Gas engine
Encyclopedia
A gas engine means an engine running on a gas, such as coal gas
, producer gas
biogas
, landfill gas
, or natural gas
. In the UK
, the term is unambiguous. In the US
, due to the widespread use of "gas" as an abbreviation for gasoline
, such an engine might also be called a gaseous fueled engine, spark ignited engine, or natural gas engine.
Generally the term gas engine refers to a heavy duty, slow revving industrial engine capable of running continuously at full output for periods approaching a high fraction of 8,760 hours per year, for many years, with indefinite lifetime, unlike say a gasoline automobile engine which is lightweight, high revving and typically runs for no more than 4,000 hours in its entire life. Typical power ranges from 10 kW to 4,000 kW.
There were many experiments with gas engines in the 19th century but the first practical engine was built by the Belgian engineer Étienne Lenoir
in 1860. His work was further researched and improved by a German engineer Nikolaus August Otto, now recognised as the inventor of the first 4-stroke internal-combustion engine to efficiently burn fuel directly in a piston chamber. In August 1864 Otto met Eugen Langen
who, being technically trained, glimpsed the potential of Otto's development, and one month after the meeting, founded the first engine factory in the world, NA Otto & Cie. At the 1867 Paris World Exhibition their improved engine was awarded the Grand Prize
The best known builder of gas engines in the UK was Crossley
, but there were several other firms based in the Manchester
area as well. Tangye Ltd.
sold its first gas engine, a 1 nominal horsepower two-cycle type, in 1881, and in 1890 the firm commenced manufacture of the four-cycle gas engine.
The Anson Engine Museum
in Poynton
, near Manchester, England
, has a collection of engines that includes several working gas engines, as well as the first UK-built diesel engine
by Mirrlees, Bickerton & Day.
British engines mentioned above were of the slow-speed type—less than 1000 rpm—and used pilot diesel injection for ignition. Modern gas engines are of the high speed type—1500 rpm—and use spark ignition. British manufactures did not invest in developing the technology and were superseded by more forward-thinking suppliers.
, MTU Friedrichshafen
, GE Jenbacher, Caterpillar Inc.
, Perkins Engines, MWM
, Cummins
, Wärtsilä
, Dresser-Waukesha, Guascor, Deutz, MTU, MAN and Yanmar. Output ranges from about 10 kW micro CHP [combined heat and power
] to 18MW. Generally speaking, the modern high-speed gas engine is competitive with gas turbines up to about 5 MW depending on actual circumstances. Caterpillar and many other manufacturers base their products on a diesel engine block and crankshaft. GE Jenbacher are the sole company whose engines are designed and dedicated to gas alone.
, landfill
gas, mine
s gas, well
-head gas and biogas
(where the waste heat from the engine may be used to warm the digesters) and landfill gas. For typical biogas engine installation parameters see. For parameters of a large gas engine CHP system, as fitted in a factory, see. Gas engines are rarely used for standby applications, which remain largely the province of diesel engines. One exception to this is the small (<150 kW) emergency generator often installed by farms, museums, small businesses, and residences. Connected to either natural gas from the public utility or propane from on-site storage tanks, these generators can be arranged for automatic starting upon power failure.
(methane
) has long been a clean, economical, and readily available fuel, many industrial engines are either designed or modified to use gas, as distinguished from gasoline
. Although the carbon emission footprint does not differ significantly, their operation produces less complex-hydrocarbon pollution, and the engines have fewer internal problems. One example is the liquefied petroleum gas (propane
) engine used in vast numbers of forklift truck
s. Common usage of "gas" to mean "gasoline" requires the explicit identification of a natural gas engine. (There is also such a thing as "natural gasoline", but this term is very rarely observed outside the refining industry.)
or fuel injection
but a gas engine often uses a venturi system to introduce gas into the air flow. Early gas engines used a three-valve system, with separate inlet valves for air and gas.
