British firm develops natural gas engine
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by CM reporter A BRITISH company is designing a revolutionary type of engine which would run on a mixture of natural gas and diesel fuel. Though details are still secret it is understood that natural gas—or methane— would form the substantial part of the mixture.
Such a combination should offer substantial cost savings— methane currently costs around llp a gallon—and pollution would be reduced. The company, New Energy International Ltd Of Burton on Trent, is currently awaiting a decision by the National Research Development Corporation on whether Government money will be used to finance the project.
The company has two test bed engines on trial at the Trent Polytechnic, Notting ham. Tests on these engines, one a single-cylinder and one a converted Ford D-Series, indicate the possibility of considerably increased . engine life. Theoretically, it should be possible to improve power output by using a gas-diesel mixture.
Suggestions by the company that the NRDC has been dragging its feet over supporting the design were denied by a spokesman this -week. He said that the NRDC was "not here to back hunches" and needed to be sure of what it was getting into. The engine was "under assessment" and in fact the development programme had been finalised only a short time ago. The company says that, though ERF, Rolls-Royce and CAV are all intereSted, support may also be forthcoming from Germany and the Arab States.