SAN DIEGO. Although it’s certainly not the greatest hurdle to widespread adoption of compressed natural gas (CNG) technology in heavy-duty vehicles, the relatively slow fueling speed compared to diesel or gasoline has been a frustration for some users. To address the issue of fueling speed, Trillium CNG has introduced a new 7-in. hydraulic intensifier compressor (HY-C), which cuts fueling time in half compared to its 5-in. HY-C, the company said in an announcement at the American Trucking Assns. annual meeting in San Diego.
The 7-in. HY-C can achieve a fueling rate of 20 gasoline gallon equivalents (GGEs) per minute. Few vehicles in use today can even accommodate CNG fueling at that rate, conceded Ted Calvin, vice president of manufacturing and supply chain. So in the near term, the main advantage of the 7-in. HY-C will be that a station will be able to fuel two vehicles at 10 GGEs per minute simultaneously, thus doubling fueling capacity.
But as larger CNG vehicles come online, drivers will benefit from the faster refueling capabilities, Calvin said. Citing various industry analyses, Trillium estimates that in 2014 about 11,000 CNG engines will be sold in Class 6-8.
Trillium CNG plans to install the 7-in. HY-C in all its new fueling stations. It has no plans to retrofit all existing stations – it will open its 100th station in early 2015 – with the higher-capacity compressor although it will consider retrofits on a case-by-case basis if warranted by volume or customer profile at individual stations.
