A new Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) filling station has commenced with a groundbreaking ceremony in Austria, adding another important refueling facility for Europe’s logistics and heavy duty transportation, for both road and waterways. The station is being built in the city of Enns, at Ennshafen, the city’s port, on Donaustrasse.
Ennshafen is on the Enns river at its confluence with the Danube and in close proximity to the Europe-wide E 60 major traffic route, the second longest E-road in Europe. The E 60 runs from Brest, France, to Irkeshtam, Kyrgyzstan. Due to its location, the station is ideally suited for transport companies that rely on LNG as an environmentally cleaner fuel.
Rohöl-Aufsuchung AG (RAG), the fourth-largest gas storage company in Europe, is building the LNG station. The company successfully introduced an Iveco Stralis NP – the first LNG truck in Austria – in April this year. More Stralis NP will be delivered to selected customers in September. Iveco says there are more than 2000 trucks of this type on the road all over Europe.
RAG has fast-tracked construction with the goal of opening by the end of September 2017.
LNG – fuel of the future
The goal of global, European and national climate change is the reduction of emissions generated in heavy traffic. The use of gas as a fuel can make a significant contribution to the achievement of these climatic conditions. According to the European Commission, transport represents almost a quarter of Europe’s greenhouse gas emissions and is the main cause of air pollution in cities. GHG emissions decreased in the majority of sectors between 1990 and 2015, with the notable exception of transport. Road transportation accounted for 24 % of CO2 emission in 2015 (for EU-28 and Iceland).
Numerous EU initiatives are therefore promoting the expansion of the infrastructure to use liquefied natural gas as a fuel. In addition to the use of naturally occurring natural gas, gas produced from renewable energies can also be used as LNG. Biomethane, or renewable natural gas, is therefore amongst the cleanest of fuels available today.
Advantages of LNG-powered trucks:
- Each truck can save up to 20,000 kilograms of CO2 per year (compared to a EURO-6 diesel truck)
- Reduction of fine dust by 95%
- Reduction of nitrogen oxides (NOx, NO2) by more than 70%
- No AdBlue / Catalyst required
- LNG for heavy traffic and industry technically mature and permanently available
- Fuel LNG reduces noise emissions by approx. 50%
- Europe-wide LNG petrol station network already in operation, more than 60 service stations already in operation
- EU initiatives such as Horizon 2020
Source: RAG Rohöl-Aufsuchung AG – www.rag-erdgas-mobil.at – a member of NGVA Europe and associate member of NGV Global
