Thursday, March 22, 2012

Natural Gas Gaining Ground In Truck Engines

Published March 22, 2012


By Philippe Crowe


In light of the Mid-America Trucking Show being held this week in Louisville, Ky., Cummins announced it has begun development of a 15-liter Heavy-Duty, spark-ignited natural gas engine for on-highway trucks.



In addition to its off-highway natural gas engines, Cummins is already producing on-highway spark-ignited natural gas engines for Cummins Westport, its joint venture with Westport Innovations of Vancouver, British Columbia. Engines offered by Cummins Westport range in size from 5.9 liters to the recently announced 12-liter ISX12 G, which will begin production in 2013.



The ISX15 G will be based on the ISX15 diesel engine (pictured) and will build on Cummins technology leadership with spark-ignited, Stoichiometric-cooled Exhaust Gas Recirculation (SEGR) technology. A simple, maintenance-free Three-Way Catalyst will be the only required exhaust aftertreatment. The engine will run on compressed natural gas, liquefied natural gas or biomethane.



The ISX15 G is expected to be in limited production by 2014.



Paccar, which builds Kenworth and Peterbuilt trucks, announced during the show it will be offering the 12-liter ISX12 G engine in its vehicles. It is expected the newly announced ISX15 G will also be offered by Paccar.



All this is good news for proponents of natural gas powered cars and trucks as more heavy duty trucks on the road using this gas means the infrastructure will have to follow suit.






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