NGVAmerica News Week in Review: June 5, 2017

 

• City of Phoenix to Purchase Additional 32 CNG-Powered New Flyer Transit Buses
• Republic Services to Reduce Carbon Emissions with Expanded Use of RNG
• Indiana Police Department Introduces 28 CNG Vehicles to Fleet
• Landi Renzo Will Offer CNG Option for 2018 Ford F-150 Pickup
• CARB Seminar to Explore Lowering NOx Emissions from Heavy Duty Vehicles NGVA
• NGVA Europe Study Confirms Emission Reduction Benefits of Natural Gas in Transportation
• Westport Sells Impco Industrial Group to Focus on Alternative Fuel Solutions
• Rolls-Royce Receives Order for 15 Natural Gas Engines for Five New Ferries
• TMC Compressors Launches Boil-Off Gas Compressor for LNG Vessels

 

City of Phoenix to Purchase Additional 12 CNG-Powered New Flyer Transit Buses

May 30, 2017

New Flyer Industries announced that the City of Phoenix exercised options under its contract for 40-foot and 60-foot articulated heavy-duty Xcelsior buses powered by clean-burning CNG.

The order is comprised of two 60-foot articulated Xcelsior CNG buses and 10 40-foot Xcelsior CNG buses. These buses will replace part of the City of Phoenix’s existing fleet that have reached the end of their useful life.

“New Flyer is proud to be in a position to provide industry-leading buses to the City of Phoenix,” said Paul Smith, Executive Vice President, Sales, Marketing and Customer Program Management.

Last year, the Phoenix Public Transit Department ordered 120 CNG buses to serve the city’s local routes. The buses, which made up 25 percent of the city’s bus fleet, replaced existing LNG buses that averaged 12 years and 500,000 miles of service.

 

Republic Services to Reduce Carbon Emissions with Expanded Use of RNG

May 30, 2017

Republic Services will increase its use of renewable natural gas (RNG) by three times what it used in 2016 through an expanded agreement with Clean Energy. Republic says the agreement will enable it to reduce its fleet emissions by approximately 110,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent over a three-year period.

“As the operator of the eighth largest vocational fleet in the country, we have a number of initiatives to reduce overall fuel usage, including our continued commitment to operating CNG-powered trucks,” said Pete Keller, vice president of recycling and sustainability. “These initiatives will help us to reach our goals of reducing fleet greenhouse gas emissions.”

Clean Energy’s Redeem brand of RNG fuel will be deployed across Republic’s CNG-fleet in 20 states. Redeem is derived from biogenic methane or biogas, which is methane that is generated by the decomposition of organic waste in landfills or digesters. The methane gas is then processed, purified and sent into the interstate natural gas pipeline and made commercially available to Clean Energy customers.

As part of the Company’s Blue Planet sustainability initiative, Republic is continuing to build durable practices and programs across its sustainability platform to further improve its environmental and social impacts through decreased vehicle emissions among other initiatives.

Nationwide, Republic operates a fleet of more than 2,500 CNG vehicles and 38 natural gas fueling stations. Republic’s CNG fleet helps to save roughly 18 million gallons of diesel fuel annually.

 

Indiana Police Department Introduces 28 CNG Vehicles to Fleet

May 31, 2017

The Muncie Police Department’s (MPD) new fleet of 28 CNG vehicles was recently introduced at the Muncie Sanitary District’s GreenLine CNG Station at a dedication ceremony. According to the Muncie Journal, the project was in partnership with the City of Muncie and ECO Vehicle Systems.

MPD’s entire fleet of vehicles was equipped with bi-fuel CNG systems that are each capable of carrying 8.5 GGEs of CNG, in addition to the regular gasoline in the standard Ford fuel tank. This will allow the vehicles to operate more economically due to the low cost of CNG and will extend their overall operating range by having both fuel supplies available.

“These cars are financially and visually a big bonus for the police station,” said Joe Winkle, MPD’s Chief of Police. “We hope to continue the process of adding these kinds of vehicles over the next few years.”

 

Landi Renzo Will Offer CNG Option for 2018 Ford F-150 Pickup

May 31, 2017

Landi Renzo USA is launching its first Ford F-150 CNG product for the all-new model year (MY) 2018 5.0L gaseous prep engine.

The company will be offering several options, including multiple CNG tank configurations and other essential equipment used in fleet operations. In addition, Landi Renzo continues to aggressively expand its Ford Ship-Thru capabilities to streamline fleet supply chain logistics.

The company also announced a new warranty program—3 years/50,000 miles—on all its MY 2018 Ford CNG systems.

Landi Renzo will start taking orders for the MY2018 F-150 with CNG in May 2017. The company will have also confirmed the following Ford products for MY2018: F-150, F-250/350, F-450/550, F-650/750, F-53/59 and E-450.
CARB Seminar to Explore Lowering NOx Emissions from Heavy Duty Vehicles

June 5, 2017

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) will host an upcoming seminar and webcast evaluating technologies and methods to lower nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions from heavy duty vehicles on June 15 in Sacramento, California.

The 2010 emission standards for heavy-duty engines have established a limit for NOx emissions of 0.20 g/bhp-hr, a 90 percent reduction from the previous emission standards. However, it is projected that even when the entire on-road fleet of heavy duty vehicles operating in California is compliant with the 2010 NOx emission standards, the upcoming National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) requirements for ambient particulate matter and ozone will not be achieved in California without further significant reduction in NOx emissions from the heavy-duty vehicles.

