Journal of Scientilic & Industri al Research

Vo l. 62, Janu ary-February 2003, pp 20-24

Application of CNG in Transportation Sector - A Review of the Current Status

of Technology and Future Projections
B B Ghos h"', P K Bose, Ranajit Kumar Chakrabarti and Kalyan Kumar Das
Department o f Mechani cal Engineering, Jadavpur Universi ty, Kolkata 700032, Indi a

The rap id depletion of petrol eum fu el, and ever ri sing costs have forced engineers to search for altern ative fuels for the
use in IC engines, With an abund ant sup ply and cleaner ex haust, CNG has great potential as a subst itute of petrolt:u m fu els.
CNG can also play vit al ro le in reli eving the fu el crisis worldover as a future source o f energy a,; well as cleaner fuel. Full
replacement of petrol in J::etrol engine with CNG is not a problem but in the case of diesel engine it gives various prob lems in
operat ion and hence ex tens ive research wo rk is necessary in this lield for full replace ment of di esel with CNG. Ir. thi s paper,
SOllle resea rch wo rk on the use of CNG in C I and S I engines at national and intern at ional scenarios have been reported.

Introduction The properti es of natural gas, whi ch make it a better

GlobJI petrol eum depos its will get depleted
with in th e nex t 100 and resea rch on alternati ve fu el
powered car is on, in earnest. Experts have been
predi cting th e use of altern ative fu el for ve hi c les for
decades. With detori oratin g o il polluti on and ri sing
oil prices , it is natural th at there wou ld be fo cused
th inking on producing chea p environmental-friend ly
alternati ve fuel. There are plenty of alternative
sourccs of energy to foss il fuels. Hydrogen,
comp ressed natural gas (CNG), alcoho l, bi ogas,
produce r gas, liq ue fied petro leu m gas (LPG) and a
host of vegetable oils are being tri ed allove r the
wo rl d as substitutes to conventi onal pet r01 eum based
ru c \ ~ . T he biogas and prod ucer gas are low energy
conte nt pe r uni t mass. Mo reover, storage probl em is
th ere wit h these fuels. Alco hol has poo r energy
co ntcnt pe r unit mass. T hese fuels ha ve also low
cetane numbe rs. As alco ho l fue ls do not read il y
co mbust in C I engines, thi s limits th e sub stitutes fo r
l
hi gh co mpress ion ignttt on engines . The mall1
co nstraint of using vegeta ble oil s as fu el is th eir hi gh
cost. CNG occupi es a very prominent place, primaril y
because of its tec hn o economtc evaluation
characteri sti cs and environmental benefits (Table I).
The use of CNG as an engine fu el, fortun ately,
does not ca ll for radi ca l changes in engine des ign.
;, Emeritus Professor. AICTE, Jadavp ur University, Ko lk ata, and
Indi ,1Il Insti tu te ofTechnoiogy, Kharagpur, India
alternative fu el for IC engines are;
(i) Because of its gaseous state it defus es rap id ly
in air fu el mixin g at lower inl et temperature
than is poss ible with eith r gasoline or
di esel. This leads to easi er startin g, more
rel iable idling, smooth er accelerati on and
more co mplete and e ffi c ient burning with less
unburn ed hydrocarbons prese nt In th e
exhaust.
(ii) The hi gher igniti on tempera ture of gas
compared with petrol eum based fuels leads to
reduced au to igniti on de lay. Due to thi s
higher ignition temperature, C NG is less
haza rd ous than any petroleum based fu e ls .
(ii i) T he hi gher oc tan e rating of 120 for natural
gas (NG ) co mpared with 87 for gaso line
allows a hi gher co mpressi on rati o (C R) or
15:6: I and , consequentl y, more effici ent fu el
co nsumption . Due to its higher CR, C I
engines can also use CNG a ~ a fu el. But since
cetan e rati ng of CNG is poo r it ca nn ot
replace diese l totally like gaso line.
(iv) Maintenance costs for gas are lower th an that
of gasoline or di esel engines, beca use
gaseous fue ls burn c lea n without ca rbon
depos its. Furthermore, in gas engines the fuel
 GHOSH el al.: APPLI C ATION OF CNG IN TRAN SPORTATION SECTOR 21

T able 1- Physico - chemica l properti es of C NG and gasoline

Properties NG Gasolinc

Co mposition M eth ane 82.2 per ce nt

Eth ane 6. 1
Propane 2.4
Isobutane 1.0
N-but ane, Isopcn tane 0.4
Nitrogen 7.7
Carbondi oxide and oxygen 0.2

2 Stoic hi ometri c AJF rati o 17 14. 6

3 Lo we r calorifi c va lue MJ / kg 44.24 43

j, 4 Ign iti on temperature 649-72I"C n i 'c
) Ouan e no. 120 87

6 Adiabati c Il ame temperature 2 148 K 2470 K

7 Minimum energ y required for ignition 0.29 MJ 0.24 MJ

g Volumetri c efficienc y Le s ~ M ore
<) H UCR 12.2 s .)

