CNG – Alternative fuel for Car
Jan 31st, 2008 by AnA
Recently, due to the high fuel price. One parallel importer bring in a series of cars using Compressed Natural Gas (CNG). CNG is an alternative for gasoline (petrol) or diesel. This CNG is considered to be an environmentally “clean” alternative to those fuels and it is much safer than any other motor fuels in the event of a fuel spill. This is because natural gas is lighter than air, so it disperses quickly when leaked or spilled.
How to store the Gas?
Normally, CNG is stored in hard containers at a normal pressure of 200/220 bar; usually in cylindrical or spherical shapes so as to maintain equal pressure on the walls of the containers. It cylinders can be made of steel, aluminum, or plastic. Lightweight composite (fibre-wrapped plastic) cylinders are especially beneficial for vehicle use because they offer significant weight reductions when compared with earlier generation steel and aluminum cylinders, which leads to lower fuel consumption. The size of a standard 60litres cylinder is about 35 cm in diameter, and about 95 cm in length. And this cylinder weight is about 66kg; which is the weight of an average adult. Meaning, you are always carrying an “extra person” all the time. But the total saving due to the use of the CNG as compare to petrol is still worthwhile.
How much the gas cost?
CNG will reportedly retail at about S$0.78 cents per litre equivalent (CNG sold by kg), less than 50% of the price of petrol at S$1.80 per litre. Generally, it costs more than S$3,900 to retrofit the car before it can use CNG, but S$11 of CNG can allow one to travel up to 200 kilometres.
Where could we pump the gas?
One obvious advantage of using CNG is it lower price. The disadvantages for using CNG is it require a greater amount of space for fuel storage than convention gasoline power vehicles. The other disadvantage is that in Singapore, however, currently only has one natural gas station at Jurong island. By the end of this year, there will be three new CNG stations – one in Mandai by mid-February, another in Jalan Buroh in Jurong by end-February and the third in Serangoon North Avenue 5 by end of this year 2008. There are currently no plans to build a refuelling station in the east because most of the gas pipelines are situated in the west of Singapore. By 2011, we are expected to see at least 5 CNG stations island wide.
CNG’s future …
To encourage the switch to green vehicles, the government introduced the Green Vehicle Rebate (GVR) scheme in January 2001. Green vehicle rebates are offered for electric, hybrid and CNG vehicles. With this move, the government hopes that incentives for CNG vehicles will eventually lead to an increased number of these vehicles on the road, thus, creating a greater incentive for gas companies to develop and put in place a larger CNG refuelling infrastructure.
We really hope we could use more CNG vehicles in future to save our money and also our precious Earth.
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