Florida East Coast operations of their 800-series ES44C4 units on a liquified natural gas-diesel fuel mixture seems to be going well so far.
Do they achieve Tier 4 emissions levels when operating on the LNG-diesel mixture?
Thanks in advance for sharing any knowledge.
Sorry I don't have results of the FEC tests.
I think LNG is more an economical than an ecological question for the railroads. With the diesel price much lower than a few year ago it has become quite calm about LNG at the Class 1 RR.
FEC is better of as it hasn't to build a refueling infrastructure havin a LNG plant in Miami.
I assume the the FEC ES44C4 Tier 3 locomotives were rebuilt with GE's NextFuel (TM) natural gas refitting kit.
GE states in a video on its website that with this kit locomotives are Tier 3 compliant. That doesn't totally exclude Tier 4 but we need to see.
I hope I have reaped enough contradiction for others the chime in. Regards, Volker
When I found out the GE locomotives fitted with NextFuel natural gas kit were only Tier 3 compliant I was surprised. I had seen a number of European lng truck engines that were Euro 6 compliant (similat to Tier 4 heavy-duty trucks) with just a three-way-catalyst.
Why this discrepancy? It turned out that all these engines were spark ignited like passenger cars. I learned during my search that all self-ignition dual-fuel engines need EGR, DPF, SCR to be Tier 4 compliant.
GE Tier 3 engines, for which the kit is intended, are not equipped with these exhaust aftertreatments.
If I didn't understand right feel free to correct me.Regards, Volker
Thank you for the excellent information!
There are no engines burning LNG. They all vaporize it. The fuel is stored and carried as a liquid.
I'm not aware of the Tier level, however i'll tell you after reviewing a white paper on LNG rail projects, the NOx level tested from past LNG locomotive projects have been very high, no where close to Tier 4. You do lose the particulate emissions and opacity with LNG. Industrial LNG spark ignited reciprocating engines, cogens and peaker plants have basically a catalytic converter used to meet Tier 4 emissions.
The nitrogen in the nitrogen oxides in diesel exhaust comes from the combustion air not the fuel. So a dual-fuel engine has similar NOx emissions as a pure diesel engine. To achieve EPA Tier 4 they need aftertreatment too.Regards, Volker
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