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Columbia Gas of PA Testing Sawdust + NatGas to Power Pickup Truck

activated carbon

Move over compressed natural gas (CNG), here comes sawdust! Let us explain. Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania, a large, multi-state natural gas utility company, is piloting an experiment of outfitting a Ford F250 that uses an absorbed natural gas system to store natgas used to burn in the truck’s engine. The ingenious system was created by a company called Ingevity Corp., and it uses activated carbon, a charcoal-like sand made from sawdust that traps and stores natgas molecules at much lower pressures than the typical CNG tank.
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Discovery Allows Methane Storage at Low Pressure for Cars & Trucks

Crystal structures of MOFs being assessed for methane uptake in the present study

Methane (CH4) is one of the most abundant, naturally-occurring organic compounds on Planet Earth. And yet loony leftists claim it’s a pollutant and killing the planet. Go figure. We’ve always been fans of using methane as a fuel substitute for gasoline. But let’s face it, storing it in high-pressure tanks (CNG) or liquefying it and storing it at minus 260 degrees (LNG), is not an ideal way to use it in moving vehicles. It’s not handy or easy and takes special tanks. Researchers at the University of Michigan may have found a solution for that problem.
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New Way to Store and Use Methane at Moderate Temps & Pressures

Methane (CH4) is one of the most abundant, naturally-occurring organic compounds on Planet Earth. And yet loony leftists claim it’s a pollutant and killing the planet. Go figure. We’ve always been fans of using methane as a fuel substitute for gasoline. But let’s face it, storing it in high-pressure tanks (CNG) or liquefying it and storing it at minus 260 degrees (LNG), is not an ideal way to use it in moving vehicles. It’s not handy or easy and takes special tanks. Researchers may just have found a solution for that problem.
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Natural Gas Vehicles Virtual Conference Coming Oct 20-22

MDN is proud to partner with NGVAmerica (natural gas vehicles) to promote this year’s NGVAmerica Annual Industry Summit, coming Oct. 20-22. This year’s Summit has gone all-virtual given the coronavirus pandemic. It’s convenient! Each day sessions are held from 12 noon to 3 pm Eastern. Natural gas vehicles are catching on, especially in fleets. It’s an important new market for all that Marcellus/Utica gas we pump.
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New Fortress Convinces Jamaica to Use CNG for Bus Fleet

We continue to be impressed with New Fortress Energy and its aim to own as much of the LNG supply chain as possible. The company is building an LNG (liquefied natural gas) liquefaction plant in northeast Pennsylvania (see Work Continues to Clear Site for NEPA Landlocked LNG Export Plant). They plan to truck and use rail cars to get the Marcellus LNG to a new dock facility they plan to build on the New Jersey shoreline of the Delaware River (see DRBC Reconsiders New Fortress LNG/NGL Shipping Dock on Dela. River).
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Penn State Gets $1.2M DOE Grant to Design Better NGV Fuel Tank

T.C. Mike Chung

T.C. “Mike” Chung, a professor of materials science and engineering in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences at Penn State University has just received a three-year, $1.12 million federal grant to develop materials that allow natural gas to be stored at lower pressures, which in turn could lead to better fuel tanks for NG powered vehicles.
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PA DEP $1.9M Grants for 12 Clean Energy Vehicle Projs, Mostly Gas

The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) announced yesterday it has awarded grants totaling $1,891,000 for 12 clean energy vehicle projects through its Alternative Fuels Incentive Grants (AFIG) program. What’s striking about the list of winners is just how many of them are for natural gas vehicles/technology, as opposed to electric. The DEP has another $3 million to blow on these grants by the end of the year, with a deadline for applications of Dec. 13. Line up to get yours!
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UPS Makes a Wrong Turn – Buys into “Renewable” NatGas Hype

UPS, the package delivery company, is so excited they’re about to burst. The company issued a press release yesterday to announce they cut a deal to purchase 170 million gallon equivalents of so-called renewable natural gas (RNG) through 2026. It is “the largest commitment for use of RNG to date by any company in the United States.” Horray!!! What’s that? What is “renewable” natural gas? That’s methane from pig and cow poop, and from landfills. Somehow because the word “renewable” is slipped into the label, companies like UPS mistakenly believe Big Green will be pleased. We hate to burst their bubble…
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Put VW Settlement $$ to Good Use – Buy NatGas Vehicles!

Remember a few years back when Volkswagen got caught cheating on emissions tests for the cars they make? Bad move. It ended up costing a number of people at VW their jobs, and costing the company $2.9 billion in a settlement with the U.S. government. That shakedown money is now being doled out state by state, and we can’t think of a better way to use the money than by investing in NGVs (natural gas vehicles).
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WVU Study: How CNG/LNG Vehicles Can Lower Methane Emissions

Researchers at West Virginia University have just published a new study that looks at how to reduce methane emissions from LNG (liquefied natural gas) and CNG (compressed natural gas) fleet vehicles in coming years. Today’s heavy-duty natural gas fueled fleet is less than two percent of the total fleet. However, in the next 20 years, the heavy-duty truck fleet is expected to undergo a massive change–to as much as 50% of those vehicles powered by natural gas. That is a HUGE number! And potentially a huge new market for Marcellus/Utica gas! Natgas has a lot of advantages over diesel fuel, but folks are concerned over the mythical global warming potential of methane leaking into the atmosphere. Hence this study which looks at ways to prevent that…
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PA Launch 1st of 29 CNG Stations for Public Transit Buses