10 Storage and handling Dirtl cull Ea~ i c r

II Availabi lit y Ab und anl Limil cd

12 Rcnc wabilil y Rcnewab le and can be ob tain ed from ~e lVage and N OI

biomas s. shale oil and olher sou rce rcnewahle

does not mix up with th e lubri ca nt s to dilute elect roni c control ,' .-l The cho ice betwee n mec han ical
it or red uce its viscos it y so that lubrica nt and electroni c kit would depend up on th e cost of kit ,
co nsumpti on is lower in gas engine than th at ease of conversi on, ease of maintenance and type of
in gasolin e/di ese l engines. appli cati on.

(v) Opt imi sed natural gas ve hic les are expected
to produce mu ch less carbon monox ide near-
zero reac ti vit y of meth ane, natural gas
vehicl es may cause less ozone form ati on tha n
gaso line/d iese l ve hi cles.
Review of Current Status of Technology
CO // l'eJ's i o // Kifs 2 - The natural gas retrofit kits
bas ica ll y co nsist of: (i) On board storage tank, (ii )
ri lling val ve, (iii ) Press ure regulator, (iv) Pressure
gauge, (v) Load and speed dependent regul ators , (vi)
Gas air mi xer, (vii ) Shut off and Co nt ro l va lves, (viii )
Low and hi gh pressure tubing and fittin gs. Most kits
arc mechani ca l in operati on and are designed
typ ica ll y for use as a 'Seco nd-fuel System' . Kit s with
electro ni c control, based on engine pe rformance map
systems have also bee n developed. Kits and engine
deve lopments are also under way whi ch ca n tak e ca re
of va riati ons in gas co mp os iti ons and maintain engine
performan ce c lose to gaso line or di ese l through
Ex perimental in vesti gati ons, re latin g to th e
utilisation of CNG in on automotive passe nge r ca r
were ca rri ed out by Nagraj et (l1'- In vesti gati ons "vere
carri ed out for: (a) Gaso line ope ration , b) CNG with
a standard kit , (c) CNG with th e kit tu ned fo r
max imum power, (d) CNG with the kit tu ned for
lower e mi ss ions. The studi es indi cated that th e
performance of the CNG kit with standard se tting was
fo und to be lowe r than gasolin e operation . It was
observed th at if this kit was tun ed furth er,
improve ment in bra ke powe r co uld be achi eved.
Und er these co nditi ons th e BSEC and e missi ons were
noticed to be lower than gaso line ve rsi on.
Ex pe rime nts were carri ed out by Das and
Redd /' in the Engines and Unco nve ntion al Fuels
Laboratory at liT, De lhi in de velopin g a CNG fuell ed
spark Igniti on Engine . Res ults of th e work have
shown th at maximum le vel of ca rbon monoxid e
emissi ons was 0.325 pe r cent, NO, e miss ion
co ncentrati ons ac hi eve th e peak valu e around an-
equi va lence rat io of 1.1 , whereas if it reduces th e
 22 J SCII NDRES VOL61 JANUARY -FEBRUARY 2003
leaner and ri c he r mi xtures. Res ults of the work
showed an improve me nt in the pe rfo rmance and
e mi ss io n c harac te ri sti cs of the CNG fue ll ed e ngine,
usin g a spec ia lly des igned Electro M ec hani ca l Fuel
(EMF ,) sys te m.
F le min g and Allsup7 ha ve carri ed out study of
natural gas as low-po llution automotive fuel us ing a
s in g le cy linde r, a multi cy linde r engine and six
ve hi c les. Res ults showed that the light-l oad lean-limit
mi sfire region o f natura l gas begins at an a ir fu e l ratio
be tween 140-150 per cent of sto ic hiometri c. Changes
in igniti on timin g, significantly influe nced e mi ss ion
of nit rogen ox ides and hydroca rbon s but had littl e
effect on CO e mi ss ion. Lowe r e mi ss io ns ca n be
ac hi eved (by adju stment) with current des ign engines,
but w ith heavy pe na lty to e ngine perfo rma nce.
Emi ss io ns from vehi c les fu e led w ith natura l gas are
virtuall y unaffec ted between 20-100°F. Natura l gas
ex hau st is estimated to be 22 pe r cent-2S pe r cent as
