BAF Technologies to Distribute Hardstaff Dual-Fuel Conversion Technology in US
31 July 2009
| Basic OIGI system for CNG or LNG. Click to enlarge. |
US-based BAF Technologies, a provider of natural gas conversions for select light- and medium-duty vehicles, has entered into an exclusive distributorship agreement with UK-based T. Baden Hardstaff to retrofit existing heavy-duty on-road vehicles to dual-fuel operation. The agreement will provide BAF with exclusive territory rights for the United States.
BAF is currently converting 600 AT&T Ford E-Series vans to dedicated CNG technology in 2009. (Earlier post.) T. Baden Hardstaff is a service and technology provider for the road transport industry specializing in the development of low carbon vehicle technologies. Among its offerings is the OIGI dual-fuel system that can work with either compressed or liquefied natural gas.
BAF says it will be testing and certifying multiple heavy-duty engines, particularly those used for school buses, refuse haulers and other similar uses, according to a report from NGV Global. BAF will soon announce projects already in place with interest in dual-fuel building.
OIGI. The Hardstaff OIGI (Oil Ignition Gas Injection) is a dual-fuel system developed to substitute natural gas for diesel in light- and heavy-duty engines. Diesel is required as the ignition source in dual fuel engines. With the OIGI system the engine will use 100% diesel at idle; gas injection and diesel reduction commences when engine speed increases. Precise control of diesel reduction and gas injection quantities ensures efficient fuel use and performance equivalent to the original diesel engine.
The natural gas injection system is electronically controlled and can cater for multi-point, mono point and sequential port injection. A separate electronic control unit (ECU) is used for the natural gas fuel, providing a full closed loop feedback system that monitors existing variables alongside the diesel electronic control unit (ECU) and controls the gas injection based on the feedback from the various engine sensors.
The sensors include boost pressure, lambda sensor signal, pedal deflection, coolant temperature, gas temperature and pressure, and many more inputs. The ECU is fully programmable and can provide custom mapping for various vehicle applications. The system is also OBD (On Board Diagnostics) compliant.
(A hat-tip to John!)
Running a diesel truck on dual fuel diesel-CNG gives the CO2 reduiction of the CH4 molecule with the efficiency of the diesel engine - reduction in CO2 per km of around 25%. Hard to beat that. Couple this with biomethane instead of fossil natural gas and you have a 75% reduction in CO2 compared to diesel with the advantage that the vehicle still runs on diesel if there is no gas (so no range issue)
Expect to see this market grow massively in next 5 years.
Posted by: John Baldwin | 31 July 2009 at 04:26 PM
Because of the energy consumption in refining, pumping, shipping and tanking of diesel, its use in trucks releases much more CO2 to the air than does mining and burning of coal for each kilowatt-hour delivered to the wheels of the vehicle or the shaft of the generator at a power plant. This release of carbon is increased by the inefficiencies of the way diesel engines are used in trucks.
Because of cheap micro-controllers and sensors, it is now possible to monitor the efficiency of a truck or lorry or automobile engine at all times. Such monitors could be built at very low cost. Trucking companies could determine who the most economical drivers are and what the economical speeds are.
The use of methane in vehicles is well worth the cost in the long run. There is much space available for the installation of tanks. The Stirling company in Holland can build a liquifier for small users, but the compression of methane with the ionic-fluids compressors of Germany is efficient enough or even more energy efficient.
The use of methane in vehicles reduces the CO2 over diesel or gasoline much more than 25 percent. But hybrid diesels can get a large reduction without the complication. A well engineered system can also use propane or butane.
A hydraulic hybrid that uses the INNAS NOAX free piston engine and INNAS hydraulic motors would get very good efficiency.
Many emergency power plants have been equipped to run on diesel and natural gas for many years.
A very large very slow speed engine has run on LNG for years.
I would be very glad to design a large scale biomethane production facility for a trucking company that uses corn among other things to quickly produce biomethane far more efficiently than ethanol is produced.
There is not enough land for biofuels, but what land is used for biofuels should be used for more efficient methane.
Stimulus monies should be used to build coal-to-liquid factories at every coal fired power plant and the price for fuel from such units must be guaranteed. An import duty on imported oil can pay for the price guarantee as it is doing for ethanol. Cogeneration will make the production more efficient. Eventually the power plants can be converted to cleaner coal technologies with carbon capture with synthentic gas from the GTL factory.
CO2 is not evil; every live and many dead plants and animals, including humans, release it directly into the air. Many years ago I developed the idea of the "smoke" sewer into which all combustion products had to be emptied.
Canisters can be developed that collect all of the CO2 from an automobile and are exchanged at service stations. They can be recharged at pebble-bed nuclear reactors. Better yet use nuclear electricity and batteries, but always with a very small fuel powered range extender engine. ..HG..
Posted by: Henry Gibson | 01 August 2009 at 12:40 AM