The weak point of a gas engine compared to a diesel engine
is the exhaust valves, since the gas engine exhaust gases are much hotter for a given output, and this limits the power output. Thus a diesel engine from a given manufacturer will usually have a higher maximum output than the same engine block size in the gas engine version. The diesel engine will generally have three different ratings - Standby, Prime, and Continuous, (UK, 1 hour rating, 12 hour rating and continuous rating) whereas the gas engine will generally only have a Continuous rating, which will be less than the Diesel Continuous rating
typically have a slightly lower efficiency (~1-2%) and syngas
reduces the efficiency further still. GE Jenbacher's recent J624 engine is the world's first 24 cylinder gas engine with a high efficiency running on methane.
When considering electrical efficiency one should consider whether this is at the lower heating value or higher heating value of the gas. Engine manufacturers will typically quote efficiencies at the lower heating value of the gas, i.e. the efficiency after energy has been taken to evaporate the intrinsic moisture within the gas itself. Gas distribution networks will typically charge based upon the higher heating value of the gas (i.e. total energy content).
.
. When running on gas it uses spark ignition. The term "Bi-fuel
" may be preferable to "Alternative fuel" because the latter term is, nowadays, often used to mean any non-petroleum fuel.
Coal gas
Coal gas is a flammable gaseous fuel made by the destructive distillation of coal containing a variety of calorific gases including hydrogen, carbon monoxide, methane and volatile hydrocarbons together with small quantities of non-calorific gases such as carbon dioxide and nitrogen...
, producer gas
Producer gas
-USA:Producer Gas is a generic term referring to:* Wood gas: produced in a gasifier to power cars with ordinary internal combustion engines.* Town gas: manufactured gas, originally produced from coal, for sale to consumers and municipalities....
biogas
Biogas
Biogas typically refers to a gas produced by the biological breakdown of organic matter in the absence of oxygen. Organic waste such as dead plant and animal material, animal dung, and kitchen waste can be converted into a gaseous fuel called biogas...
, landfill gas
Landfill gas
Landfill gas is a complex mix of different gases created by the action of microorganisms within a landfill.-Production:Landfill gas production results from chemical reactions and microbes acting upon the waste as the putrescible materials begins to break down in the landfill...
, or natural gas
Natural gas
Natural gas is a naturally occurring gas mixture consisting primarily of methane, typically with 0–20% higher hydrocarbons . It is found associated with other hydrocarbon fuel, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is an important fuel source and a major feedstock for fertilizers.Most natural...
. In the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, the term is unambiguous. In the US
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, due to the widespread use of "gas" as an abbreviation for gasoline
Gasoline
Gasoline , or petrol , is a toxic, translucent, petroleum-derived liquid that is primarily used as a fuel in internal combustion engines. It consists mostly of organic compounds obtained by the fractional distillation of petroleum, enhanced with a variety of additives. Some gasolines also contain...
, such an engine might also be called a gaseous fueled engine, spark ignited engine, or natural gas engine.
Generally the term gas engine refers to a heavy duty, slow revving industrial engine capable of running continuously at full output for periods approaching a high fraction of 8,760 hours per year, for many years, with indefinite lifetime, unlike say a gasoline automobile engine which is lightweight, high revving and typically runs for no more than 4,000 hours in its entire life. Typical power ranges from 10 kW to 4,000 kW.
History
Etienne Lenoir
-Sources:* Georgano, G.N. Cars: Early and Vintage 1886-1930. London: Grange-Universal, 1990 . ISBN 0-9509620-3-1....
in 1860. His work was further researched and improved by a German engineer Nikolaus August Otto, now recognised as the inventor of the first 4-stroke internal-combustion engine to efficiently burn fuel directly in a piston chamber. In August 1864 Otto met Eugen Langen
Eugen Langen
Eugen Langen was a German entrepreneur, engineer and inventor, involved in the development of the petrol engine and the Wuppertal monorail. In 1857 he worked in his father's sugar factory, JJ Langen & Söhne, after an extensive technical training at the Polytechnic institute in Karlsruhe.-Otto and...
who, being technically trained, glimpsed the potential of Otto's development, and one month after the meeting, founded the first engine factory in the world, NA Otto & Cie. At the 1867 Paris World Exhibition their improved engine was awarded the Grand Prize
The best known builder of gas engines in the UK was Crossley
Crossley
Crossley, based in Manchester, United Kingdom, was a pioneering company in the production of internal combustion engines. Since 1988 it has been part of the Rolls-Royce Power Engineering group.More than 100,000 Crossley oil and gas engines have been built....
