
Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) has been used as a fuel for automobiles in a number of countries. CNG is less CO2 intensive than petrol and diesel and more importantly has much lower CO, NOx and particulates and due to this reason has been promoted in a number of Indian cities for powering public transport. The environmental benefits of CNG are enhanced further if it is blended with H2 upto 18% and the blended fuel is designated as HCNG.
Field trials have been conducted on CNG engines in India for a number of vehicles and the results confirm that HCNG results in improved emission characteristics.
The benefits of using HCNG are reduced emissions and fuel diversification. In case hydrogen is produced from renewable sources the CO2 emissions can also be much lower than CNG.