On Friday January 11 the first six SCANIA G340 LNG trucks were filled and put into service in Argentina. The trucks were acquired by Transportes Andreu and will be used for driving the virtual LNG pipeline that feeds the Anchoris Power Plant, in the western province of Mendoza. LNG is obtained from unconnected gas wells, equipped with micro liquefaction units provided by Galileo, and transported by Transportes Andreu to the Anchoris plant where it is stored and fed to the Wärtsilä generators. From now on, the LNG ISO-containers will be towed with these LNG fuelled trucks.
Diego Goldin, Director of Global Gas Mobility who is a consultant to SCANIA supervised and certified the fuelling: "This event is a dream come true. We have been working for many years in order to facilitate the gasification of the heavy duty sector in Argentina. Finally we managed to bring the private and public sectors together and generate the right conditions for this project. We wish to congratulate Transportes Andreu, Scania, Galileo, Enargas and the Energy department for this great achievement. We also want to thank SCANIA Argentina for having selected us as their technical representatives for their gas units."
Andrés Leonard, General Director of Scania Argentina, also commented: “It is the first time that LNG trucks running on Natural Gas, enter the country. We are proud to be the pioneers not only of introducing a new technology to the country, but also because it brings direct benefits through the reduction of environmental impact.”
“Committed to innovation and being more efficient and sustainable, we decided to invest in the purchase of these trucks accompanying Galileo in this challenge,” added Eduardo Andreu, Director of Transportes Andreu.
Liquefied natural gas is stored in two cryogenic tanks, developed and supplied by Chart. They hold approx. 290 kg of LNG, providing up to 1100 km of range without refueling. The 9 liter, 5 cylinder 340 HP engine is spark ignited and designed specifically for natural gas. Tank insulation is sufficient to sustain LNG temperature of -132° C at a pressure between 8 and 15 Bar.
Felicitaciones Diego, se de tu dedicación, conocimiento y profesionalismo y celebro que sigas siendo pionero en la implementación del GN en el uso automotor y en este caso con el GNL, estado que comenzamos a conocer por aquel Octubre (creo) de 1985 en aquella planta de licuefaccion móvil (Con una válvula Joule Thompson) instalada en el predio de Amancio Algorta al lado de la 1era estación de carga de GNC de la Argentina inaugurada el 10 de diciembre de 1984. Recuerdo que vos eras el que tenía más claro como era el proceso. Galileo otro de mis afectos en el tema GN y mi reconocimiento y recuerdo a Fausto Maranca un pionero en el sector privado y que tanto alentó el uso del GN en los automotores. Perdón por lo extenso del comentario. Ing. Jorge Ricardo Buffa Velasco (Orgulloso integrante de aquel equipo del Programa de sustitución de combustibles líquidos en la Gerencia Departamental de Desarrollo de Gas del Estado, liderada por el Ing. Ricardo Morck) Estoy hablando de 1984.
Muchas gracias Jorge! Grandes recuerdos del inicio de esta Industria en nuestro País, que sigue siendo ejemplo en el Mundo. Por suerte pudimos lograr que el transporte pesado se sume a la gasificación, después de mucho luchar.