, but there were several other firms based in the Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
area as well. Tangye Ltd.
Richard Tangye
Sir Richard Trevithick Tangye was a British manufacturer of engines and other heavy equipment.-Biography:...
sold its first gas engine, a 1 nominal horsepower two-cycle type, in 1881, and in 1890 the firm commenced manufacture of the four-cycle gas engine.
The Anson Engine Museum
Anson Engine Museum
The Anson Engine Museum is situated on the site of the old Anson colliery in Poynton, Cheshire, England. It is the result of years of work by Les Cawley and Geoff Challinor who began collecting and showing stationary engines for a hobby. When the number and size of engines they collected...
in Poynton
Poynton
Poynton is a town within the civil parish of Poynton-with-Worth, and the unitary authority area of Cheshire East, England. For ceremonial purposes it is part of the county of Cheshire. Poynton is located at the eastern most fringe of the Cheshire Plain, north of Macclesfield, south of Stockport...
, near Manchester, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, has a collection of engines that includes several working gas engines, as well as the first UK-built diesel engine
Diesel engine
A diesel engine is an internal combustion engine that uses the heat of compression to initiate ignition to burn the fuel, which is injected into the combustion chamber...
by Mirrlees, Bickerton & Day.
British engines mentioned above were of the slow-speed type—less than 1000 rpm—and used pilot diesel injection for ignition. Modern gas engines are of the high speed type—1500 rpm—and use spark ignition. British manufactures did not invest in developing the technology and were superseded by more forward-thinking suppliers.
Current manufacturers
Manufacturers of gas engines include Kawasaki Heavy IndustriesKawasaki Heavy Industries
is an international corporation based in Japan. It has headquarters in both Chūō-ku, Kobe and Minato, Tokyo.The company is named after its founder Shōzō Kawasaki and has no connection with the city of Kawasaki, Kanagawa....
, MTU Friedrichshafen
MTU Friedrichshafen
MTU Friedrichshafen GmbH is a manufacturer of commercial internal combustion engines founded by Wilhelm Maybach and his son Karl Maybach in 1909...
, GE Jenbacher, Caterpillar Inc.
Caterpillar Inc.
Caterpillar Inc. , also known as "CAT", designs, manufactures, markets and sells machinery and engines and sells financial products and insurance to customers via a worldwide dealer network. Caterpillar is the world's largest manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas...
, Perkins Engines, MWM
MWM (Motoren Werke Mannheim AG)
The MWM GmbH is a mechanical engineering company, based in Mannheim. For many years it was known as Motoren-Werke Mannheim...
, Cummins
Cummins
Cummins Inc. is a Fortune 500 corporation that designs, manufactures, distributes and services engines and related technologies, including fuel systems, controls, air handling, filtration, emission control and electrical power generation systems...
, Wärtsilä
Wärtsilä
Wärtsilä is a Finnish corporation which manufactures and services power sources and other equipment in the marine and energy markets. The core products of Wärtsilä include large combustion engines...
, Dresser-Waukesha, Guascor, Deutz, MTU, MAN and Yanmar. Output ranges from about 10 kW micro CHP [combined heat and power
Cogeneration
Cogeneration is the use of a heat engine or a power station to simultaneously generate both electricity and useful heat....
] to 18MW. Generally speaking, the modern high-speed gas engine is competitive with gas turbines up to about 5 MW depending on actual circumstances. Caterpillar and many other manufacturers base their products on a diesel engine block and crankshaft. GE Jenbacher are the sole company whose engines are designed and dedicated to gas alone.
Typical applications
Typical applications are baseload or high-hour generation schemes, including combined heat and powerCombined Heat and Power
Combined Heat and Power may refer to:* Cogeneration* Combined Heat and Power Solar...
, landfill
Landfill
A landfill site , is a site for the disposal of waste materials by burial and is the oldest form of waste treatment...
gas, mine
Mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...
s gas, well
Oil well
An oil well is a general term for any boring through the earth's surface that is designed to find and acquire petroleum oil hydrocarbons. Usually some natural gas is produced along with the oil. A well that is designed to produce mainly or only gas may be termed a gas well.-History:The earliest...
