Sustainable application of natural gas as engine fuel in city buses: Benefit and restrictions

Abstract

Human activities, in particular transport, are partially responsible for the problem associated with the greenhouse effect, and therefore global warming. The transport sector is responsible for approximately 25% of carbon dioxide emissions and consumes almost 50% of global oil production. Natural gas as engine fuel has many advantages: lower costs, lower emissions because of more complete combustion, lower noise and longer engine life. The goal of the European Union is that alternative sources of energy represent 20% of total consumption by 2020. According to the global strategy these problems are solving through a series of initiatives and innovations including the introduction of natural gas buses in city transport. If we take into account the existing situation in city transport, the strategic proposal is to begin by retrofitting diesel buses into dedicated natural gas vehicles. This paper analysed some benefits, which summarized according to the author's experiences about the introduction of the compressed natural gas buses in urban transport.

Impact of the Electric Mobility Implementation on the Greenhouse Gases Production in Central European Countries

“…The freight and passenger transport sector is expected to provide one of the largest contributions to the reduction of GHG emissions. In order to reduce emissions and diversify energy sources, alternative fuels have been promoted and suggested by a number of several particular methodologies at the national, EU, as well as global level, and have been discussed in a variety of research studies and publications [21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28].…”

Study of the fuel efficiency and ecological aspects of CNG buses in urban public transport in Belgrade

“…Ivković et al [25] in their paper present multiple attribute decision making of constructional concept bus solutions for achieving sustainable mass public transportation in Belgrade. Line 55 (Zvezdara -Stari Železnik) is tangential urban line with outstanding longitudinal gradients in the part of the route which passes through old part of the city [20]. Total length of the line amounts to 18518 m, number of stations amounts to 34, number of transported passengers…”

“…The fuel consumption certainly stays for one of the most important operating elements of each fl eet [20]. For the needs of testing the bus MAZ-BIK-203CNG-S, gas tanks was fi lled every day and kilometres covered were recorded.…”

“…The authors concluded that CNG buses bring signifi cant savings as regards total costs during their operational lifecycle and have a signifi cant ecological potential compared to diesel buses. Milojević [20] analyse benefi ts and restrictions of natural gas sustainable application as engine fuel in city buses and CNG propulsion system for reducing noise of existing city bus fl eet [21]. In previous mentioned studies, special emphasis is given to the economic and environmental effects of introducing CNG buses in urban public transport systems.…”

New Technologies Improving Aerodynamic Properties of Freight Vehicles

“…The development of the vehicle design is focused on reducing this drag as much as possible and thus to combust less fuel and save money used for fuel purchase as well as to reduce negative impacts on the environment such as noise and emissions. Mainly exhaust gas emissions from vehicles have significant influence on global warming [2][3][4][5][6][7].…”