7th International conference Prospects for the development and use of CNG/LNG in
transport
The Czech Gas Association was an organizer of the 7th international conference Prospects for
development and use of CNG/LNG in transport (19 February 2014) incl. accompanying
exhibition. The programme of this conference was divided in 3 lecture blocks intent on
legislation, new NGV trends and experience of NGV technologies manufacturers and
operators. The conference programme was started by Jan Ruml, Executive Director of the
Czech Gas Association, who welcomed the foreign guests and introduced the lecturers.
Lennart Pilskog, the new general secretary of NGVA Europe (since January 2014), welcomed
the conference participants and had a short speech about the importance of natural gas use in
transport. NGVA Europe is an international partnership organization connecting gas suppliers
and consumers, which means distributors, manufacturers of vehicles and end customers. One
of the main tasks of NGVA Europe is to support the enterprise in NGV area. Another
essential task is realization of the EU directive supporting the development of the LNG and
CNG distribution network. Mr. Pilskog emphasized the importance of the cooperation of
middle-european countries in that project.
Another foreign guest was Gabriele Gozzi, a representative of the Italian NGV Association, a
former president of the NGV Global World Association.
Jan Ruml spoke in his lecture about pollutant emissions in transport. He emphasized, that in a
big part of the Czech Republic, the emissions limits are exceeded. A comfortable solution
could be use of clean fuels in transport incl. natural gas. He also emphasized, that the facts
mentioned above should be a motivation to extend the preferential tax treatment (tax
advantage) for CNG up until 2020. In Germany, the current government coalition decided to
keep the reduced tax for natural gas as a fuel also after 2018. Ing. Ruml also reminded of the
wide network of high-pressure gas pipelines still not that much used by CNG filling stations
as they could be. In a concrete example, he showed the energy savings for operators of filling
stations when using a high-pressure gas source. The existence of high-pressure gas pipelines
in cities and along the highways is a great oportunity to find suitable locations for new CNG
filling stations.
Miloš Křepelka, the director of the section of economic and voluntary tools in the Czech
Ministry of Environment told about the prepared operational programme „Living
Environment“ for the years 2014-2020 and support the programme „Clean mobility“ whose
principal aim is abatement of emissions incl. CO2. He also mentioned some details about the
subvention (dotation) from European funds to support the urban traffic in Moravia-Silesian
region, in the region of Usti nad Labem and in the city of Brno (1 mld. CZK in total). Upon
his words, this project is that much prepared, that the interested subjects can already send their
projects incl. respective application (up until end of March 2014) that will be considered.
Václav Koza from the VSCHT University reminded in his lecture of the necessity to follow
and keep the quality of natural gas as a fuel for vehicles (CNG) compared to other options of
its use. He especially accented, that it is important to follow the moisture of natural gas (final
drying the gas might be needful).
Vojtěch Kaksa from the company RWE Distribuční služby, s.r.o. presented an overview about
the technical legislation incl. interpretation of current legislation for CNG (TDG, TPG) and
eventual changes to be expected.
Another lecture block was a block specialized in technical issues. Martin Hrdlička, the
manager of ŠKODA AUTO a.s. department, specialized in chassis development, mentioned,
that nowadays, the biggest challenge for engine-manufacturers are the CO2 emissions (as set
in EU regulations) because there is a general aim (declared by EU) to reduce it by 30% up
until 2020. Regarding the fact, that the car drive unit (together with chassis) can affect up to
50% of the CO2-output, it is impossible to achieve a further decrease by conventional means.
In that connection, Mr. Hrdlička emphasized the essential role of alternative fuels in transport,
especially the role of CNG, which is not only interesting in terms of cost, but also because of
its characteristics. „The big advantage of methane is a high octane number (130) so that it can
be burned under higher combustion pressure. It also has a higher efficiency which is a key
moment for using the CNG. CNG as a fuel is very interesting because it contains a big energy
quantum (and because) it needn´t be further processed. It is also more interesting (in light of
cost) considering the kWh conversion. When using CNG, we can reduce the CO2-output by
25%, told Mr. Hrdlička. He also spoke about the manufacturing of CNG cars in the company
ŠKODA AUTO, a.s. Nowadays, our car „Citigo CNG“ which we have in our sales offer, has
very low CO2-emissions of only 79g CO2/km which is the best result worldwide. We are just
preparing the new Octavia G-TEC on CNG and gasoline (1,4 l – 81 kW TSI CNG, 97g
CO2/km). This car has already been presented in the automobile-show of Geneva (SUI) and
we want to start its commercial sales in half of 2014. The range of Octavia G-TEC when
using both fuels (i.e. CNG and gasoline) is 1330 km.
Mr. Andrej Szczotka informed about the results of testing the biofuels- and CNG-fuelled
vehicles in light of emission limits EURO5 and EURO6 in Polish company BOSMAL
Automotive R+D Institute Ltd.
In presentation with the title „EURO 6 – global fighting with emissions“, its author Jan
Vodstrčil who is a homologation manager in the company Iveco Czech Republic, a.s.
described the categorization of vehicles based on EURO emission limits from the view of a
manufacturer of trucks and busses. The difference between EURO 6 and previous emission
levels lies in a lifelong-guarantee of emission limits, i.e. there is implemented a monitoring of
actual level of vehicle emissions – so called Portable Emission System (PEMS) incl. aftertreatment control (IUPR).
The final presentation of the 2nd block of lectures was a lecture by Pavel Libich, the director
of the company Unidataz s.r.o. that spoke about the central system for the operation of CNG
cards (CNG CardCentrum) whose mission lies in ensuring of collection and evidence the data,
cross-acceptance of CNG cards of all issuers and operators of CNG filling stations, incl. the
current trend, i.g. strengthening the authority of CNG cards in the direction of their
acceptance in common cash-systems of existing filling stations.
The 3rd block of lectures was started with a lecture by Mrs. Ludmila Bratskich, a business
manager from the German company xperion Energy & Environment GmbH who described
the experience of her company and specialization of its production whose target is to
accomplish and develop efficient, economic and safe CNG technologies.
Lubomír Šrámek, a secretary of the the municipal office in Tábor, told about the new
experience with using the CNG-fuelled cars in Tábor.
Mr. Timo Vehrs, the director of the development-department in the company Gazprom
Germania GmbH, told about the economic benefits and ecological efficiency in connection
with using the CNG-fuelled cars.
Václav Holovčák, vice-chairman of the executive board in the company Bonett Gas
Investment, spoke about the activities and products provided and offered to their customers.
Václav Chrz from the company Chart Ferox, a.s. spoke about his personal experience
regarding the current trend and the coming development to be expected in EU in the area of
LNG in transport.
Karol Wieczorek, the director of the company „CNG.auto.pl“ spoke about the use of CNG
and LNG in Polish transport and the developments to be expected in this area in Poland.
Daniel Adamčík, a CNG specialist from the company VÍTKOVICE Doprava, a.s., told about
the practical experience with use of CNG and the new projects just realized in Vítkovice
holding.
In the final lecture of the 3rd block, Martin Petřík, chief of the marketing-department in the
company Linde Material Handling Česká republika, a.s., told about the experience with
operation the NG-fuelled high-lift trucks and company cars in his firm.
More than 160 registered participants took part in the 7th international conference NGV 2014
in Prague. The Czech Gas Association would like to thank all partners, RWE companies and
the company experion Energy & Environment GmbH for their support in preparing and
organizing this conference as well as all exhibitors, lecturers and participants for their interest
in CNG and LNG in transport and its further popularization.
Written by: Pavel Novák (CGA)
Photo: Jana Kymplová (CGA)