-head gas and biogas
Biogas
Biogas typically refers to a gas produced by the biological breakdown of organic matter in the absence of oxygen. Organic waste such as dead plant and animal material, animal dung, and kitchen waste can be converted into a gaseous fuel called biogas...
(where the waste heat from the engine may be used to warm the digesters) and landfill gas. For typical biogas engine installation parameters see. For parameters of a large gas engine CHP system, as fitted in a factory, see. Gas engines are rarely used for standby applications, which remain largely the province of diesel engines. One exception to this is the small (<150 kW) emergency generator often installed by farms, museums, small businesses, and residences. Connected to either natural gas from the public utility or propane from on-site storage tanks, these generators can be arranged for automatic starting upon power failure.
Use of methane or propane gases
Since natural gasNatural gas
Natural gas is a naturally occurring gas mixture consisting primarily of methane, typically with 0–20% higher hydrocarbons . It is found associated with other hydrocarbon fuel, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is an important fuel source and a major feedstock for fertilizers.Most natural...
(methane
Methane
Methane is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . It is the simplest alkane, the principal component of natural gas, and probably the most abundant organic compound on earth. The relative abundance of methane makes it an attractive fuel...
) has long been a clean, economical, and readily available fuel, many industrial engines are either designed or modified to use gas, as distinguished from gasoline
Gasoline
Gasoline , or petrol , is a toxic, translucent, petroleum-derived liquid that is primarily used as a fuel in internal combustion engines. It consists mostly of organic compounds obtained by the fractional distillation of petroleum, enhanced with a variety of additives. Some gasolines also contain...
. Although the carbon emission footprint does not differ significantly, their operation produces less complex-hydrocarbon pollution, and the engines have fewer internal problems. One example is the liquefied petroleum gas (propane
Propane
Propane is a three-carbon alkane with the molecular formula , normally a gas, but compressible to a transportable liquid. A by-product of natural gas processing and petroleum refining, it is commonly used as a fuel for engines, oxy-gas torches, barbecues, portable stoves, and residential central...
) engine used in vast numbers of forklift truck
Forklift truck
A forklift is a powered industrial truck used to lift and transport materials. The modern forklift was developed in the 1920s by various companies including the transmission manufacturing company Clark and the hoist company Yale & Towne Manufacturing...
s. Common usage of "gas" to mean "gasoline" requires the explicit identification of a natural gas engine. (There is also such a thing as "natural gasoline", but this term is very rarely observed outside the refining industry.)
Technical details
A gas engine differs from a petrol engine in the way the fuel and air are mixed. A petrol engine uses a carburetorCarburetor
A carburetor , carburettor, or carburetter is a device that blends air and fuel for an internal combustion engine. It is sometimes shortened to carb in North America and the United Kingdom....
or fuel injection
Fuel injection
Fuel injection is a system for admitting fuel into an internal combustion engine. It has become the primary fuel delivery system used in automotive petrol engines, having almost completely replaced carburetors in the late 1980s....
but a gas engine often uses a venturi system to introduce gas into the air flow. Early gas engines used a three-valve system, with separate inlet valves for air and gas.
The weak point of a gas engine compared to a diesel engine
Diesel engine
A diesel engine is an internal combustion engine that uses the heat of compression to initiate ignition to burn the fuel, which is injected into the combustion chamber...
is the exhaust valves, since the gas engine exhaust gases are much hotter for a given output, and this limits the power output. Thus a diesel engine from a given manufacturer will usually have a higher maximum output than the same engine block size in the gas engine version. The diesel engine will generally have three different ratings - Standby, Prime, and Continuous, (UK, 1 hour rating, 12 hour rating and continuous rating) whereas the gas engine will generally only have a Continuous rating, which will be less than the Diesel Continuous rating
Electrical efficiency
Gas engines linked to generators that run on natural gas are typically between 35-45% electrically efficient. Fuel energy arises at the output shaft, the remainder appears as waste heat. Large engines are more efficient than small engines. Gas engines running on biogasBiogas
Biogas typically refers to a gas produced by the biological breakdown of organic matter in the absence of oxygen. Organic waste such as dead plant and animal material, animal dung, and kitchen waste can be converted into a gaseous fuel called biogas...
