Engines for Natural Gas and Vehicle Applications - An Experience

Road vehicles powered with internal combustion engines employing natural gas have attracted in recent years considerable interest. Apart from the widespread availability of natural gas, this interest is due to the potential to achieve extremely low emission levels in road vehicles.

For some countries having natural gas sources, a promotion of natural gas may be an important part of the national energy strategy aiming at:

• reducing dependence on imported oil supplies
• reducing flare-off and wastage
• overcoming environmental pollution problems.

This paper reviews basic aspects of gas engines and their mixture formation and combustion processes. Then the layout and characteristics of Iveco gas engines for heavy duty vehicles which are derived from present production diesel engines are described and their characteristics given. Subsequently some vehicle applications, aspects of gas storage, the vehicle installations and gas filling stations are outlined and in a final section the experiences with natural gas powered road vehicles such as city buses, trucks and community vehicles in Europe are presented.