Hartford Business Journal

10 Hartford Business Journal • May 30, 2016 www.HartfordBusiness.com P.O. Box 2468, New Britain, CT 06050 800.969.3837 nteriors.com Summer, Fall, Winter, Spring Keep your exterior colorful and festive year round with our exterior seasonal program! indoor / outdoor plantscapes • holiday decor From Central Connecticut's trusted business news source. It's the up-to-date information you need to do better business! Get local breaking business news daily! Sign up today at HartfordBusiness.com: Click on the 'subscribe' button HBJToday and metal-cylinder tanks. It also weighs about half as much as a steel cylinder. A tank mock- up in the lab tipped the scale at about 80 pounds and measured 8 inches tall, 32 inches wide and 48 inches long. "One of the main reasons why there are not too many natural gas vehicles, especially pas- senger vehicles in the U.S., is because of the storage technology," and the fact that tanks take up too much vehicle space, said Sun, a materials scientist who leads the advanced materials group at UTRC. In a 2014 report on the Honda Civic natural gas vehicle, for example, Consumer Reports noted roughly half the trunk space was taken up by the tank, leaving only 6 cubic feet left for luggage. Honda discontinued the vehicle after 2015 citing challenges with consumer demand and natural gas refueling infrastructure. One advantage of UTRC's conformable tank is its flexibility, Sun noted. Tanks of dif- ferent height, width and length can be made to fit into various spaces available on vehicles. Lab to market UTRC has licensed the tank technology to Adsorbed Natural Gas Products Inc. of Chester, N.J., to develop and produce the first commer- cially viable adsorbent-based, low-pressure natural gas storage tank for motor vehicles. ANGP plans to use the tank for natural gas stored at 900 psi, much lower than the 3,200 psi to 3,600 psi typical for compressed natural gas. Adsorbed's natural gas technol- ogy uses a highly porous adsorbent material, activated carbon, in the tank to densely store natural gas molecules at the lower pressure. Under controlled depressurization, the mole- cules release and exit ANGP's storage system in response to engine demand. "The industry has been waiting more than three decades for the union of low-pressure adsorbed natural gas technology and a conform- able tank," said Bob Bonelli, ANGP co-founder and CEO. "UTRC's conformable tank provides 30 percent more storage capacity than multiple cylinders occupying the same envelope." If that helps make natural gas vehicles more desirable, then the environment stands to benefit. Switching from gasoline and diesel fuels to compressed natural gas can mean significantly lower amounts of carbon dioxide and air pollut- ants, including carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide, nonmethane hydrocarbon, particulate matter, and toxic and carcinogenic pollutants, accord- ing to the U.S. Department of Energy. It can also help reduce America's dependence on foreign oil, thanks to natural gas' abundant supply. Until gasoline prices plummeted late last year, compressed natural gas had historically been significantly cheaper than gasoline on a per gasoline gallon equivalent (GGE) basis, accord- ing to data reported in the quarterly Clean Cities Alternative Fuel Price Report from the Depart- ment of Energy. The latest report, based on data from the first two weeks of January, showed CNG at $2.09 GGE and gasoline at $1.98 per gallon. UTRC's conformable tank design is ideal for lower-pressure adsorbed natural gas, enabling thinner tank walls and lower material costs, which ANGP hopes will lead to mass-market acceptance of its adsorbed natural gas storage technology for vehicles. Using natural gas at lower pressure also saves significant money on fueling stations, said Matt Bonelli, ANGP's vice president of marketing. Fuel dispensers need smaller, less expensive compressors and consume less energy, he said. There also is an appliance that allows natural gas to be pumped at home from resi- dential gas lines into vehicles, Bonelli said, and ANGP is looking into a home-refueling appliance that would plug into a typical 120- volt outlet, tap the home's natural gas supply and pressurize it to 900 psi to allow for home- based fueling. Separately, General Electric had worked with a partner on a design for an inexpensive, high-speed home refueling appliance, but ended that program last year. GE researchers, though, are continuing to explore home-refueling tech- nologies on their own, Todd Alhart, a spokes- man for GE Global Research, said in an email. Alternative uses While UTRC is working with ANGP to com- mercialize the tank technology for natural gas vehicles, UTRC also is exploring potential applications for the technology across other UTC divisions, from buildings to aerospace. It's too early to pinpoint specific applications, but there is a range of opportunities, Sun said. "This particular application is for natural gas, but really the technology is for pressure vessels, so if there is a need to store pressur- ized gas or liquid inside a container and we wanted to maximize the usage of the space, this is the technology," Sun said. "This is essentially applicable for any application where a pressure vessel or pressure device is needed and space is a premium." The tank can handle up to 3,600 psi. UTRC, which began developing the technology in late 2012, created prototypes for compressed natural gas applications in that psi range, David Parekh, corporate vice president of research and director at UTRC, said in a written statement. But when UTRC looked for ways to commercialize the tech- nology, it partnered with ANGP to bring UTRC's design to the low-pressure market, he said. Creating the tank, a carbon fiber reinforced polymer material, involved staff from myriad UTRC divisions, including design, structural analysis, manufacturing, advanced materials and technology transfer to market, Sun said. "It really fits very well with the type of work we do here at UTRC, being the central research facility for UTC," Sun said. "We are really the innovation engine for UTC and developing game-changing technologies." Matt Bonelli said UTRC's conformable tank technology is instrumental in what ANGP is trying to accomplish. The tank's weight is less than aluminum cylinder tanks ANGP built for its first-generation onboard storage system and stores more gas in the same space, "which is incredible," he said. "So they've really given us the opportunity to help make this dream that people have had for over 30 years, a real reality," Bonelli said. He hopes to see the comfortable tank sys- tem commercialized next year, when ANGP is targeting the second-generation, conformable tank system to be certified and ready to go. "Right now we are in the process of choos- ing a manufacturer to first prototype and then we'll get going," Bonelli said. "Certainly, there's something to be gained by a major auto manufacturer starting to design their vehicles to accept these types of systems," he said. "Right now, if you want a natural gas vehi- cle, your options are pretty limited in the U.S." He thinks operators of light-duty fleets, including passenger cars and SUVs, will be interested in using the natural gas system using UTRC's tank because it's lighter, less expensive and stores more gas. "We're focused for right now mostly on light-duty, because that's where the market opportunity is," he said. According to the Department of Energy, there currently are limited light- and heavy- duty natural gas vehicles available from original equipment manufacturers. However, qualified system retrofitters can also reliably convert vehicles for natural gas operation. Matt Bonelli thinks bi-fuel vehicles, for now, are the best option for people to use natural gas, tapping it for around-town driv- ing and commuting, with the ability to switch to gasoline for longer trips. "I think that natural gas is a great fuel source for vehicles to get us to bridge that gap from gasoline to maybe hydrogen some day — that would be fantastic," he said. n Tank uses less space, holds more gas from page 1 This is a full-scale mockup of United Technologies Research Center's conformable fuel tank for adbsorbed natural gas vehicles. The tank is shown in the bed of Adsorbed Natural Gas Products' natural-gas powered Ford F-150 pickup. P H O T O | C O N T R I B U T E D

• Cover