typically have a slightly lower efficiency (~1-2%) and syngas
Syngas
Syngas is the name given to a gas mixture that contains varying amounts of carbon monoxide and hydrogen. Examples of production methods include steam reforming of natural gas or liquid hydrocarbons to produce hydrogen, the gasification of coal, biomass, and in some types of waste-to-energy...
reduces the efficiency further still. GE Jenbacher's recent J624 engine is the world's first 24 cylinder gas engine with a high efficiency running on methane.
When considering electrical efficiency one should consider whether this is at the lower heating value or higher heating value of the gas. Engine manufacturers will typically quote efficiencies at the lower heating value of the gas, i.e. the efficiency after energy has been taken to evaporate the intrinsic moisture within the gas itself. Gas distribution networks will typically charge based upon the higher heating value of the gas (i.e. total energy content).
Combined heat and power
Engine reject heat can be used for building heating or heating a process. In an engine, roughly half the waste heat arises (from the engine jacket, oil cooler and after cooler circuits) as hot water which can be at up to 110oC. The remainder arises as high temperature heat which can generate pressurised hot water or steam by the use of an exhaust gas heat exchangerHeat exchanger
A heat exchanger is a piece of equipment built for efficient heat transfer from one medium to another. The media may be separated by a solid wall, so that they never mix, or they may be in direct contact...
.
Two fuels
A gas engine can be designed to run on gas, or liquid diesel fuel, or a mixture of the two. There are two different configurations:Dual fuel engine
This can run on diesel fuel alone, or a mixture of gas and diesel fuel. It cannot run on gas alone because it has no spark ignition system.Alternative fuel engine
This can run on diesel fuel or gas but not a mixture of the two. When running on oil, it uses compression ignition as in a diesel engineDiesel engine
A diesel engine is an internal combustion engine that uses the heat of compression to initiate ignition to burn the fuel, which is injected into the combustion chamber...
. When running on gas it uses spark ignition. The term "Bi-fuel
Bi-fuel vehicle
Bi-fuel vehicles are vehicles with multifuel engines capable of running on two fuels. On internal combustion engines one fuel is gasoline or diesel, and the other is an alternate fuel such as natural gas , LPG, or hydrogen...
" may be preferable to "Alternative fuel" because the latter term is, nowadays, often used to mean any non-petroleum fuel.
External links and references
Soil-Net.com: free school-age educational site, featuring much on desertification, teaching about soil and its importance.See also
- AutogasAutogasAutogas is the common name for liquefied petroleum gas when it is used as a fuel in internal combustion engines in vehicles as well as in stationary applications such as generators. It is a mixture of propane and butane....
- CHP DirectiveCHP DirectiveThis refers to the Directive on the promotion of cogeneration based on a useful heat demand in the internal energy market and amending Directive 92/62/EEC, officially 2004/8/EC and popularly better known as the 'Combined Heat and Power Directive'...
- CogenerationCogenerationCogeneration is the use of a heat engine or a power station to simultaneously generate both electricity and useful heat....
- Gas turbineGas turbineA gas turbine, also called a combustion turbine, is a type of internal combustion engine. It has an upstream rotating compressor coupled to a downstream turbine, and a combustion chamber in-between....
- History of the internal combustion engineHistory of the internal combustion engineAlthough various forms of internal combustion engines were developed before the 19th century, their use was hindered until the commercial drilling and production of petroleum began in the mid-1850s...
- List of natural gas vehicles
- Tables of European biogas utilisationTables of European biogas utilisationThe following tables outline the utilisation of biogas in the European Union. This table is likely to change due to the increasing interest in biogas use as a renewable fuel and the tax penalties being imposed on energy or utility companies that waste biogas by burning it off....
External links
- Crossley Gas Engine
- Antique Stationary Engines
- Old Engines
- Gas Engine Articles
- Gas Engine Magazine - An internal combustion historical magazine
- LNG Truck