CNG Fuels and National Grid unveil first high-pressure grid-connected CNG filling station; biomethane option
21 March 2016
UK-based CNG Fuels, in partnership with National Grid, has unveiled a new state-of-the-art filling station in Leyland, Lancashire, allowing vehicles to fill up on compressed natural gas (CNG) directly from the high-pressure local transmission system.
The new facility is the first of its kind in the UK and features a high-pressure connection, delivered by National Grid. This key piece of transport infrastructure is capable of refueling more than five hundred HGVs per day. The first major customer, Waitrose, part of the John Lewis Partnership, filled up at the new facility at unveiling, as a fleet of branded heavy-duty trucks rolled onto the forecourt.
Waitrose has a regional distribution center less than one mile from the new CNG filling station and will be its anchor customer.
The Leyland CNG station will be accessible 24X7, 365 days a year. The unmanned facility, with CCTV monitoring and remote diagnostics, is equipped with:
- 2 compressors with a combined capacity of close to 4,000 kg/hour;
- Cascade storage to ensure fast-fill (typically 3-4 minutes for a full CNG fill);
- 2 HGV refueling lanes with 4 independent fast-fill refueling dispensers (2 dispensers to be installed initially, with another 2 to be installed as demand increases); and
- 2 dedicated fast-fill CNG trailer loading bays.
Bio-methane. The facility also supplies 100% renewable biomethane (Bio-CNG) and is an important part of the UK’s rapidly growing CNG refueling infrastructure.
The biomethane is made from waste at anaerobic digestion plants and delivered to the filling station through the National Grid pipeline system.
Using the Green Gas Certification Scheme (GGCS) each unit of green gas injected into the grid displaces a unit of conventional gas. So the GGCS tracks each unit of green gas from its injection into the distribution grid to its sale. It tracks the contractual rather than physical flows to ensure there is no double-counting from production to end use.
The GGCS is run by the Renewable Energy Association’s subsidiary, Renewable Energy Assurance Ltd. GGCS participants oversee the way it is run, on a not-for-profit basis.
Even though the price of diesel and petrol has recently plummeted, the wholesale price of natural gas has also dropped, and our customers can still enjoy a pump price of CNG at our Leyland station that is more than 30% cheaper than the equivalent price of one litre of diesel. Using natural gas also cuts CO2 emissions by more than 20% and if fleets choose to fuel their trucks with Bio-CNG, they will be running on 100% renewable gas.
—Philip Fjeld, director at CNG Fuels
National Grid in the UK owns the high-voltage electricity transmission network in England and Wales, operating it across Great Britain, and also owns and operates the high-pressure gas transmission system in Britain.
The UK has around 10,000 km of 30 bar pipelines that is located close to around 90% of distribution depots, it provides a great low GHG opportunity, especially coupled with OEM produced dedicated CNG trucks like the Scania.
The U.K. Biomethane market represents an additional benefit. There will be around 3 TWh of gas injected into the gas grid in the next year, that is equal to 200 million kg of CNG. Assume a 4 X 2 tractor does 140, 000 km a year, that will use around 40,000 kg of CNG ...so enough biomethane to fuel 5,000 HGVs......a good start......if we assume each truck has 15% biomethane (as per EU renewable targets) then we can fuel around 33,000 trucks with 15% biomethane blend. That's a good start.
Posted by: baldwincng | 21 March 2016 at 07:24 AM
@Baldwincing
Biogas has ~65% methane and ~35% CO2. Does British biogas producers upgrade the CO2 part with hydrogen to make 100% methane or do they filter the CO2 away?
Posted by: Foersom | 21 March 2016 at 10:41 AM
Generally you use Pressure Swing Absorption (PSA) to get the CH4.
Posted by: SJC | 21 March 2016 at 12:24 PM
In UK most plants have historically vented the CO2 but around 10 projects now make Liquid CO2 and sell to the food and drinks industry or use it to feed CO2 into greenhouses. Tomatoes love CO2
Posted by: baldwincng | 22 March 2016 at 12:11 PM