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UK Company Lands Heavy-Duty Diesel Dual-Fuel Conversion Contract in Australia

12 January 2007

Clean Air Power, a UK company, has won a £1.5+ million (US$2.9 million) contract to supply between 50 and 70 of its Dual-Fuel natural gas/diesel heavy-duty truck engine conversions to Mitchell Corporation in Perth, Australia.

The order follows a trial on 14 Roadtrains vehicles (multi trailer vehicles running at more than 100 tonnes gross vehicle weight) that is producing annualized fuel savings of up to £40,000 (US$78,000) per truck.

Clean Air Power’s Dual-Fuel application enables diesel engines to operate primarily on up to 85-90% natural gas with diesel fuel acting as a liquid spark plug.

Customers benefit from a combination of low emissions and high efficiency. The Clean Air Power Dual-Fuel system starts out on 100% diesel fuel until engine coolant is at operating temperature. At full power, diesel fuel is 10% of total fuel. Normal operation is up to 85% natural gas substitution.

The Dual-Fuel ECU controls natural gas operation and modifies diesel demand for the diesel engine ECU. It will automatically revert to diesel only when gas supply is out of acceptable parameters. Clean Air Power recently added a combustion knock sensor to protect the engine from variable gas quality.

For its next-generation solution, the company is developing the MicroPilot system. Using smaller diesel pilot injections representing 1-2% of the total fuel, MicroPilot can reduce NO_x emissions by more than 80%, while also reducing CO₂ emissions.

With recent advances in diesel fuel injection technology, Clean Air Power believes that Micropilot could be applied to heavy-duty engines in the 2010 timeframe, with Euro-5 compliance and beyond.

Clean Air Power supports both compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG) fueling systems.

Resources:

• Clean Air Power Summary of Current Performance & Emissions Status and Future Potential (March 2006)

January 12, 2007 in Diesel, Engines, Natural Gas | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)

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Comments

If CH4 is ultimately be biomethane , then it is a good step.

Posted by: allen_Z | Jan 12, 2007 9:38:59 AM

Isn't all CH4 biomethane, just the difference is how old it is? Natural vs. forced generation.

Posted by: Marc | Jan 12, 2007 5:14:13 PM

Natural gas is mostly methane. But it would be possible to make methane using coal, which is fossil and thus not bio. You would have to make methane out of a bio source, like biomass for it to be biomethane. Or the digesters that make methane from waste, but cleanup of hydrogen sulfide can be a problem.

Posted by: SJC | Jan 14, 2007 11:36:42 AM

Posted by: Veerachart Lohajoti | Aug 1, 2007 10:07:31 PM

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