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Fuel properties of alternative fuels Alternative propulsion explained Driveability Incentives and laws Leasing and financing Operation and Maintenance Technological potential Emission reduction potential

Fuel logistics/refuelling
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Sunfuel/Synfuel

Sunfuel/Synfuel has improved quality over diesel. So it might be blended into diesel but also sold separately. The fuel characteristics are such that existing exquipment like tanks, fule hoses may be used without problems.
The poor lubricity requires small amount of additives if used with blends with more than 50%-80% GTL.



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Biodiesel (methyl ester from different sources)


In the majority of European countries biodiesel is blended into fossile diesel in the refineries as promoted by the biofuel directive. No logistic problems therefore occur.
Download presentation on IT (technology) in petrol retailing
Because of the similar properties of Biodiesel and fossil diesel both may be blended in all variations - in some countries the fuel taxes may be different when blending higher amounts before the refuelling process.
Biodiesel in summer quality may cause pumping problems at very low temperatures if the tank is not below the soil or near buildings.
The fuel hoses should be also made out of biodiesel compliant materials.

For more details see Wikipedia




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Bio Ethanol

Ethanol is an easy and not problematic path towards biofuels.
The liquid fuel may be transported and stored like gasoline/petrol and also blended giving for example E85. Since the fuel shall contain more gasoline/petrol in winter, the summer fuel shall not carried over to the winter but on site blending with petrol/gasoline is possible more....

But the ethanol production is limited:
Biofuel production in Europe

70 % of bio-ethanol go into gasoline, of which 47 % come from ETBE. Ethyl tertiary butyl ether (ETBE) is consisting partly of ethanol (47% v/v) and isobutylene (53% v/v).

Saftey devices preventing from flame propagation have to be used if you switch from diesel to ethanol backyard refuelling (download).




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Biogas (usage of NG-piplines and precautions)

Biogas from landfills or sewage water treatment (fermenters) or biomass gasification may be purified and fed into the natural gas pipelines. When filling directly into the vehicles gas tank, the quality shall be closely monitored to avoid engine damages.
Filling into the high pressure network has the advantage that byproducts of the gasification are diluted heaviliy and limits are observed without costly gas separation.




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Electric charging (photovoltaic and grid)

In principle two charging method have been established
  • conductive charging (plugs)
  • inductive charging
The distribution of electricity is done via the ordinary grid - however for fast loading domestic fuses are not suited.

Apart from charging from the grid alternative sources like wind or solar energy may be used. However in narrow street urban areas there is not enough space to have a significant solar share. Solar panels on the cars roof may not produce enough energy to contribute significantly to the energy used for the propulsion.


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Hydrogen

Hydrogen is a very light gas therefore the energy flow through a defined hole is less compared to natural gas. Thus filling requires very high pressure and transport of liquefied hydrogen is more efficient, compared to compressed hydrogen.
comparing fuel cell buses

Hydrogen refueling stations may use remotely produced hydrogen but also produce hydrogen from natural gas/Methanol/LPG reformation or proton exchange membrane electrolysis on site. The stations may be equipped with low and high pressure dispensers to accommodate vehicles with onboard metal hydride storage or onboard compressed gas cylinders. A cooling apparatus allows for a rapid fill of 10 minutes.



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Natural Gas (high and low pressure filling)

Natural gas is available in two qualities and two pressure levels giving two refuelling strategies (Time-fill or Fast-fill). Nozzles differ by diameter. In the oldest natural gas market Italy, there exist a separate nozzle standard. Compatibility is achieved by
couplings.
Because of the inflammability security issues have to be observed.
(TÜV - Electrical Engineering - natural gas for motor fuel in advance - New risks at fuel stations ? more...)
Some requirements in place for the USA (download)

Since CNG stations are costly the right planning strategy is needed to have a good scaling and mean time to repair (more).

Here is a slide show presenting a show case for a station refilling CNG-buses at a airport in the US (plenty of pictures showing the devices) download

NG may also be used in liquid form although no frequent installations can be seen (download).

The low pressure natural gas network may be used via home refuelling stations because of the absence of time restrictions.
because of the high price for filling stations less stations will be available, thus captive fleets may be operated more conveniently.



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Straight Vegetabile Oil

For this type of non esterified oil no admission is given by the automobile producers. However there exists a record with some fleet owners having installed heaters for the prefiltered waste oil and dual fuel systems. Most of the experience is restricted to older diesel engines (prechamber combustion)
The characteristics of the SVO heavily depend on the type of vegetable oil used. In colder climates there might be problems extracting SVO from tanks situated above ground (compared to the placement below soil) because of gelling.
Sometimes the surplus when producing vegetable oil is used in the fleets of the companies after retrofitting the fuel system vehicles.
SVO is not harmful to the environment and may be stored at home without administrative admission.

More may be found in Wikipedia Straight Vegetable Oil
Wikipedia Vegetable oil


Ask the experts

Sugre is operating a helpdesk to answer your specific questions. If you are running a business in the European Union and the new accession countries and have question concerning the conversion ouf your fleet to alternative fuel or if you consider alternative propulsion, please use the contact form - you will get an answer within a few days from our experts. Gerfried Cebrat		  


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