Can we run our cars on natural gas? Interview with Bob Farris and Carole Hornsby Haynes, PhD,

The Jacki daily Show ^ | 6/17/2015 | The Jacki Daily Show

[RaceBannon]

Can We Run Our Cars on Natural Gas?

In an attempt to insulate the U.S. from dependence on foreign oil, many have advocated that we transition our vehicles from oil derived gasoline to natural gas. One North Texas couple invested in this plan, and Bob Farris and Carole Hornsby Haynes, PhD, share their experience. While natural gas is a great fuel for fleet vehicles and large trucks or buses, it faces many challenges in the rest of the commercial fleet.

[editor-surveyor]

You need to read more before responding!

This is not about running a car on Methane gas; it is about converting methane into liquid which is easy and safe to put in your car.
.

[thackney]

Efficiency already has a definition.

If you want to make up your own, why not call it “chair” or “sky” or something else as meaningless.

The amount of energy per unit of weight of a fuel is not the efficiency of the engine that uses the fuel.

[Dr. Sivana]

You need to read more before responding!

Excuse me? I read all there was to read, which is below:

This is not about running a car on Methane gas; it is about converting methane into liquid which is easy and safe to put in your car. In an attempt to insulate the U.S. from dependence on foreign oil, many have advocated that we transition our vehicles from oil derived gasoline to natural gas. One North Texas couple invested in this plan, and Bob Farris and Carole Hornsby Haynes, PhD, share their experience. While natural gas is a great fuel for fleet vehicles and large trucks or buses, it faces many challenges in the rest of the commercial fleet.

I do NOT apologize for not listening to a 22 minutes long radio program before responsing. The text made it very clear that we are talking about either CNG (Compressed Natural Gas), which my car was designed to take, or possibly LNG (Liquified Natural Gas).

CNG is based on the same stuff we use in our furnaces, hot water heaters and gas fired stoves. For a while, it was possible to fuel a CNG automobile with a device called PHILL (about $3,000 or so at the time) using a standard house natural gas hook up. That was what I was talking about.

I don't think you read my post closely. If you did, and you meant to respond to it, you didn't understand it.

[editor-surveyor]

Or “Ethylene.”

[thackney]

What is more efficient, 9 units of work per gram or 10 units of work per gram?

Work is a measurement of energy.

It is interesting that you chose to compare the two by weight, which is a measurement of energy density, not efficiency.

What makes it interesting is that the energy/gram is far higher in Natural Gas, compressed or in liquid, than gasoline or diesel. There is 25% more energy in Natural Gas than the same amount of weight in gasoline. For the same amount of pounds of fuel carried in a vehicle, you would travel more miles running on Natural Gas. It would take up more volume.

Most people don't care how much the fuel weighs in their tank. What most people value is the cost to travel, miles per dollar, rather than miles per kilogram. While gasoline is relatively cheap lately, they have become close in cost. For most of the last few decades, Natural Gas has been cheaper.

[who_would_fardels_bear]

TheFederalist

[thackney]

There have been some posts from someone calling himself the Federalist Society that seem like libertarian shilling for large corporations.

Three posts from 2001?

[editor-surveyor]

I guess I misunderstood your post.

I thought that someone had setup a fake Federalist Society page.

[who_would_fardels_bear]

A lot more than that.

[thackney]

You should try clicking your link

[RaceBannon]

wow

Some people on here have such a knee jerk reaction to things they dont know

this woman is more conservative than Sarah Palin!

and better looking and smarter, too.

[hoagy62]

I used to work at a place that ran a fleet of vans on CNG. They were okay, but didn’t have the range of the gasoline vehicles. The drivers really didn’t like them for that reason. Also, DO NOT RUN OUT OF FUEL in a CNG vehicle. Had two or three drivers who did, and in ALL cases, the engines had severe problems that needed major repair within a day of the occurrence.

Just passing along the info.

[RaceBannon]

what happened when they ran out?
Was there contamination in the carburation/fuel injector?
In the cylinders?
What caused the issues?
Water after the gas ran out?

[Ditter]

Yes it had an ignition switch but turning it off didn’t make the truck stop.

[hoagy62]

Y’know....I’m not sure. The shop never explained what caused the malfunctions (I know at least one was a blown head gasket).

[editor-surveyor]

Then what was wrong had nothing to do with the propane.

[Pelham]

That sounds like dieseling. The cylinders had become hot enough to ignite the NG without a spark.

[editor-surveyor]

That would have been a cooling failure.

Someone was ignoring the instrument panel.

[Pelham]

“That would have been a cooling failure. Someone was ignoring the instrument panel.”

No, it doesn’t require a cooling failure. It could have been a hot spot in a cylinder or a carburetor not shutting off. Timing could have been off. There’s a number of causes of dieseling.

[RaceBannon]

overpressure? Old age?
just a guess...