Abstract
Our desire to use domestically available, cleaner, and less expensive vehicular fuels is creating a market demand for new business related to the supply of the alterative fuels, propane (LPG), natural gas (CNG/LNG), and hydrogen (CH2/LH2). These three fuels have the common attribute of equilibrium boiling points that are less than ambient temperature, i.e., -42 °C, -161 °C, and -253 °C, respectively, and in that sense, they are “cryofuels”. Each of these fuels is either readily or potentially readily available in North America and many other countries of the world. Although properly designed engines that combust these fuels with substantially less harmful emissions than from gasoline and diesel are being integrated into several sizes of vehicles and substantial domestic supplies of cheap natural gas and propane are available, the present use of cryofuels in the transportation sector is negligible. To change this situation and enable incremental conversion to gaseous cryofuels, a distribution of fleet-size refueling systems that provide LPG, CNG, LNG, hythane, CH2, and LH2 in an integrated operation with the existing supply network are required. Our analysis shows that the creation of improved conversion economics is essential to initiate rapid fleet conversion. The price of the liquid or compressed form of cryofuels to fleet owners/operators or individuals depends on several factors including the capital cost and operating cost of the refueling stations. Such stations include many types of cryogenic materials and equipment such as 9% Ni steel, high strength Al, new composites, highly specific adsorbents, phase separators, liquefiers, cryogen pumps, vaporizers, cryogen and high-pressure storage tanks, pressure vessels, and dispensers. With existing stable natural gas feedstock prices, inexpensive dedicated alternate fuel engines/vehicles, and less expensive refueling stations, dispensed cryofuels are or can be significantly less expensive than gasoline and diesel for fleet owners/operators. Such price differentials will pay for fleet conversion, staff retraining, refueling systems, etc., and provide substantial returns on fuel conversion investments. This paper will summarize the present status of the transition to cryofuels, identify the technical and market barriers, and discuss some business opportunities for new cryogenic materials, equipment, and systems.
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Barclay, J.A. (1996). Cryofuels, Now and in the Future. In: Kittel, P. (eds) Advances in Cryogenic Engineering. A Cryogenic Engineering Conference Publication, vol 41. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-0373-2_131
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-0373-2_131
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