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Oscar Black
Dual fuel engines could be the future for road haulage transport if a Swedish experiment goes according to plan in February, 2010. The field tests in Sweden will be conducted with a methane-diesel hybrid engine, and will be tested by several of the country's road freight companies simultaneously. This controlled experiment will look at the characteristics of the engine under normal usage, which is expected to be more efficient and more reliable overall.
While any engine will produce emissions through its exhaust pipe, dual fuel engines such as the methane-diesel hybrid, offers a much greater degree of environmental friendliness, with a reduced carbon output, compared to standard diesel engines. The operating efficiency is greatly enhanced as well. Up to 80% less diesel is required, though that has to be set against the amount of natural gas that is consumed.
However, as natural gas in the form of methane is cheaper to burn than diesel oil, the savings could equate to around five pence per kilometre, or as much as £10,000 a year per truck, based on the current price differential between natural gas and diesel in the UK. This alternative to full blown natural gas powered engines is being seen as very attractive in many spheres, and the Swedish trials are being closely watched with great interest by the whole European freight transportation sector.
One of the drawbacks of using dual fuel engines is the current lack of widely available natural gas pumps. However, if the demand becomes widespread, and in light of the current environmental situation this is a distinct possibility, then compressor stations feeding compressed natural gas (CNG) from the national grid could be easily set up in a relatively short time span. Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is another alternative to CNG. Many countries already transport or import this alternative fuel in this form.
If a driver finds himself in an area where there are no CNG or LNG outlets, and his truck needs to be refueled, the answer is simple enough; just run the truck on pure diesel until a suitable outlet can be found. This demonstrates the versatility and flexibility of the engine design and the system. It can meet most likely needs, adapting where necessary.
Dual fuel engines are not something that is new. There are already freight forwarding companies using this technology in other countries and other continents. For example, one company in the US has been running 20 trucks for over eight years on a diesel-natural gas hybrid fuel. To date the company has travelled well over 10,000,000 miles. That is surely more than enough to show that the technology works, and is a reliable and cost effective alternative to using diesel alone as a fuel.
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