Railway says fuel savings inspired LNG test

Fuel Fix ^ | March 6, 2013 | Zain Shauk

[thackney]

That only address the federal 24.4¢/gal tax. The state rules may differ for their fuel excise tax.

[okie01]

If I read Chapter 1 Fuel Taxes Page 7 of the following correctly, that tax applies to trains as well.

Odd. One would think that diesel fuel for locomotives would be treated like farm diesel. I wonder what the justification is. Or if they even bothered to come up with one...

[thackney]

Or if they even bothered to come up with one...

BTTT

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

Once everything gets converted, the maintenance savings would be astronomical.

I’m assuming that the conversion is of a diesel engine from straight diesel fuel to lean-mixture natural gas ignited by pilot charge of diesel oil. While that’s highly economical based on the low price of natural gas, it also is a very efficient process thermodynamically. And since the combustion of carbureted air is smoother than the combustion of injected fuel oil, I suppose there is the potential for maintenance savings because of the lack of “diesel knock”. Are there other maintenance savings?

[Slump Tester]

I was thinking how much cleaner it would burn. And I remember what my auto mechanics teacher in high school always said - "Most diesel engine failures originate in the fuel tank."

Then throw government/EPA regulation in on the diesel fuel and do the math.

I know asphalt plants here that switched to natural gas from burning fuel oil saved enough in maintenance costs in the first year or so to negate the cost of the conversion. That's external combustion, but their burners lasted way longer and didn't need constant upkeep.

[wideminded]

Since LNG first has to be vaporized, then the methane diluted to 15% concentration before it can be ignited, there is no way to explode and LNG tanker.

But if there was an accident and the tanker developed a crack it might incinerate an entire town.

[thackney]

But if there was an accident and the tanker developed a crack it might incinerate an entire town.

No way. Methane is significantly lighter than air. If you had a leak, the LNG first has to warm up to boil off as vapor. By the time it mixed to 85% air / 15% methane, it is up in the air.