NGV User: July 2007

Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Natural-gas-powered bicycle

We have motorcycle powered by natural gas. Now, have you heard about bicyle powered by natural gas. I know you must be thinking of these...

Now look at these, is this the bicycle powered by natural gas?

Of course not, it's a picture of a boy stealing natural gas in China. You never know, there's one somewhere in this world.

Thursday, July 26, 2007

From ethanol to compressed natural gas

The journey of Brazil in enhancing their natural resources to be used in their vehicle is not new.

A desire to reduce dependency to imported petrol lets them to be creative with what they already have.

Brazil, however, has seen it all before. In the mid-1970s, the government initiated the “Proalcool” programme to convert sugar cane into ethanol with the aim of becoming the first country in the world to convert to renewable fuel.

Its motives were the same as in America today — independence from imported oil — but the reasons were entirely economic rather than due to concerns over security of supply or the environment.

It was a happy coincidence that Brazil’s ethanol-powered cars produced 50% less greenhouse gases than equivalent petrol engines.

Sales of ethanol cars dropped to almost zero by 1997 and stayed that way until the idea was revived in 2003 when oil prices started to rise again.

This time the ethanol cars had an important difference: “flexi-fuel”. Today’s models can run on both petrol and ethanol. A computer control unit detects what kind of fuel is in use and adjusts the engine accordingly. It was developed in Brazil by Magneti Marelli, the electronic-component company that is part of Fiat.

The government’s new idea is to promote CNG (compressed natural gas). Brazil has large reserves of natural gas and access to further supplies from neighbouring Bolivia.

CNG is cheap — the cost per kilometre is less than half that of petrol and alcohol.

Magneti Marelli has risen to the challenge with its Tetrafuel system. This is a single-engine, electronic-control unit that can detect and automatically switch between CNG and liquid fuel which can be 100% petrol, 100% ethanol, or any combination of the two.

Page 1 from Times Online

Page 2

Have a look at Magneti Marelli TetraFuel Technology

Drastic measure

Is is a bit strange that although Iran is no.2 oil producer in OPEC, it seems that it has low supply of it in its own country.

Gangs of youths torched petrol stations and long queues developed at pumps in Tehran after the Iranian Government announced the start of fuel rationing, causing the kind of violent protests rarely seen in the Islamic Republic.

In the past, cheap pump prices have encouraged such widespread consumption that, despite its huge oil production rate, Iran has ironically been forced to spend billions of dollars each year importing petrol.

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

My Green Families

Actually this is the basic things that make up a conversion kit to use compressed natural gas.

This is my 66-litre steel tank

My solenoid valve link to a fuel selector switch next to my steering wheel.

And this one is a refuelling valve. You fit in a refuelling nozzle to it at the gas station.

Last but not least, gas regulator. It regulates the gas pressure from high pressure (about 200 psi in compressed gas in the tank to atmosphere pressure, I think).

There's another one that is not shown here, a mixer or injector. This one mix gas with air and feed it to the carburettor (in case of mine) before going into the combustion chamber.

Don't do it like me

I just came back from refuelling my car at my nearest station. My indicator showed red light but I still believed that I can make it to the station.

Half way there, my car started showing like there no more gas left. So, I parked my car at the roadside and switched to petrol.

The loss of power was so sudden that luckily not many car on the road. Imagine your are in a busy road and no way to park your car. Trouble is coming your way...

It was about 10 km on petrol when I got to the station. RM 10.48 for 211 km which is about 5 cents per 1 km.

Not bad compared to about 30 cents per km on petrol I guess. Next week I'm gonna use petrol for a whole week and compare the consumption of petrol and gas.

I'll tell you about it later on.

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Gasoline or petrol as an engine lubricator

Ever wonder why my installer advised me to let the car spend overnight over petrol, now I know the answer. It's because the nature of gas.

Technically, CNG engines are not that different from gasoline or diesel ones.

“There’s a little bit of modification because the fuel is dry, being a gas,” said Dan Masood, an instructor in alternative fuels at the New England Institute of Technology.

“It’s not a liquid so it hasn’t the lubricating qualities like gasoline and diesel.” Differences include hardened valves and a higher compression ratio because of the 130 octane level, he said.

