Energtek and Philippines Launch Project to Convert Three-Wheelers to ANG
21 December 2007
 |
| ANG storage material. Click to enlarge. Source: Energtek |
Energtek Inc., the Department of Energy (DOE) of the Republic of the Philippines, and the Philippines National Oil Company Exploration Corporation launched a project for the conversion of three-wheel vehicles to natural gas-powered systems with adsorbed natural gas (ANG) storage, in the Republic of the Philippines.
Energtek’s adsorbed natural gas (ANG) technology addresses the two and three wheel vehicles market, which represents the fastest growing segment of the world automotive market. Most of the vehicles in this segment—currently estimated at about 200,000,000 units—are in Asia.
The conversion to natural gas provides significant economic advantages to the vehicles’ owners, and at the same time provides significant environmental improvements through the reduction of harmful emissions.
The ANG technology allows storing natural gas under lower pressures than compressed natural gas (CNG) technology, the prevalent storage technology for natural gas vehicles (NGV). Utilizing ANG technology vastly improves refueling expenses and allows for a more efficient use of the vehicle’s space. The lower pressure used by ANG technology also allows significant savings in the infrastructure costs of filling stations.
In a conventional high-pressure storage tank, gas is forced into the tank under pressure. The maximum pressure, and therefore volume of gas held in the tank, is limited by the physical properties of the tank and its valve. The addition of a microporous material, such as activated carbon, into the tank makes it possible to do one of two things:
Store a larger volume of gas in the same container, at the same pressure.
Store the same volume of gas in the container at a lower pressure.
Energtek’s ANG technology comes via its acquisition Angstore. (Earlier post.) Energtek purchased a controlling interest in Angstore; in August, it purchased full ownership.
Excellent.
There are already 7.3 million NGV powered vehicles and this ANG technology will help increase NGV's.
These 3 wheelers are typically public transport vehicles and they make around 200 km (120 miles) / day.
Posted by: Max Reid | 21 December 2007 at 09:11 AM
Good to see an emerging economy like the Phillippines leapfrog expensive CNG technology in an effort to shift from oil to gas as a transportation fuel. Methane burns cleanly and reduces CO2 emissions per mile relative to gasoline and diesel. More relevant is that gas is more abundant in the world than oil and, that significant reserves available outside Russia and the OPEC countries - though these do have the largest if you discount global methane hydrate deposits.
Also, biogas is currently the only renewable technology that can convert cellulosic agricultural wastes to a transportation fuel at an industrial scale. In principle, ANG vehicles could therefore help the Phillipines and others meet a significant fraction of their transportation fuel demand from domestic sources, partially decoupling their future economic growth from the price of oil.
Note that the adsorbent material in ANG technology is heavy, but that this is compensated for by the lower weight of the tank walls relative to CNG. Moreover, the lower pressure means that ANG tanks could perhaps double as soundproofing in cars, provided the associated crash safety issues could be resolved.
Posted by: Rafael Seidl | 21 December 2007 at 05:07 PM
RS,
It is nice to see someone that knows the facts posting here on a regular basis. If other countries of the world are right, SNG can be made on a large scale.
Posted by: sjc | 25 December 2007 at 12:59 PM
Thankyou so much ENERGTEK in launching your breakthrough technology in the Philippines and by using our local mode of transport that employs more than two million operators and drivers across the country. This could be a big boost also in greening our environment since this is one of the two reason why we have a very high carbon emission, due to this tricycles and the other are those from Jeepneys.
Maybe you could help us also extract and store Methane from our dumpsites and from huge animal waste out of piggeries, poultries and outher farm and domisticated animals.
More power to your company.
Posted by: DESERTFOX | 28 December 2007 at 03:58 AM
It sounds like most of the molecules other than methane in the NG needs to be removed before storing in the cylinder to prolong the effectiveness of the adsorption material. If you have a low pressure compressor in your garage, perhaps a filtering mechanism could be implemented.
There are several companies than now sell ANG systems for various applications.
http://www.gas-tec.com/products_5.html
As gasoline prices get higher, we might see more dual fueled cars on the road. Chino, Ca. has mandated that there be an NG outlet in garages of new homes. Lots of people commute from Chino to other counties every work day, so using less gasoline and having cleaner air seems to be a prioity for them.
Posted by: sjc | 30 December 2007 at 10:20 AM