LNG is becoming more common
as fuel for drill rig engines, and
it’s beginning to be used in large
engines at hydraulic fracturing
sites. Universal Well Services
is in the process of converting
an 18 QSK50 frack pump spread
in the Marcellus shale play with
Cummins dual-fuel kits.
The company said its first LNG-powered products are
expected to be large mining trucks — the Cat 793, 795 and
797 — as well as locomotives produced by Electro-Motive
Diesel (EMD), a Caterpillar company. The large trucks are
in the early stages of development, with commercial launch
expected within five years, the company said. Development
of the new locomotives is also under way, and in the same
time frame.
Caterpillar said it is developing retrofit solutions to
convert existing mining trucks and locomotives to natu-
ral gas. Longer term, the company said it expects to use
natural gas technologies in other mining products as
well as off-road engines for a variety of electric power,
industrial, machine, marine and petroleum applications.
Caterpillar also talked about its work with natural gas-
fueled equipment and engines during the inaugural Natural
Gas for High Horsepower Applications Summit 2012 held
in September in Houston (the second event will be in
Chicago later this year). “We have decided to go all in on
gas,” Joel Feucht, director of gas engine strategy for the
energy and power systems businesses, Caterpillar, said
during a keynote address. “We are going to invest because
we see a global market long term. Large engines are going
gas. It’s not debatable; it’s our conclusion. There is huge
economic incentive to move to natural gas.”
At MINExpo, Cummins announced plans to produce
natural gas engines for large mine haul trucks. Its Dual
Fuel engine technology will substitute natural gas for die-
sel fuel in the combustion process, reducing the amount
of diesel fuel required. The engines will optimize the
substitution rate based on operating conditions and seam-
lessly transition between diesel fuel and dual-fuel modes,
the company said.
“In terms of mobile applications, the increased interest is
being driven by the availability and economics of gas,” said
Srikanth Balasubramaniam, director, High Horsepower
Natural Gas Business, Cummins. “There are key pieces
continued on page 42
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