reacti ve as gaso lin e ex haust.
x In case of the Middle East countries, they prefer
Paul et at. have condu cted ex pe rime nt s on a
co mmerc ia l, four stroke, s ix-cy linde rs water-coo led ,
direct inj ection Tata di ese l engine usin g thi s du e l fu e l.
The maximum pe rcentage re pl aceme nt of diese l with
CNG has been fo und to be 69.4 pe r cent at an
optimum speed of 1900 rpm. The bra ke th e rmal
e ffi c ie ncy of thi s eng ine when run with dual fu e l is
comparabl y at differe nt speeds a nd load s w ith that if
the eng ine when run with di ese l o nly .
Das and Ghosh C) made co mpa rati ve studi es of
gaso lin e a nd CNG as fuel for spark ignition e ngine.
In thi s paper, different pe rformance pa ra mete rs, suc h
as effic iency, spec ifi c fuel consumption. The
presence of CO and NO, in th e exhau st of SI e ngine
run wit.h CNG as fuel have been measured and plotted
as a function of air index at differe nt runnin g
conditi ons. Th e CNG fu e led engine showed improved
effi c ie ncy by 3-5 pe r cent dependin g on the
compress ion ratio and a ir index, e mit s less CO but
51ightl y high e r amount of NO,.
Das and Ghosh' o have carried out ex pe riments
o n the di ese l version of Richard s va riable
Co mme rc ia l e ngine and a commercial Tata di ese l
e ngine to study the pe rfo rmance and e mi ss ion
c haracte ri stic s, pe rce ntage redu c tion o f di ese l with
CNG. It was o bserved th at the dual fuel operation
produced less a mount of nitroge n oxides durin g AlF
o perati o n but slightly more CO than diese l fuel
ope rati o n.
At present, in India th e c iti es lik e Delhi ,
Mumbai , Vadodara and Surat vehicl es are o perat in g
on CNG in a large sca le. M o re than 30,000 vehi c les
are runnin g o n CNG in New Delhi a nd ! 0,000 buses
would be conve rted to CNG by Oc to be r e nd . Most
ene rgy ex pe rts agree th at it is not on l/ CNG but
severa l other steps like phasin g out of o ld vehicles
a nd reducing sulphur content in th e fuel ca n
contribute to reducin g a ir polluti o n. A comb inati o n of
CNG with other a lte rn ative fuels could a lso be used
to redu ce air po lluti o n.
On th e g lobal scene, CNG is po pula r in poc kets
and th at too o nl y where e ithe r the government or the
judiciary have push ed it. From th e hea lth and safety
point of view , C NG is as good as , o r even be tte r than
petro l and oth er alternative fuels. C hi cago has about
30 pe r ce nt of its publi c tran spo rt be in g o pe rated o n
CNG and it is as low as 5 pe rcent in New York , and 2
pe r cent in Pari s.
to flare up the gas in stead of c han g in g the ir entire
fleet to CNG .
The fu e l is li g hte r th an air hence in the event of
a lea k, it will ri se and di spe rse in the atmosphere and
ne ithe r form puddl es (as in th e case of petrol ) nor w ill
it spread (as in LPG). The igniti on te mperature of
natural gas is muc h hi g he r than pe tro l, ma kin g il
more difficult to ig nite.
Future Projections
CNG is go ing to playa vital rol e in re li ev ing the
fu e l c ri sis worldove r as a future source o f e ne rgy as
we ll as a cleaner fu e l. India has ta ke n up the
c hall e nge and conve rtin g most of its ve hic les to run
on CNG.
In Indi a, two-wh ee le rs are popul a r because of its
low cost ope ration inc luding suppl y of fu e l. Many
manufacture rs are in the process of converting
ex istin g petro l and di ese l ope rated two-whee lers
petrol and di esel to CNG operation . The full
replacement of petrol in a pe tro l engine w ith CNG is
not a probl e m but full repl acement of d iese l in a
di ese l e ngine possess a lot of problems because of the
low cetane number of di ese l. A s per Indian context,
auto mobil e manufacturers are loo kin g forward fo r the