CNG is about 95 percent methane, which burns very efficiently.

McClanaghan said it was far cleaner than other petroleum-based fuels, even clean diesel. “You open up an engine [after thousands of miles] and it’s perfectly clean,” she said.

“CNG is one of the simplest hydrocarbons,” said Masood.

The combustion process basically produces carbon dioxode, but about 40 percent less of it than gasoline, and water.

Some of the nitrogen from the air used in combustion is turned into nitrogen oxide, or Nox, but if the cylinders are kept below a certain temperature much of the nitrogen comes out unaffected, he said.

Friday, July 20, 2007

Top of the world

Last time, I mentioned about natural gas for vehicle (NGV) in Asia Pacific Region.

However, in the world ranking, Argentina is on the top of the list with 1,650,000 vehicles and 1,640 refuelling stations (May 07).

Next is Brazil with 1,357,239 vehicles with 1,410 stations.

Third is Pakistan followed with Italy.

Source: International Association for Natural Gas Vehicles

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Another interesting stats…

Look at these:

Country	No of vehicle	No of refueling station
Pakistan	1,300,000	1,230	April 2007
India	334,820	325	October 2006
Iran	292,455	203	June 2007
China	127,120	253	October 2006
Bangladesh	80,000	129	Jan 2007
Japan	30,469	311	Jan 2007
Malaysia	22,600	42	October 2006
Thailand	21,799	76	October 2006
Korea	11,578	107	October 2006
Indonesia	6,600	17	July 2005
Singapore	238	1	June 2006
Phillipines	36	3	June 2006

As you can see in Asia Pacific region, Pakistan, India and Iran are the top three while Malaysia is the middle player in NGV.

Source: Asia Pacific Natural Gas Vehicles Association (ANGVA)

Thursday, July 12, 2007

Or if you fancy a motorcycle on gas...

Not to left behind, you can buy a motorcycle using a natural gas

These are China-made bikes with 1 full tank of natural gas can go for 100 km (7 L water capacity tank).

Of course it has petrol tank as well (1.5L petrol tank? This one you must ask the manufacturer , if 1.5 L times RM 1.92.= RM 2.88 full tank….why it is so small).

The top bike looks like in the 70’s…I remember Dahlan Zainuddin posing with it on his cassette's cover.

Interested, place an order with this Chinease Factory.

New car on gas...

I you want a brand new car that comes with conversion kit and look beautiful, Look at this;

As the only passenger car in the country to be powered by natural gas, the 2007 Honda Civic GX, produces near zero emissions and continues to be the "earth's cleanest certified internal combustion engine".

Yours from USD 25,000.00

More info from Honda Dealer or 'Alternative Fuel Vehicles Resource

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Some interesting facts that I think we all should know

Let see some facts about NGV particularly in Malaysia

• 20% reduction in CO2 emission

• 15% less power in NGV

• Air cleanliness is very important in NGV compared to petrol; “Engine Air Fuel Ratio at idle is affected by air filter cleanliness on NGV mode”

• In Malaysia, Gas Production: 5 billion cubic feet per day and Gas Reserve: 89 trillion cubic feet (2003)

• NGV best suited to fully warmed engine. (That explained to difficulty to start in the morning)

• On Engine cleanliness; “Generally better combustion chamber and carburettor cleanliness but slightly more inlet valve deposit. However this does not affect the
engine operation.”

• Common conversion kit brands: Tartarini, Landi Renzo, Lovato, Tomasetto, Oyrsa, Gaspetrol & Pelmag

Source: Mengat, J., et al Asian Petroleum Technology Symposium
January 18-20, 2006

News from Petronas Dagangan

I read that Petronas at the moment have 52 stations with compressed natural gas refuelling stations.

From Berita Harian dated 10 July 2007:

Petronas Dagangan ketika ini mengendalikan 852 stesen minyak dengan 59 daripadanya dilengkapi kemudahan gas asli cecair (LNG).

More from Berita Harian

Interestingly 58% of their profit comes from retailing NOT from selling petrol or petroleum-related items.

From what I know there's only 42 stations as mentioned in my previous post.
I don't know about the other 17, may be there are still in construction.

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Things you need to know that people not always tell you

Summary of my experience so far.