The main goal of the project was to demonstrate that modern heavy duty engines can achieve a target of 0.02 g/bhp-hr for tailpipe NOx emission, which represents a 90 percent reduction from the 2010 standard, with currently available control technology. An additional goal of the project was that the final configurations of engine and aftertreatment systems should be consistent with a path toward meeting current and future heavy duty greenhouse gas (GHG) and fuel economy standards.

For more information, visit the CARB website.

NGVA Europe Study Confirms Emission Reduction Benefits of Natural Gas in Transportation

June 5, 2017

The Natural Gas Vehicles Association Europe (NGVA Europe) has published a study that quantified the greenhouse gas GHG emission reduction benefits of natural gas for light duty and heavy duty transportation.

Alongside data from the major European vehicle and engine makers, Westport Fuel Systems made GHG emissions data specific to the Volvo V60 Bi-Fuel passenger car that uses its advanced natural gas technology from Westport, and Westport High Pressure Direct Injection 2.0 (WestportTM HPDI 2.0) for heavy duty trucks available for the study, enabling state of the art vehicle technologies to be included in the assessment.

The detailed well-to-wheels lifecycle analysis concluded that natural gas fueled passenger cars offer a 23 percent GHG emission reduction benefit compared with petrol, and 7 percent compared with diesel assuming a European Union average upstream gas mix for CNG. In heavy duty applications, trucks fueled by CNG or LNG offer GHG emission reduction benefits of 15 to 16 percent using EU average gas mix. When the highest upstream carbon intensity originating source of LNG (from Algeria) is removed and WestportTM HPDI 2.0 technology is used, reductions of 18 percent to 22 percent were identified. These GHG benefits are significantly amplified when blends of renewable natural gas are used with well-to-wheel emissions being reduced by 80 percent to 95 percent depending on the fuel source and production pathway.

The study analysis was performed by Thinkstep, a leading global consultant specializing in lifecycle analysis, who collected and analyzed the most up to date data from more than 50 industry participants across the natural gas value chain to determine the potential of natural gas engines and vehicles to deliver GHG emission reductions.

The study is available for download here.

 

Westport Sells Impco Industrial Group to Focus on Alternative Fuel Solutions

June 1, 2017

Westport Fuel Systems announced the closing of the sale of assets related to its Impco Industrial Mobile and Stationary Equipment business for a total of $17.5 million. Net proceeds to the company at closing were approximately $15 million, after adjusting for estimated net working capital, transaction costs, hold back amounts and other deal related expenses.

“We are pleased to have completed another transaction as part of our portfolio review that began with the closing of the merger with Fuel Systems in June of 2016,” said Nancy Gougarty, CEO of Westport Fuel Systems. “By exiting our industrial business, we will concentrate on growing market share for our alternative fuel solutions in the automotive and transportation sectors.”

 

Rolls-Royce Receives Order for 15 Natural Gas Engines for Five New Ferries

June 1, 2017

Rolls-Royce has signed a deal to supply 15 natural gas engines to Norwegian Ferry Company. The engines will power five Multi Maritime designed LNG ferries operating between Bergen and Stord. The vessels are expected to enter service in January 2019.

“Since the introduction of our first marine gas engines ten years ago, Rolls-Royce has delivered more than 700 gas engines on land and at sea accumulating over 25 million running hours of operating experience,” said Kjell Harloff, Rolls-Royce, Vice President, Engines – Marine.

All 15 engines are C26:33L9AGs, a generating set with nine cylinders in-line. The engines can operate on variable speed to reduce both fuel consumption and emissions. The C-gas engines have an operating speed of 1,000 rpm and power of 2,430kW.

Rolls Royce says the Bergen C26:33 series reduces total greenhouse gas emissions by about 20 percent compared to a similar diesel engine and is IMO Tier 3 compliant without the need of exhaust after treatment system. Engine rooms on gas powered vessels also stay much cleaner, saving operators time and money by reducing the frequency of cleaning tasks and the cost of chemicals. The whole LNG System is designed for safety with double walled stainless steel containment.

 

TMC Compressors Launches Boil-Off Gas Compressor for LNG Vessels

May 29, 2017

International supplier of compressors TMC Compressors (TMC) is launching a boil-off gas compressor that can be used on all vessels that use LNG as ship fuel. The compressor system, which will be unveiled at this week’s Nor-Shipping event in Oslo, offers both financial and environmental benefits for users.

“By compressing the boil-off gas to the required pressure in order to supply it as fuel directly into the ship’s engine, you will have an optimal system with regards to energy efficiency,” says Hans Petter Tanum, TMC’s director of sales and business development. “TMC will offer a number of different boil-off gas compressors, ranging from 30 kW to 450 kW.”

Onboard a vessel that uses LNG as fuel, heat from the surroundings increases the temperature inside the cooled down LNG fuel thanks, causing liquid to evaporate. The gas generated from this is known as boil-off gas.

The system captures the boil-off gas from the LNG fuel tanks onboard, compresses it with a TMC compressor and injects it into the main engine as fuel.

The marine boil-off gas compressor system can also be utilized on vessels that run on dual fuel, for example LNG in combination with bunker oil.