Yesterday Pennsylvania officials converged on Cambria County to unveil what is the first of 29 total CNG (compressed natural gas) fueling facilities that are being built in a public/private partnership for PA’s public bus transit fleet. Beginning this year and stretching through 2021, Trillium CNG will build and operate a total of 29 CNG fueling stations around the state. PA is paying Trillium, which is a subsidiary of Loves Travel Stops (see Love’s Travel Stops Buys Trillium CNG, Expands CNG Network), $84.5 million to build the stations. In addition to fueling public vehicles, some of the locations will be open to the public. Once the project is completed in 2021, those 29 CNG fueling stations will provide natgas for more than 1,600 CNG buses at transit agencies across the state–an important new market for homegrown, PA Marcellus Shale gas…
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UPS Adds 390 CNG, 50 LNG Trucks to Fleet in $90M NatGas Investment

UPS LNG tractor trailer

In 2013 we tipped our hat to UPS, the worldwide package delivery service, for their commitment to growing their natural gas fleet with a plan to add 700 new LNG (liquefied natural gas) tractor trailers to the fleet (see UPS to Grow NG Fleet with Additional 700 LNG Tractor Trailers). In 2015, UPS did it again. The company announced they would another 64 new LNG tractor trailers to the fleet–this batch based in Harrisburg, PA (see UPS Adds 64 New LNG Tractor Trailers to Fleet in Harrisburg, PA). It seems that UPS’s investment in natural gas comes every two years. Yesterday the company announced another massive $90 million investment in natural gas. UPS is adding an additional six compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling stations, 390 new CNG tractors and terminal trucks, and 50 liquefied natural gas (LNG) vehicles to its alternative fuel/advanced technology fleet…
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Marcellus Shale Coalition Joins ‘High Octane Low Carbon Alliance’

Tom Daschle - Lobbyist
Tom Daschle – Lobbyist

Ever wonder what it feels like to dance with the devil? The Marcellus Shale Coalition is about to find out. The MSC (a great organization run by a great guy, Dave Spigelmyer) has joined a coalition of groups in what is being called the High Octane Low Carbon Alliance. Groups in the Alliance include the MSC, Renewable Fuels Association, Clean Fuels Development Coalition, and Fuel Freedom Foundation. The groups are not anti-fossil fuel, but rather dedicated to lowering the cost of transportation fuel, and the carbon content in that fuel. In essence, the aim of the group is to get us off foreign/imported oil that currently powers our transportation industry. So we can see why the MSC has thrown in its lot with the others in this Alliance. The devil is not the partners in the group–it’s the person representing and lobbying for them: Tom Daschle. Recognize the name? Before the gangster Harry Reid was Majority (and now Minority) leader in the U.S. Senate, Tom Daschle held that position. Daschle is an extremely partisan/left-wing Democrat. People like Daschle leave office rich–enriching themselves is what loathsome politicians like Daschle do best. After they leave office, that’s when they get fat cat rich–by becoming lobbyists. And so the MSC and other groups in the Alliance have contracted with the devil himself to represent them…
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Clean Energy Deal to Rebuild CNG Station for 147 NJ Transit Buses

More clean-burning Marcellus and Utica Shale gas will be used to power New Jersey Transit buses–some 147 of them. Clean Energy Fuels Corp. announced last week it won a $10 million, multi-year procurement from New Jersey Transit to rebuild a large compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling station, as well as additional garage modifications and the repair and maintenance of facilities through 2020. NJ Transit is expected to operate a fleet of 147 CNG commuter buses estimated to consume approximately 2 million gasoline gallon equivalents (GGEs) each year. While the announcement doesn’t specifically say Marcellus gas will power those buses, where else do you think the gas will come from? Fleets of trucks and buses are an important new market for the abundant natural gas we have beneath our feet, and Clean Energy is helping to create that future with deals like this one and the many other deals they’ve won…
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New CNG Tanks on the Way for Passenger Vehicles – Game Changer?

There’s been a break through in technology used for compressed natural gas (CNG) fuel tanks used in cars and trucks. Until now, the typical CNG fuel tank must be big and bulky and holds compressed gas at a pressure of 3,600 pounds per square inch (psi). United Technologies Corp. has innovated a new tank that is much smaller, using “activated carbon adsorbents” technology that will allow CNG to be stored at 1,000 psi. United Technologies has licensed their technology to Adsorbed Natural Gas Products, Inc. which will manufacture the new fuel tanks. If this catches on, it has the potential to up-end the passenger vehicle market by making CNG as attractive and convenient as gasoline–which would expand natural gas demand…
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The Truth About “Green” Electric Cars & What Really Powers Them

This may offend some, but it has to be said. Electric cars are manufactured to make rich, white liberals feel good about themselves–like they’re actually doing something to Save the Planet. The truth behind electric cars, however, is the opposite of what they believe. The thinking goes like this: “I’ll buy and drive an electric car and by doing so I’ll show all of my rich, white friends just how Green I am.” Here’s the truth: In 2015, 61% of all electricity was produced by either natural gas (31%) or coal (30%)–evil, vile, nasty fossil fuels, in the eyes of the rich, white liberal elites. Another 20% of electricity was produced by nuclear power plants, giving us a grand total of 81% of electricity running in those electric cars comes from “dirty” sources, in the minds of the libs. Do they realize that? Do they know their so-called “green” cars are actually powered mostly by fossil fuels? Another statistic: In 2015, 9% of all electricity in the U.S. was produced by so-called renewables, like wind and solar. Still feel good about yourselves, you dolts? In what can only be considered a laugh-out-loud moment, last week the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) released its 19th Annual Comprehensive Environmental Ratings for Vehicles. Electric vehicles (EVs) got 9 of the top 12 spots in the ACEEE Environmental Vehicle Rankings for being “greenest.” There’s also a list of “greener” vehicles, and (of course), a list of “meanest” vehicles–those that use nasty fossil fuels and belch out carbon dioxide (the same thing you exhale with every breath). The ACEEE rating is yet another attempt to make rich, white libs feel good about themselves…
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