Nagpur: With the race for finding alternate fuel in place of the conventional, costly petrol and diesel gaining steam, CNG or Compressed Natural Gas has emerged as the most suitable alternative. Vaddadi Subbarao, Director, Rawmatt Industries Pvt. Ltd , speaking to Nagpur Today shaded light on finer points of use of CNG in various vehicles.
Subbarao added “CNG is gaseous fuel and is a mixture of hydrocarbons mainly Methane. For use in automobiles as fuel, it is compressed to a pressure of 200-250 Kg/cm² to enhance the vehicle on-board storage capacity. CNG is a fossil fuel substitute for other auto fuels such as petrol, diesel, Auto LPG etc.”
Green fuel
Subbarao further said, “Commonly referred to as the green fuel because of its lead and sulphur free character, CNG reduces harmful emissions thus reducing the effect of global warming. Being non-corrosive, it enhances the longevity of spark plugs. Due to the absence of any lead or benzene content in CNG, the lead fouling of spark plugs, and lead or benzene pollution are eliminated.”
Safety
CNG is less likely to auto-ignite on hot surfaces, since it has a high auto-ignition temperature (540 degrees centigrade) and a narrow range (5%-15%) of inflammability. It means that if CNG concentration in the air is below 5% or above 15%, it will not burn. This high ignition temperature and limited flammability range makes accidental ignition or combustion very unlikely.
Low operational cost
The operational cost of vehicles running on CNG, as compared to those running on other fuels, is significantly low. At the prevailing price of fuel in Delhi, Operational cost of CNG vehicles is 66% lower than petrol and 28% lower than diesel.
Increased life of oils
Another practical advantage observed is the increased life of lubricating oils, as CNG does not contaminate and dilute the crankcase oil.
Mixes evenly in air
Being a gaseous fuel CNG mixes in the air easily and evenly. All kinds of vehicles can run on CNG by installing CNG Kit is an assembly of many components required to run existing vehicle on CNG. There are few basic components which are common in all type of kits, irrespective of the vehicles; such as CNG storage cylinder, high pressure tube, pressure regulator, pressure gauge, change over switch, high pressure tube fittings, refueling receptacle and air fuel mixer.
Trucks, buses, mini trailers, school vans, petrol autos, cars can be converted to CNG by installation of kit. The kit is approved by the competent authorities such as ICAT, ARAI thus it is totally safe.
.. About Vaddadi Subbarao, Director, Rawmatt Industries Pvt. Ltd, Petroleum Manager from University of Petroleum He has more than 25 years of experience in handling various downstream petroleum projects in India and the International markets. He carries a wide exposure of 55 countries with focus on Europe, China, Canada and the Asian markets. He has been instrumental in executing various Joint Ventures in Downstream Oil & gas industry. He also carries exposure to alternate energy industries such as BIO CNG.
