12 Days of Fleet FYIs: Breaking Down Natural Gasses - CNG, LNG and LPG | Utilimarc Fleet FYIs

Gretchen Reese (00:06):

Hey there. Welcome to Fleet FYIs, the weekly podcast by Utilimarc that reveals how you can make the most of your data for smarter fleet management. My name is Gretchen and every week you'll hear from me and some of the industry's finest in candid conversations that will shed some light on not only two decades worth of data insights, but some of the industry's hottest talking points and key metric analysis with the aim to help you better understand your fleet from every angle. But before we begin, if this is the first time you've heard our show, thanks for stopping by. I'm so glad you decided to come along for the ride with us.

(00:41):

But I've got a quick favor to ask you, once you finish today's episode, if you could take a few minutes to leave us a review on your favorite podcasting platform, we would really appreciate it. Give us a rating, five stars I hope, or tells us what you liked or leave us a comment or a question about you've heard in today's episode. But if we haven't yet covered a topic that you're interested in hearing more about, let us know. We would be happy to go over it in detail in a later episode. If that sounds good to you, let's get back to the show.

(01:17):

Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode of the Fleet FYIs podcast. I'm sure that at this point we've all heard of the 12 days of Christmas, right? Well, if figured that we'd do our own spin, seeing as we have the holidays coming up next week already, if you can believe it or not. And thus we have the 12 days of Fleet FYIs leading up to Christmas on Saturday. Exciting, right? At least I think so. Think of this like a collection of Fleet FYIs shorts, but instead of every Monday, we're gonna of a bit of a rapid fire Fleet FYI shorts coming your way for the next 12 days. As you can, I'm sure, assume by the title of this show. Anyways, Gretchen rambling done, ready? Let's begin with the first up on the list, what exactly is the different between natural gases like CNG, LNG and LPG?

(02:08):

This is a question that we get a lot, and honestly that a lot of people are actually searching for just in general, just because it is a type of fuel that has been on the forefront of a lot of conversations in this new sustainability movement. Well, I can tell you right now that natural gas is the fastest growing fossil fuel of the past decade and it's becoming increasingly popular as an alternative to diesel and gasoline, which I'm sure you probably know at this point too. Natural gas occurs naturally, hence the name, deep below the Earth's surface due to decomposition of plants and animals over millions of years. Similar to coal, similar to petrol, you know the drill.

(02:48):

But basically, over this amount of time, however many years it takes, millions of years to be exact, I'm not sure, the high pressure and the heat changes these materials, m- materials, being the plants and animals that have since been buried under layers of soil and magma, whatever it is, into petroleum oil and natural gas. Now, variant methods of extraction and purification then turns these raw materials into different types of fuel with many common uses. Some of them you might recognize, but we'll get into that a little bit later in the show.

(03:21):

But like all fossil fuels, natural gases are unfortunately non-renewable, even though they do have a more sustainable counterpart to them than a petroleum fuel would be. And it's actually kind of interesting because the supply currently is estimated to run out in about 50 years. Similar to the lithium reserves when it comes to, you know, the lithium needed to produce lithium-ion batteries. However, it's thought and has been proven that natural gas is far greener than its petroleum counterpart, making it a more favorable option in terms of environmental friendliness. And the thing is, is that natural gas can be stored and used in different states, but each type burns cleanly and emits less than half of the greenhouse gases as regular oil or coal. But what are the different types? Well, you've come to the right show for that one. Let's dig in.

(04:24):

So, what are the different types of natural gases? Well, today, most OEMs, construction and agricultural equipment manufacturers, have adapted to include options that run on natural gas. This we already know. And this is great news for fleets that are looking to cut down on greenhouse gases who don't yet have the electric vehicle options that are available to, say for example, some of the fleets that use only lighter duty or passenger type vehicles. Now, the varieties of natural gas are the result of different purification processes and they're commonly referred to as, and these are probably familiar terms to you by now, especially if you're listening to this show, they're referred to as CNG, LPG or LNG.

