During the morning of the event’s last day, L-NGV 2015 San Diego started with the Fuel Cell. Light-Duty Application conference with major presentations by Joe Gagliano (California Fuel Cell Partnership), Keith Ropchock (Director of Business Development, EPC), Shane Stephens (Chief Development Officer and Principal, FirstElement Fuel Inc.), and Jonathan Palacios-Avila (CEO, StratosFuel, LLC). All speakers focused on the transition to a hydrogen and fuel cell economy addressing infrastructure challenge. They also showed efforts towards a network development plan involving public and private sectors, and prioritizing customer experience and reliable and functional locations. “Fuel cell vehicles are ready to launch and we have commitment from automakers, station developers and government,” commented Gagliano with an optimistic outlook.
Moreover, Infrastructure & Fueling session included Fazal Ali Khan (CNG Development Manager, Emirates Gas L.L.C. – Member of ENOC Group / Vice President of ANGVA) with “CNG Refueling Infrastructure Development in the Middle East;” Luis Linares (General Manager – Corporate Engineering, NEOgás North America) with “Rapid High Pressure, Low Temperature, Constant Flowrate Mobile CNG Service Station;” Fernando Corral (VP Sales Western Region, Plug Power) with “How Increased Demand is Fueling Momentum in the Hydrogen Fuel Cell Market;” Nicholas Lumpkin (Director of Business Development, Clean Energy Renewable Fuels) with “RNG Distribution and Environmental Attributes;” and Gere Johansing (CEO, GenPark Group NGO) with “Wastewater Treatment Digester Systems for Significant Enhancement of Biomethane Fuel Production.”
All speakers presented innovative fueling technologies, such as NEOsystem™, a unit capable to rapidly deliver natural gas through a dispenser at a constant pressure, flowrate and temperature for off-pipeline clients; Clean Energy’s network of ‘Redeem’ stations offering biomethane, the first renewable natural gas made from organic waste and available as a commercial vehicle fuel; and Plug Power’s GenKey including GenDrive hydrogen fuel cell system and GenFuel hydrogen infrastructure as a solution that makes transition to fuel cells seamless.
Market Innovations was leaded by Jerry Fenning (Member of Western Research Institute) with “Policies to Propel the Adoption Rate of Natural Gas Trucks;” Chad Lehner (Program Manager, Pi Innovo) with “OBD Infrastructure Software Architecture;” Milan Kroupa (Technology Director, New Frontier Technology Group) with “This is ‘Not’ Your Grandpa’s Steam Engine: Low cost, zero emission, ultra-efficient rotary engines to replace turbines & piston engines;” and Paschal McCloskey (Chief Executive, MOF Technologies) with “Improving Natural Gas Storage Capacity with MOFs: a New Generation of Methane Adsorbents for NGVs.”
Fenning’s presentation addressed main benefits of natural gas vehicles specially regarding to the environment, savings and national security. With the national goal of achieving 50,000 trucks annually, he suggested to use medical and scientific data to displace diesel fuel with help of medical, education and government organizations. Moreover, Lehner spoke about the key role of on-board diagnostics (OBD) systems: “The test group/engine family converted to an alternative fuel has fully functional OBD systems and therefore meets the OBD requirements such as those specified in 40 CFR 86, subparts A and S when operating on the alternative fuel,” he explained.
On behalf of New Frontier Technology Group, Kroupa presented the DBRE (Ducted Blade Rotary Engine) technology as a solution to energy shortage, air pollution and low efficiency. He described it as a product with simple symmetric architecture, highly configurable, pure rotary, extremely robust, high speed capable, and positive displacement device. Finally, Paschal McCloskey spoke about the MOF (metal organic frameworks) project, ongoing since February 2014, as a way to take advantage of multiple benefits of NG as a fuel source and widespread uptake of NGV’s limited by re-fueling and storage, and the opportunity that Adsorbed Natural Gas (ANG) offers. “Our main goal is to investigate MOFs for Adsorbed Natural Gas (ANG) storage capacity when compared to CNG alone,” he explained.