1. It’s not really suitable for you, the young or young-at-heart racer…No power at all.

They say 5% less (I don’t know how they figure it) but for me it’s like eternity waiting it to really GO from 0.

I can feel that drivers behind me start swearing already. I’m also swearing lah…Come on car

2. Thing that people don’t tell you is YOU have to refuel it everyday or twice a day if you run a long distance.

It’s not because NGV consume more but the tank is limited. It’s really a hassle.

You have to queue with taxis and have a lot of patience. Go for as bigger tank as you can fit in your car.

3. The actual refueling process takes time.

Longer than petrol I must say. RM 10.00 on petrol takes about 1 mins, RM 10.00 NGV takes about say 5 mins.

4. Good for nature. Pretty good combustion rate compared to petrol as they say.

I’m not sure really since I’m using it because of it saves money later nature.

5. I was told the lubricant stay clean longer i.e can stretch to 10,000 km service.

I don’t know about it, I tell you whether it’s true or not when the time comes.

6. Although there are increasing no. of NGV refueling station, you still have to print the address of nearest station when you are out of your familiarize area.

However, don’t worry and don’t panic when your LED light turns red, simply switch to no 1 or petrol.

# From my experience, better turn the switch on the roadside (not during the traffic jam with a long queue behind you).

It takes some time for the engine to get used to petrol. If not the engine start jerking or engine cut off during idling. It’s happen to me.

Good for commute to work. Why waste money.

Friday, July 6, 2007

Latest NGV news.....from Iran

I just read that Iran will enforced a new rule that EVERY new car will be fitted with conversion kit to use compressed natural gas (CNG) and petrol.

Iran has announced that it will stop producing purely petrol-driven cars and produce more dual-fuel vehicles, which also run on gas.

The minister of industries said the production of petrol-only cars would stop in just over two weeks' time.

Burning questions....

What is NGV?

NGV stands for ‘Natural Gas for Vehicle’. It stands for vehicle using CNG or rarely in some other countries LNG (liquefied Natural Gas).

CNG is the same as LNG except it’s in a liquid form.

In Malaysia, NGV uses CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) and I was told it’s not the same as our cooking gas LPG (Liquified Petroleum Gas).

After some digging in the net, I found out that CNG is made by compressing methane (CH4) extracted from natural gas (gaseous form) while LPG made from mainly propane mix with butane and it is in liquid form.

Please note that LPG can also be used as a substitute to petrol. In UK, it is called Autogas

I'm about to running out of gas....where's the station

Where to find your nearest NGV refueling station, ask your installer or

Look at Petronas Dagangan site

Klang Valley (Selangor and WP) - 33 stations
Negeri Sembilan – 2 stations
Johor – 5 stations
Penang – 1 station
Malacca – 1 station

Thursday, July 5, 2007

Fit or not

Thursday

I on my way to work on red light remaining on NGV. I think I can still make it to the nearest NGV station (my usual station).

Half way there, I can feel that the car having less than normal power, so quickly I pull over to the road side and switch to no 1 i.e petrol.

Having a bad experience last time switching in the middle on the road. I decided not this time.

First I turn to 0. The engine quickly cut off. Switch to no. 2. Turn the key on, nothing. So I have to press the pedal first (let the fuel go in) and turn the key.

The engine starts but I have to ramp it for a few minutes, if not the engine will cut off when idling. As if the let the petrol to get used to the system.

After some times, I decided to continue my journey (join back the traffic jam). I’m still have to rev the engine if not it will cut off. Luckily I’m in the middle on slow moving traffic jam, I can turn the gear to neutral and ramp the engine.

At last, I arrived at the NGV station, and go straight to the pump. (not much taxis). In this station, there’s only 4 refuel stations.

I fit the gas nozzle to my ngv connecting valve and waits for the atttendent to release the gas. Then I turn the gas.

During the refueling, I saw one taxi next to me trying to fit the gas head to his taxi but fail to do so, then he reverse the taxi and try the other one and it fits.

When I ask the lady attending the fuel pump, she said that that taxi just replacing the gas inlet point.

Mmmmm,there an incompatibility problem I think...I should remember this to ask my installer about it.

NGV User