(05:10):

Now, let's start by breaking down the first one which is CNG, otherwise known as compressed natural gas. Compressed natural gas is the most commonly used natural gas and it's produced by, I'm sure you probably guessed, compressing natural gas to less than 1% of its original volume, and it's made up of methane, nitrogen, carbon dioxide and propane. This gaseous product is odorless and non-toxic, making it a clean fuel that emits far less greenhouse gases when combusted when compared to other common fuel types. For this reason, this is where you start to see that marketing as the greener fuel alternative. Yeah, I'm sure you can probably assume there.

(05:53):

But whilst CNG can definitely be used in light to heavy duty applications, it must be used in CNG dedicated vehicles or equipment. That's the one drawback, but that can be said for most fuel types anyways. You know, you have to use electricity to power an electric vehicle, you have to use petrol to power a gas powered vehicle, or CNG to power a natural gas powered vehicle, it makes sense. But the thing is, is that regular vehicles can actually be professionally converted to be CNG compatible, which is kind of cool. So, another benefit to this is that the saving from shifting away from gas or diesel actually add up to be quite a lot, because CNG can actually cost as little as half the price per gallon that fuel typically would.

(06:33):

And additionally, with 98% of natural gas in the US coming right from North America, CNG prices will stay relatively stable compared to commonly imported fuels. CNG vehicles do come with their challenges, as any other technology does though however, and that's one thing to take note of. The vehicles that are powered by CNG aren't as fuel efficient as traditional gas powered vehicles, which means that drivers will have to stop more often to fuel up their vehicles on a regular basis. And on the same note, finding a station with CNG can potentially be a challenge in itself.

(07:09):

Though it's commonly used in homes for heating and appliances, the majority of fueling stations for vehicles that use CNG are in New York and California, and this actually makes it a little bit less practical for drivers in other states to consider CNG as an alternative fuel for their vehicle, unless they want, aren't, or n- or I guess I shouldn't say not that they want to, but if they're not prepared to make that large investment into CNG itself. Because that, as we all know, coming from um, lots of discussion surrounding the planning and implementing of EV infrastructure, infrastructure can be a huge bill, a really huge bill.

(07:48):

But, moving on to the next piece, LPG, that's liquified petroleum gas. So, it's also commonly known as propane or butane. It is a liquified gas and byproduct of extracting and refining crude oil. And when natural gas is extracted, 90% of the recovered hydrocarbon is natural gas, while the resulting 10% is LPG. Alternatively, LPG can be produced through the refinement process of crude oil and it actually makes up 3% of a barrel of crude oil, and it's removed from the hydrocarbon when it is refined. Now, similar to CNG, LPG is also odorless um, but it is highly flammable and can be converted to a liquid state with only slight pressure or refrigeration. One cubic meter of LPG can be converted into 274 cubic meters of LPG in its gaseous state, making its liquid state preferable for storage and transport.

(08:46):

Most commonly, LPG is used for heating and cooking at home, especially for outdoor grills. I'm sure we've all filled up the propane tank before uh, 4th of July or any type of let's get out the grill and um, do some bratwurst or hamburgers outside type of holidays. But LPG is not typically a fuel source for vehicles in the US, even though it's actually pretty common across Europe. Now, due to its easy storage in tanks, LPG is commonly used as a fuel source in remote areas where access to other fuels is scarce. A lot that you maybe didn't know about LPG, but it's still interesting I think to know in an episode about natural gases, because it is something that definitely is a big part of this conversation.

(09:29):

Now, last but not least is LMG, which I'm sure you can probably deduct from LPG being liquified petroleum gas, CNG being compressed natural gas, LNG is liquified natural gas, kind of a little mashup of the two. But LNG, or liquified natural gas, is the result of liquefying and cooling natural gas. So, like CNG and LPG, LNG is nearly all methane with other elements including nitrogen, ethane and carbon dioxide. In the process of making LNG, natural gas is cooled until it becomes a liquid, and at this point elements such as water, hydrocarbons, carbon dioxide and mercury become frozen and must be extracted. The result is a liquid gas which is 600 times reduced from its previous form.