complete rep laceme nt of diese l with CNG,
demanding an extens ive research work in the use of
CNG in the di ese l e ng ine.
 GHOSH et al.: APPLICATION OF CNG IN TR AN SPORTATION SECTOR
Conclusions
Going throug h the researc h work carried out by
researc hers at national and inte rnational leve l the
following fac ts have corne to li g ht :
(i) The ex istin g SI e ng ines can be ope rated with
100 pe r cent substitution o f CNG in place of
petro l.
(ii ) It is diffi cult to ope rate the CI e ng ines with the
substituti o n of 100 per cent CNG in place of
di ese l. Howeve r, hi ghe r percentage of
substitution of CNG is poss ibl e at the o pe rati o n
of hi g h loads.
(iii ) Th e C I e ng in es ca n be completely operated with
C NG by co nve rtin g th e CI e ngin es to SI
e ng in es, th o ug h it is no t eco no mi ca l.
(iv) Th e na tural gas fro m th e source ca n be ava ilabl e
in three forms suc h as Compressed Natural Gas
(CNG), Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG ),
Liqu e fi ed Pe trol e um Gas (LPG ), out of th ese
CNG appears to be econo mi ca l because of the
following reaso ns:
(a) Th e conve rs io n of NG to CNG need s a
co mpressor.
(b) Th e co nvers io n of NG to LNG needs
cryogenic set up to maintain the NG at -
40 DC which is un econo mi ca l.
(c) LPG is th e byprodu c t o f c rude petrol eum.
Durin g the process in g o f c rud e petro leum it
becomes ex pens ive a nd ava il ab ilit y is als o
limited.
(v) The co nvers io n of e xistin g S I and C I e ng ines
needs kits th e manufacture o f w hi c h has been
ve ry popular all over the world. It appears
throu g h the Iite rature survey that th e
devel o pment of kit s has a w ide sco pe re lated to
th e pro pe r des ign and fa bri ca ti o n. As pe r the
diffe re nt SI and C I eng in es ha vin g diffe re nt
ho rse powers (hp ) th e ca reful des ig n and
fabrication of C G kit s require prope r thou g ht.
Thus th e des ign and fabri ca ti o n of CNG kits for
diffe re nt capacity e ng ll1 es has bee n a
c hall eng in g globa l issu e.
(v i) On th e basis of works carried out by
Prof. Karim at Unive rsity of Calgary Ca nada .
Prof. Evan at th e Uni vers it y of Colombia,
Canad a.
23
Prof. Re ne at th e University o f Auc land ,
New Zeland.
Prof. Bill at th e University of Allabama, USA
Prof. L.M . Das at lIT De lhi , India .
Prof. B.B . Gho sh at lIT Kharag pur, Indi a
Prof. H.B . M athur at lIT De lhi , Indi a
Prof. Probir Kr. Bose, at Jadavpur Univers ity,
Jadavpur, India .
(v ii ) ]t has been rea lised that CNG is a c lean fuel in
compari son to petrol and di ese l as pe r th e
e ngine ex haust e mi ss ion.
(v iii) On th e whole on the bas is eng in e pe rfo rman ce
and e mi ss ion s, in future the dedi cated CNG
eng ines have to be des ig ned and manufactured .
(ix) It is th e pro pe r time to go in for ded icated CNG
e ng in es which can be o pe rated at hi g he r
compression rati o in order of 14 to have very
good e ng in e effi c ie ncy.
ex) As pe r th e safety po int of vie w th e operatio n o n
CNG e ngines is mo re safe r bec ause of it s hi gh
ig nition te mpe rature as co mpared to petro l a nd
diese l.
References
DcLuchi A M. John ston R A & Spcrlin g D. M ethanol 1'.1'
natllml gas I'echiclesn: a cOlllllarison. SAE Pape r No.
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2 Singhal S, Sharma J & Ga ndhi K K. Strat cgy 1'01' use o r
natural gas as a transport ation ru cl in In dia, PmI' TI \'e/jih Nllt
Conj'l C t:ng COII/bllst liP. D eh radlln , 1<)<)2.
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6 Das L M & Rcdd y Y V. Ex haus t cmi ss ion characteristics oj'
a CNG-ruell cd cnginc. Proc Sixteenth Nut CrJllt' I C EI/ g
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24 J SCIIND RES VOL 61 JANUARY-FEBR UARY 2003

