IS THERE A DIESEL FUEL ALTERNATIVE COMING?

[GILLYS CHILLI FARM AUSTRA]

The Motley Fool...make claims like "The death of diesel" making it sound like the end is near...lol

 

[Gary Fowler]

I cant see the mechanics of making a diesel engine run on gas, methane, CNG, Propane etc. You have to have a spark to ignite any of those and compression with auto-ignition of the fuel as diesel does wont happen in a diesel engine. You would have to retrofit in an ignition system to burn one of those fuels in a diesel as a stand alone fuel. I have heard of injection of Propane into the air intake to make more HP but not to take the place of diesel. Gasoline engines could run on any of the light end gases given the infra-structure that could provide service stations for refueling which would be frequent. I use to have a truck with a gas engine that could be switched to propane. I had a 100 gallon propane tank in the back and 25 gallon gas tank (standard factory tank). I could go about the same distance on either tank which was about 300 miles. Propane burns 4 times as much fuel and produces a bit less HP than gasoline. I would hate to see the size tank it would take to run compressed Hydrogen and a full tank would leak out in about a week just from the H molecules migrating between the grain structure of the tank.
I do know that we had trucks in the Army that would run on anything that would burn but they had multiple fuel delivery systems on them which would cost a small fortune to put on our personal vehicles.

 

[tracter]

Had two Fords that were converted to run dual fuel CNG /petrol and they ran like slugs on both fuels , the tank for the CNG would only give about 60miles/100kilometre before refilling and that took about 10 minutes
CNG as a fuel for cars is what I call a "WOFTAM" a waste of flaming time and money
Now I am talking about my experience in Sydney Australia when these cars were converted there was only 3 filling stations in the whole city , not real clever
IMO

 

[CurlyDave]

With the new fracking technology, there is going to be plenty of gas and oil for a long time. Unless the enviroweenies manage to shut it down.

I expect a race to the lowest price will determine whether it is CNG or gasoline or diesel that wins out. There may be a place for all of them.

But, don't sell your diesel engine for CNG anytime soon.

 

[PoorMansCat]

Actaully, diesel engines DO NOT require a spark ignition system to run on NG... the compression is high enough int he cylinders that it will compression ignite very easily. We have installed many dual-fuel conversion systems on large modern diesel engines. These engines are used in the drilling and fracing industry. They take advantage of wellhead gas from nearby well-sites to vastly lower the diesel fuel consumption. The technology is already here, its EPA certified and the products are already in use... It might take some time to get the average auto consumer to buy in... but its already here. Personally, I believe the "big 3" need to get off their backsides and start building factory CNG vehicles.... Its cheap, clean, and abundant but most importantly, it here in American soil!.

 

[Wnc3]

Ram will have a 2500 model out later this year. Dual fuel. We shall see...

 

[phiferpharm]

I was just in the "reading room" and picked up an old copy of Popular Mechanics - November 2008 that had an article about a renewable Diesel from a company named Amyris. There is quite a bit of info on the internet about this.Think it still has a long way to go before it is marketed.

 

[BobRip]

I was just in the "reading room" and picked up an old copy of Popular Mechanics - November 2008 that had an article about a renewable Diesel from a company named Amyris. There is quite a bit of info on the internet about this.Think it still has a long way to go before it is marketed.

With NG being so cheap it will have trouble competing.

 

[MHarryE]

Ford, GM, & Ram all have introduced dual fuel, CNG & gasoline, 3/4 & 1 ton pickups. CNG runs about $2.00 equivalent when compared with gasoline. Advantage -' no refinery. Bring it in, clean it up a bit, and it is tank ready. Vein hours is a Foed Qualified Vehicle Modifier that does Ford's conversions on the 6.2 liter. The CNG tank is 21.2 gal equivalent but the gasoline tanks are retained. Westport LD is also a QVM for Ford and will begin production in August at their plant next to the Ford Louisville plant. GM's trucks are built in Fort Wayne and are sent to IMPCO for CNG conversion. It gets a 17 equivalent gallon tank in addition to the standard 36 gallon gasoline tank. Chevy and GMC dealers started taking orders in April. The Ram is completely Chrysler and is scheduled for production at its Saltillo, Mexico plant using a 5.7 liter Hemi with an 8 gallon gasoline tank and 18.2 equivalent gallon CNG tank. They are supposed to start delivery this month. There are about 2,000 CNG stations in the USA today. The full tank is 3,600 psi. In all of the trucks you can select w,hitch fuel to burn or it will automatically switch when the CNG runs out.

 

[tcartwri]

Actaully, diesel engines DO NOT require a spark ignition system to run on NG... the compression is high enough int he cylinders that it will compression ignite very easily. We have installed many dual-fuel conversion systems on large modern diesel engines. These engines are used in the drilling and fracing industry. They take advantage of wellhead gas from nearby well-sites to vastly lower the diesel fuel consumption. The technology is already here, its EPA certified and the products are already in use... It might take some time to get the average auto consumer to buy in... but its already here. Personally, I believe the "big 3" need to get off their backsides and start building factory CNG vehicles.... Its cheap, clean, and abundant but most importantly, it here in American soil!.

I believe thats how the Deepwater Horizon explosion occured. The diesels on the deck of the platform ran away on the gasses coming out of the well.