NaturalDrive systems, including the Chevrolet Impala, Malibu, G6, HUMMER H3, Silverado/Sierra, Express/Savana, Colorado/Canyon, in weight classes ranging from 4,000 to 10,000 GVWR.