Das R K & Ghosh F3 S, COIIII,arali ve sllldies ()fgaso line and 10 Das R K & Ghosh B B, SOlli e Sl lIdies on Ih e {'({se (lj' CNG in
cOIIII,re.l·sed natllral gas as .lile! for spark ignilion engines , research and cOllllllercial diesel engines, Vol. 76, Th e
Vol. 75 , Th e Instituti on or engineers (Indi a), November In stitution of Engineers (India), November 1995.
1994,

A./ier being gradllated \\'ilh honollrs ill Mechanical Engineering .frolll GlasgoII' Universily in 1904, Prof 8 8
Ghosh j oilled Vickers E'ngin eering Ltd, England .for IIVO r ears 10 ha ve sOllie indllslrial e.r/'t'rimce. He also
receil'('(l ARCST (Associale Melllher of Royal College of Science & Technology) Hons in Mechan ico l Engineering
fm lll Slralhvcirde Universilv in 1964. He j oined Mechanical Engineerin g Deparllllenl o.f I I T. Khamglillr, India.
He cOlllpleled his PhD and sen'ed I I T. Kharagpllr for 33 vears in leaching and research in Ih(' area o.f I C
Eng ines. He gllided 60 B Tech, 40 M Tech and seven PhD Ih esis re!aled 10 I C Engines. He IJllblislll'd 60 nalional
and Inlemalirmalpllhlicalionsandisa.fello\\.lII elllber oj. Inslillll eo.fEngineers (lndia). Lij.e lll elllher oj
COlllhllslion /nslillll e, Inlemalional, Melllher(ASMC),Melllber(SAE). He hasll'onvariolls nalional and
inlemalional{lll.ards.AII.res£.nl he is working as Vice-chair ( Malhs and Science ) in ElIslem SAE Seclion, India.
I ({In lI'orking as {lfl l:'J}/erililS proj'essor (A ll India CO lln cil For Technical Edllcation) (II .Jadavpllr /JIII I'('f's i/r ({IIII
Indian In Slilllle (~j'Techn o logv, Khargpllr afler relirelll elllfrolll 1fT, Kharagllllr, His dillies are related 10 re,l'earch
in glliding PhD Iheses, coordinaling research projecls, ele.

PJ'()f P K 8 0SI' did his 8/~' in Mechanical Engin eering in Ihe yea r 1975frolll Ih e Regional En gineerin g College,
Dllrgapllr and passed 0 111 lI'ilh Firsl Class (H(II/s.), He cOlllpleled MaSl er of F;ngineering. (ME) ill Me challical
F;n gineer;'lIg / i'Oln .Jadm'lllIr Unil 'ersily in Ih e vea r 1978 and aim did his PhD in Engineering./imi/ Indian In Slillll£'
oj' Teclu/Ologv, Bom!Jar in 1993. He has go lll/Ore Ihan 80 pllblications ill inlemational and nalionu/jollmuis (111(1
conj'e rence,I' 10 his ('{'edil (lnd has gllided 17 PhD sllIdenls lill n (}\I '. He is a II 11'111 her or 11/(/11.1' Ilm/('ssiollal hodies
and Associations of En gineers and has also delil'ered leelllr('s ill variolls inslilllles (~j'diff'er('l/I ('ol(//Iri l's allm'er
Ih(' I\·or/d. He is presenlil' Proj'l'ssor of Mechanical Enginl'ering in .Jadavp/(r Unil'ersil.", Kolka/(l,

~
r~!,~" Shri R K Clwkra!Jarti gradllated in Me chanical /:.'ngineering Ivilh Firsl Class (1-lons ).fi'Olll .Jada l'llIIr Unil'ersilr ill
198 1. !-II' did Posl-Gradllalioll ill Mechanical engineerin g froll/ In dian In slil/(Ie of'Tec//I/Olo/?I·, Khamgp/(r in
1984, !-Ic has lI'orked ill II/(/n.\' Indllslries like Mil- Telco, .Jall/shedp/(r, Mil- Usha Telehoisl Ltd, Cu ic/(Ila and Mil-
VOLTAS' Ltd. BOlllhav and Ca lclIlIlI. !-I(' jo ill al acar/l'lI/ie,I' in 1990 alld presenlll' is a Sl'nior Let'IWer, Mechanical
Engin('c rin g IJeparlll/('I/l, .Jad(/\'llIIr Universil.\', Kolkata,

Kail'an KIIII/ar Das oiJlained his BE degree in Mechanical Engineering FOil/ Ihe Universi/r of' No rth Bengal Oil
1972, He is a cons/(Italll to va rio/(s Indllslries and ca /'lyin g 0 111 research work on allematil'e alllolllOhilejil!'1 ill
Ihl' MI'c/wllicai Engin eering Dell(lr/lnelll or .Jadavp/(r Universil.\', In dia. !-Ie is a II/ell/ber (If IIISlillllion of
En gineers, India and SAE Inlemalional, USA.