Page 36 - European Energy Innovation - Spring 2017 publication
P. 36
36 Spring 2017 European Energy Innovation
LNG
LNG as an alternative fuel for
the Transportation Sector
The Inland Shipping Sector
The Transportation sector the emissions of nitrogen oxides 2008/50 / EC. The increased air
will grow enormously in the (NOx) and particulate matter (PM10) pollutants can lead to health damage
coming years. Today freight in marine engines are now higher than to the population, especially in
transport - especially on the those of road and rail. agglomerations. The consequences are
road and on the waterways - has been respiratory diseases, especially asthma,
mainly depended on mineral oil as Concerning possible measures to bronchitis and cancer. In the case of an
an energy source. This would lead reduce emissions from the European increase in inland waterway transport,
to an even higher air pollution and barge fleet (about 14,000 vessels), the deterioration of air quality,
noise level as much as to an increase there is a lot to be done in comparison especially in the cities near to the
of CO2 emissions for the climate. to advanced engine and exhaust gas ports, is to be feared when the engines
According to the climate protection technologies in road traffic. Already air currently in operation are used.
plan of the state of North Rhine- pollutants such as particulate matter,
Westphalia, a part of the expected sulfur and nitrogen dioxides are Liquefied natural gas (LNG) could
growth in freight transport should be causing a high air pollution, especially be a climate and environmentally
shifted from road to rail and inland in cities along the waterways. This friendly alternative to diesel and
waterways. In general inland waterway is also confirmed by the emission heavy fuel oil. LNG is produced when
vessels generate lower CO2 emissions cadastre of the State Office for Nature, natural gas is cooled and compressed
compared to road and rail transport, Environment and Consumer Protection at -162 ° C with constant pressure.
based on the transported goods and of North Rhine-Westphalia (LANUV Compared to the compressed gas
distance kilometers (emissions / t * NRW). The measurement cadastre (CNG = Compressed Natural Gas), the
km). Although a ship can replace many showed that in 2014 only 12% of the considerably higher energy density
trucks, the old diesel engines blow a measuring stations moved within the allows ranges of up to 1500 km for
lot of pollutants into the air. Especially limits of the EU according to Directive trucks and enables the use of an
alternative fuel in heavy-load traffic
LNG Barge, source: Shell and in shipping. The advantage of LNG
is that there are no particulate matter
emissions, no SO2 emissions (sulfur),
80-90% less NOx emissions (nitrogen
oxides) and a CO2 savings potential of
10-20%. The addition of biomethane
could even reduce CO2 emissions by
up to 80%.
On the other hand there is almost
no infrastructure in North-Rhine-
Westphalia nor in Germany at all.
Technical and legal standards and
framework conditions must be
harmonized and established across
Europe. In the autumn of 2016,
two European projects have been
launched to promote LNG as an
alternative fuel for heavy duty vehicles
and inland vessels (LNG PILOTS) and
www.europeanenergyinnovation.eu
