ISO will develop standards for natural gas fuelling stations for vehicles, urgently needed by the industry to facilitate the spread of this technology. The first meeting of the new ISO project committee established to develop the standards, ISO/PC 252, Natural gas fuelling stations for vehicles, took place in June 2010 in the Netherlands.
It was decided at the meeting that the committee will develop two standards focusing respectively on fuelling stations for compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG). Participants also agreed that the standards would cover the design, construction and operation of these stations, and include provisions for equipment, safety devices and maintenance.
Both CNG and LNG are being used in many countries as a greener vehicle fuel alternative to gasoline, diesel and propane. Already, there are more than eight million CNG vehicles worldwide, with a majority in developing countries. Because natural gas is lighter than air and disperses quickly when released, CNG is also safer than traditional fuels in the event of a spill. CNG fueled buses are rapidly spreading in many countries.
LNG is being used in the Republic of Korea, the United Kingdom, Japan and the USA. It is expected that its application will continue to increase, particularly for heavy duty vehicles. In addition, renewable biomethane can be liquefied to be virtually the same as LNG.
The Chair of ISO/PC 252, Martin Seifert, stressed the urgency of the market need for the standards, which gives the committee a very challenging timeframe of two years to complete the consensus-based documents.
“With growing concerns about the security and availability of the oil supply, local air pollution and greenhouse gases, more and more vehicles are being developed and manufactured to run on CNG and LNG,” said Mr. Seifert. “However, despite their many advantages, CNG and LNG vehicles are restricted by the limited infrastructure available for delivery and distribution at fuelling stations.
“International Standards will harmonize requirements for such infrastructure and facilitate its development around the world. The standards will open up global markets for this cleaner new technology.”
The first meeting of ISO/PC 252 was attended by some 30 experts from 15 countries, and hosted by NEN, the ISO member for the Netherlands, who holds the secretariat of the committee. Currently, the committee has some 25 participant and observer member countries.
The second meeting is expected to take place on 22-24 November, in Mumbai, India, prior to the 2nd International Natural Gas for Vehicles event, NGV India, that same week.
The standards are being developed in response to a request originally submitted by the International Association for Natural Gas Vehicles (IANGV). Their proposal followed-up on the agreements of the ISO roundtable on global harmonization of regulations, codes and standards for gaseous fuels and vehicles, held in Geneva, Switzerland, in 2007.
Resource: http://www.iso.org/iso/pressrelease.htm?refid=Ref1341
