Natural Gas to Lead China's Clean Energy Auto-Fuel Drive
By Jing Yang
23 Jul 2007 at 10:12 AM GMT-04:00
resourceinvestor.com
SHANGHAI (Interfax-China) -- Natural gas has more potential as an alternative automotive fuel in China than other fuels such as dimethyl ether and bio-fuel due to its environmentally friendly characteristics, the country's relative abundance of gas reserves and the comparatively easy process of converting conventional auto engines to accommodate the fuel, an expert from China's leading automotive energy conservation laboratory told Interfax during the weekend.
"Natural gas, which currently accounts for 1% of the nation's total auto fuel consumption, has made significant progress in recent years and already outstrips all other alternatives fuels by scale of application," said Ma Fanhua, assistant director of the Tsinghua University-affiliated State Key Laboratory of Automotive Safety and Energy, on the sidelines of an industry form.
The development of bio-fuel, which is processed from biomass stocks such as corn, palm oil, sugar cane and cassava, could be bottlenecked by shortfalls in raw material supplies as well as its apparent inability to meet the strict national emission standards the country plans to adopt, Ma said. China plans to adopt national fuel standards equivalent to Euro III and IV standards later this year and in 2010 respectively.
At the same time, dimethyl ether, which can be made from coal and which emits very low levels of pollutants, is known for its high price as well as the difficult process that must be undertaken to convert conventional engines to allow them to utilize the fuel.
Ma added that the country is also technologically ready to adopt Hydrogen Compressed Natural Gas (HCNG), a blended fuel comprising of 20% hydrogen and 80% natural gas. The fuel generates fewer emissions than pure natural gas while providing higher levels of power. While still in the experimental phase, Ma expects that HCNG filling stations will enter commercial operations soon.
Chairman of the Australian-listed Eden Energy Ltd. [ASX:EDE], Gregory Solomon, said that Eden Energy aims to have at least one HCNG filling station capable of handling 15 buses in operation in Beijing before the 2008 Olympic Games.
Solomon said that the company is ready to bring their experience and mature technologies to new markets such as India and China, and that it is just awaiting government approval. The company is also looking for Chinese partners to help advance their operations within the country.
China has adopted a strategy aimed at encouraging the use of cleaner fuels in the country's soaring number of cars. The total number of cars in the country is expected to reach 130 million by 2020, at which point they will consume around 250 million tonnes of oil annually, equal to half of China's predicted oil demand at the time.
In 1999, a cleaner-fuel working group was established in conjunction with 13 government bodies. The group designated 12 cities and regions as experimental cites for cleaner fuel programs, including Beijing, Shanghai and Sichuan Province. A further 16 cities were added to the list in 2003.
The city of Guangzhou and southwestern Sichuan Province have the two largest clean fuel application programs.
Most cars used in the country's clean energy program can run on traditional fossil fuels as well as liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and compressed natural gas (CNG). One drawback of this approach is that the multi-fuel cars are comparatively low-powered and produce higher-than-expected emissions.
Guangzhou has adopted a different approach and ensured that all of the city's cleaner-fuel vehicles feature engines that can only consume LPG and CNG, according to a report by the state-run Economic Observer.
As a result, Guangzhou is now home to 6,400 buses and 16,000 taxis that are powered by LPG, representing 80% and 100% of the city's total number of each vehicle respectively. Vehicles that use LPG will be gradually be phased out and replaced with vehicles that use only CNG.
In the meantime, 60,000 CNG-powered vehicles and 190 CNG filling stations have been brought into use in Sichuan Province.
Beijing also has plans to convert 90% of its public transportation vehicles over to CNG before the 2008 Olympic Games.
© InterFax-China 2007. For more intelligence on Chinese metals and mining, click here or contact David Harman in Hong Kong at david.harman@interfax-news.com or (852) 2537-2262. |
