Ricardo to develop natural gas truck engines for California

[kscarbel2]

The Engineer / January 20, 2016

UK-based automotive contract engineering firm Ricardo has received two contracts to produce natural gas engines for heavy commercial trucks that would operate under California’s tight emissions environment.

The contracts will see Ricardo partnering with the Gas Technology Institute, a US organisation headquartered near Chicago, devoted to energy and environmental technology development.

The project aims to develop alternatives to diesel engines for medium and heavy commercial trucks to reduce NOx emissions and improve fuel efficiency.

Some funding is coming from the Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas).

In one project, Ricardo is to test two ignition systems that can be used with natural gas-fuelled engines – high-frequency discharge and pulsed nano-plasma – to measure and evaluate their effect on engine performance.

The other project is aimed at developing an ultra-low emission engine for class 4-7 medium and heavy duty trucks, whose current diesel engines are in the top ten sources of NOx emissions in the Southern Californian Basin and are projected to remain major polluters even as the current fleet is replaced by newer vehicles meeting the most recent emissions standards, set in 2010.

The new engines would produce 90 per cent less NOx than even the best-performing current diesel engines, Ricardo claims, adding that their performance “would approach the regional NOx emissions associated with operating an equivalent all-electric heavy-duty vehicle, when the emissions associated with the electricity production are taken into account.”

According to Ricardo president Clive Wooton, “trucks such as these are not as amenable to the type of electrification and hybridization approaches that have been applied very successfully in the passenger car and SUV sector. However, the substitution of diesel with natural gas as a transportation fuel for these classes of vehicle offers some attractive potential benefits in reducing NOx emissions.”

Related reading:

http://www.arb.ca.gov/msprog/tech/techreport/ng_tech_report.pdf

http://www.ricardo.com/en-GB/News--Media/Press-releases/News-releases1/2016/Ricardo-to-help-develop-technology-for-ultra-low-emission-natural-gas-heavy-truck-engines/

[TeamsterGrrrl]

Why? Cummins Westport have the high HP end of the market covered and Ford and others have natural gas offerings in the medium and light sectors of the truck market. This sounds like another CARB boondoggle, and explains why an agency that does nothing but regulate air pollution can blow through a $600,000,000+ budget every year... Maybe it's time to recall CARB?

[RoadwayR]

Say what you will, but the air has gotten considerably cleaner in Southern California within the last 10 years. The Westport engines, in my opinion, are somewhat crude conversions of existing diesels. Their big advantage is that they interchange with Cummins diesels, but a CNG/LNG engine does not need to be nearly that large and heavy. Spark-ignition engines are under a lot less stress that compression-ignition. What is needed is a designed-from-the-start CNG/LNG engine family for large trucks. The PSI 8.8L comes close to ideal for medium duty trucks. It is basically a much-updated GM 8.1L, As for Ford, they do not really offer and CNG/LNG vehicles, they merely sell you a 'prep package', and it's up to you to find an 'approved' upfitter. My experiences with that have not been so great. GM is offering some 'factory' dual fuel vehicles, at least you can get parts and service through authorized dealers (not a problem). CNG has made great inroads here in transit bus and refuse fleets. It is not only cleaner, and the economics are there in many cases.

[kscarbel2]

Ricardo, GTI to bring natural gas to heavy truck engines

Fleet Owner / January 22, 2016

Ricardo announced it will partner with Gas Technology Institute (GTI) on two major contracts to enable natural gas engines to provide an alternative to diesel power for medium- and heavy-duty commercial vehicles on the highways of California.

Despite California’s substantial progress in reducing emissions from heavy-duty trucks and other mobile sources, diesel trucks remain major contributors to statewide emissions of oxides of nitrogen (NOx), greenhouse gases (GHG), and diesel particulate matter (PM). By 2031, the South Coast Basin will exceed mandatory air quality standards unless NOx emissions are reduced 90% compared with today.

The Ricardo-GTI projects, co-funded by Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas), are intended to develop natural gas technologies that will reduce NOx emissions from heavy-duty truck engines, helping California achieve attainment of NOx emission levels that surpass the California Air Resources Board’s goals, consume less fuel than current diesels, and provide truck operators with higher engine performance with the same reliability.

On the first project, Ricardo mentioned it will support development and testing of advanced natural gas ignition systems, as part of GTI’s collaboration with the California Energy Commission. Ricardo’s role in this project will be to conduct testing of two different advanced ignition systems – High Frequency Discharge (HFD) and Pulsed Nano Plasma (C2) – so their effect on engine performance can be measured and evaluated. In addition to Ricardo and SoCalGas, GTI’s other partners on this project include Power Solutions International and EnerPulse Technologies, the company said.

The second project, also co-funded by SoCalGas, will see Ricardo support GTI in the development of an ultra-low emission natural gas engine for on-road class 4-7 medium and heavy-duty trucks, sponsored by the South Coast Air Quality Management District. These classes of diesel vehicles are currently among the top ten sources of NOx emissions in California’s South Coast Air Basin, and are projected to remain one of the largest, even as the legacy fleet of older and higher polluting vehicles are replaced by vehicles meeting 2010 emissions standards.

The development of ultra-low emission natural gas engines could significantly reduce emissions from this on-road source category and assist the region in meeting Federal ambient air quality standards in the coming years. Such ultra-low emission natural gas engines, capable of emitting 90 percent lower NOx emissions relative to current standards for heavy-duty vehicles, would approach the regional NOx emissions associated with operating an equivalent all-electric heavy-duty vehicle, when the emissions associated with the electricity production are taken into account. In addition to Ricardo, GTI’s other partners on this project include Power Solutions International.

“Medium and heavy-duty trucks are an essential part of the transportation mix in California,” Ricardo president Clive Wotton said. “But they are also significant contributors to total NOx emissions. Trucks such as these are not as amenable to the type of electrification and hybridization approaches that have been applied very successfully in the passenger car and SUV sector. However, the substitution of diesel with natural gas as a transportation fuel for these classes of vehicle offers some attractive potential benefits in reducing NOx emissions. We at Ricardo look forward to working with GTI and its other partners on these two exciting projects, in which we aim to address some of the key technical and engineering development challenges to bringing natural gas forward as an attractive alternative to diesel fuel for the medium and heavy-duty trucks on California’s highways.”

“SoCalGas is proud to be the only natural gas utility in America that helps fund breakthrough technologies crucial to meeting Southern California’s air quality and climate change goals,” said Rodger Schwecke, vice president of customer solutions for SoCalGas. “We are pleased to be a part of the research to develop new ultra-low emission natural gas engines for the medium and heavy-duty truck market. With this additional engine, we can advance our common goal to reduce emissions and improve air quality and leverage the benefits of low-cost natural gas for transportation applications.”