By Lucas Deal, Associate Editor
lucasdeal@randallreilly.com
Cover Story
Training
your
technicians
for natural
gas service
Two men investigate a natural gas tank during a National Alternative Fuels Training Council session. The NAFTC offers a ���ve-day technician training course on
natural gas service.
T
he most important step in training your employees to work with
natural gas trucks is making sure
they understand the fuel itself.
Natural gas is an organically occurring
mixture of gases consisting primarily of
methane. It is most commonly found as
an engine fuel in the form of compressed
natural gas (CNG). According to Nadine
Haupt, director ��� alternative fuels at
Navistar, CNG is stored in thick-walled
cylindrical tanks at 3,000 psi to 3,600 psi.
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T R U C K PA R T S & S E R V I C E |
It has a slight odor but is lighter than
air, which Haupt says allows it to quickly
dissolve into the atmosphere if leaked.
Lique���ed natural gas (LNG) is cryogenic fuel created by cooling natural gas
to minus 250 F. Due to its extreme temperature, it has no scent, Haupt says, and
can be susceptible to bleeding off if not
constantly kept at its correct temperature. If leaked from a cylindrical tank,
LNG will warm into a gas and dissolve
into the atmosphere.
January 2013
Both fuels can be used in heavy-duty
natural gas engines, says Bill Davis, assistant director ��� operations at the National
Alternative Fuels Training Council.
According to Davis, a natural gas
truck operates by transporting fuel from
its onboard tanks to a pressure regulator.
The regulator then increases or reduces
pressure to the fuel depending on what
is needed inside the engine, then releases
the gas through a fuel line to the engine.
���Once the fuel passes the regulator, it