(10:22):

Now, LNG's high density means that one cubic meter of LNG can produce 600 cubic meters of natural gas once returned to a gaseous state. LNG's energy density is also a little bit more than three times greater than that of CNG's, which is an important thing to note. And ultimately, its smaller volume is what makes LNG much more cost effective to store and transport across long distances when direct pipelines are not a viable option. Because they aren't always, I mean, we all know that. But once at its destination and it's returned to natural gas, LNG can serve all of the same functions as CNG or LPG would.

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But the questions remains, as I'm sure we are all asking ourselves right now, or at least I was when we were writing this episode, what does the present and the future of natural gas look like? Because it can be a little up in the air, especially when we don't always know where we stand with electrification, sustainability, the whole shebang. Well, as we head towards the inevitable depletion of natural gas supply, it's gonna happen sooner versus later, it will become a little bit trickier to depend on natural gas as a solution for a low carbon future. This is a pretty obvious deduction, I think. Now, currently more than half of homes in the US depend on natural gas at this very moment. Fuel stoves, heaters, clothing driers and other appliances in the home often use natural gas as a power source, and it's also used for heating, cooking, air conditioning in buildings like schools, hospitals, offices and restaurants. We covered that a little bit, but just so you're aware of just everything that natural gases can be used for.

(12:11):

Now, natural gas is also essential in the industrial sector, serving as a fuel source in key material for countless products. For example, natural gas fuel the production of every day materials like paper, metal, glass, petroleum and clay. And additionally, it's used in manufacturing of products like paint and plastic, fertilizer and different medicines. So, we all rely on it, basically what I'm trying to tell you, a lot more than people actually think. And in the ongoing quest to decarbonize transport, natural gas a slowly gaining popularity for fueling vehicles. And as the natural gases that we were just talking about earlier in the show have high energy density, more vehicle fleets are moving towards natural gas for its energy efficiency, sustainability factor and lower fuel costs.

(13:00):

It's also especially useful in heavy duty vehicles where EV options are not yet available, like we said. And one of the biggest things to note, for example, is like a garbage truck or a city bus. You know, you might see more, and I think this is actually probably more relevant to um, a garbage truck rather than a city bus in terms of weight. But think about it this way, if you have a lot of weight being stored for a vehicle in terms of how much it can actually carry directly in a battery, say for example an electric powered trash vehicle, you're gonna find that you either run out of range, so if you're, you know, you're operating all day, you might need to take a charging break, or in terms of weight, you might not be able to carry as much and trash or rubbish because your vehicle weighs more due to battery size.

(13:48):

Now, if you're utilizing a natural gas, which does weigh a little bit less, and by a little bit we mean a lot here, you're able to one, have an increased range because fueling up is a lot easier and a lot quicker and you may be able to go a little bit further depending on the fuel you use, and also the weight is less so you're able to transport more of your trash, complete more of your routes before you need to refuel. It's something to think about. But the thing is, and this is where people that are investing in CNG do need to take this into account, is that making a major switch to natural has can only be a temporary solution. This we know, because the reserves, right now they're predicting that they will, I guess for lack of a better word, dry up in about 50 years.

(14:36):

So, whilst natural gas offers fleets a ton of benefits in the short term, and I mean there are a ton, too many to get into in an episode like this that's this short, but there's a lot out there. Fleet managers seeking to convert their vehicles should consider long term plans as well, especially on the sustainability front.

(14:53):

But I'd love to know, are you a fan of using CNG, LNG, LPG? Did you know you were using any of 'em? Any type of natural gases at all? Well, I'd love to hear your thoughts as well as if you have or are planning to acquire any natural gas powered vehicles for your fleet. You know the drill by now, send me an email, tag me on LinkedIn or use the hashtag Utilimarc Fleet FYIs. I'm looking forward to hearing from you, as always. And make sure you stay tuned for tomorrow's episode of 12 days of Fleet FYIs. I promise it'll be a good one and I'm looking forward to it almost as much as I hope that you are. Ciao.