Autogas: the ECO alternative of today for transport
Last 12th June took place in Palacete de los Duques de Pastrana the II Autogas (LPG) Forum. This conferencere was organized by the “Fundación de la Energía de la Comunidad de Madrid” and Cluster Autogas, which is formed by Autogas operators, vehicle manufacturers, component manufacturers and research centres, with the aim of promotion of this alternative fuel.
The conference was full of interest, with representation of the Administration (Ministry of Industry, IDAE), operators such as Repsol and Disa, renting companies such as Northgate, car manufacturers such as Opel and Fiat, and R&D companies having projects related to engines for Autogas such as Begas, Evarm and Ircongas. All of them emphasized the “sweet” momentum that Autogas is now having. Now it is a real alternative, but it will also be necessary in the future, because it is considered as ECO fuel, for its minimal emissions, that allows cars fuelled with Autogas to go into the city centre in Madrid and other cities in case of pollution episodes.
It is important, as well, to highlight the role our company, Ideas2Invoices, had in the conference, as shown by the presentation given by Guillermo Wolff, PhD., energy consultant of Ideas2Invoices, about the current situation of the LPG vehicles technology, their challenges and, also, its great advantages over the traditional fuels.
Three are the main sectors of interest: Light vehicle (cars), Heavy vehicle (trucks) and large marine engines.
For light vehicles, Autogas can, no doubt, contribute to reach the challenge of 95 g CO2/km emissions in new cars starting from 2020. For this, it is required to promote R&D actions in the direct injection, liquid phase, LPG technology. The consumption reductions achieved can be as high as 15% compared to the same gasoline vehicle, with minimal costs for the manufacturers.
For heavy vehicles, dual fuel technology is not the most beneficial to LPG because its physico-chemical properties. On the other hand, it is needed to take advantage of the fact that LPG is liquid at very low pressures. So, instead of being gasified and mixed with the admission air (dual fuel system), LPG should preferably be mixed in the liquid phase in line with fuel admission before the admission pump. A project, COLHD, now in course, explores this possibility with, up to now, extraordinary promising results.
For marine engines, sulfur restrictions in fuel-oils starting from 2020 also constitutes an opportunity to LPG, that fulfill all the emission criteria for NOx and SOx. Wärtsilä and MAN are nowadays developing projects in this field.
To end the presentation, Dr. Guillermo Wolff highlighted the recent quote of Carlos Tavares, executive manager of PSA group, that very clearly summarizes the current Autogas status in Spain: “We have to move fast in order not to fall back”
Learn more at section https://ideas2invoices.com/en/energy-transition/
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*Ideas2Invoices is not responsible for the opinions of the authors.
