U.S. wants to use compressed natural gas as light vehicle fuel

The US transportation industry is gradually transitioning from an oil-based basis to adopting alternative energy sources such as ethanol, biodiesel, electricity, or hydrogen. To grow this team even further, researchers at the Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory have begun investigating the possibility of using compressed natural gas (CNG) as a light energy option for light cars and trucks.

CNG vehicles are natural gas consisting mainly of methane, which is stored in a car-like cylinder inside a car at a pressure of around 25 MPa, and is used as a vehicle fuel. The use of CNG instead of gasoline as vehicle fuel can greatly reduce greenhouse gas emissions and noise pollution, and it does not contain carcinogenic toxic substances such as lead and benzene.

Thomas Varner, a mechanical engineer at Argonne National Laboratories, said that compared to other countries, the United States barely faces the challenge of direct gas supply shortages. The price of CNG will likely continue to be cheap and stable over the long term. At present, its price is equivalent to about 2 US dollars per gallon, about half of gasoline. Based on the significant increase in natural gas production in the United States over the past decade, if a large number of cars and light trucks currently on the road can be compatible with natural gas, it will help improve the nation’s energy security. In order to allow CNG to assume its responsibilities, more gas stations need to be connected to it, and relevant infrastructure across the country has to be established to provide and distribute this fuel. At present, there are only 1,000 natural gas refueling stations available, and actually nearly 200,000 are required.

Environmental scientist Andrew Burnham said that in order to make a precise comparison with gasoline, scientists and engineers will look at the status of this fuel at each stage of production and use. Argonne National Laboratory can help automotive industry leaders test and analyze CNG vehicles, especially in greenhouse gases, control emissions, energy use in transportation modes, etc. Testing from start to tire rotation includes providing, distributing, and burning each Phase energy use and greenhouse gas emissions.

Although CNG vehicles use less greenhouse gas emissions than conventional vehicles, they need to meet the challenge from the upstream industry that there is a possibility of methane leakage when producing and selling natural gas. Burnham said that we must use technology to capture the leaked natural gas and reduce the impact of greenhouse gases on the environment. Among the heavy vehicles used in urban public transport, natural gas may be reduced in particulate matter and nitrogen oxide emissions to meet the standards set by the US Environmental Protection Agency in the past few years.

Varna believes that, like electric cars, CNG cars will become part of transportation solutions, but not the entire program. The more attention is paid to investment in this direction, the closer it will be to environmental protection and economy.