Ricardo to support US natural gas engine work

Ricardo will partner with Gas Technology Institute (GTI) to enable natural gas engines to provide a fuel-efficient, low-emissions alternative to diesel power in California, US, for medium and heavy-duty commercial vehicles (excluding Class 8).

As world oil prices continue to plummet, it is claimed that in California (despite substantial progress in reducing emissions from heavy-duty trucks and other mobile sources) diesel trucks still remain major contributors to state-wide emissions of oxides of nitrogen (NOx), greenhouse gases (GHG), and diesel particulate matter (PM).

By 2031, the South Coast Basin will exceed mandatory air quality standards unless NOx emissions are reduced 90 per cent compared with today, according to Ricardo plc.

The two Ricardo-GTI projects, co-funded by Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas), are intended to develop natural gas technologies that will reduce NOx emissions from heavy-duty truck engines, helping California achieve attainment of NOx emission levels that surpass the California Air Resources Board’s (CARB) goals, consume less fuel than current diesels, and provide truck operators with higher engine performance with the same reliability.

On the first project, Ricardo will support development and testing of advanced natural gas ignition systems, as part of GTI’s collaboration with the California Energy Commission. Ricardo’s role will be to conduct testing of two different advanced ignition systems – High Frequency Discharge (HFD) and Pulsed Nano Plasma (C2) – so that their effect on engine performance can be measured and evaluated.

In addition to Ricardo and SoCalGas, GTI’s other partners on this project include Power Solutions International, Inc. and EnerPulse Technologies Inc.

The second project, also co-funded by SoCalGas, will see Ricardo support GTI in the development of an ultra-low emission natural gas engine for on-road class 4-7 medium and heavy-duty trucks, sponsored by the South Coast Air Quality Management District.

These classes of diesel vehicles are currently among the top 10 sources of NOx emissions in California’s South Coast Air Basin, and are projected to remain one of the largest, even as the legacy fleet of older and higher polluting vehicles are replaced by vehicles meeting 2010 emissions standards.

Ricardo stresses that development of ultra-low emission natural gas engines could significantly reduce emissions from this on-road source category and assist the region in meeting Federal ambient air quality standards in the coming years.

Such ultra-low emission natural gas engines, capable of emitting 90 per cent lower NOx emissions relative to current standards for heavy-duty vehicles, according to Ricardo, would approach the regional NOx emissions associated with operating an equivalent all-electric heavy-duty vehicle, when the emissions associated with the electricity production are taken into account.

In addition to Ricardo, GTI’s other partners on this project include Power Solutions International, Inc.

“Medium and heavy-duty trucks are an essential part of the transportation mix in California,” commented Ricardo, Inc. president Clive Wotton, “but they are also significant contributors to total NOx emissions.”

Wotton adds: “Trucks such as these are not as amenable to the type of electrification and hybridization approaches that have been applied very successfully in the passenger car and SUV sector. However, the substitution of diesel with natural gas as a transportation fuel for these classes of vehicle offers some attractive potential benefits in reducing NOx emissions.”