Date: December 5, 2007
Source: Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County
Sanitation Districts Begin Using Liquified Natural Gas Transfer Trucks
The Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County have recently begun to use five liquified natural gas (LNG) trucks to transfer municipal solid waste from Sanitation Districts' transfer stations to landfills for disposal. The LNG trucks are the latest addition to the Sanitation Districts' comprehensive clean fuels program, the goal of which is to replace Sanitation Districts' wastewater and solid waste operational vehicles with compressed natural gas and LNG vehicles. The LNG trucks will be fueled at the Sanitation Districts' LNG fueling station located at the Puente Hills Materials Recovery Facility in Whittier.
"The use of clean fuels vehicles means cleaner air in the basin," indicated Steve Maguin, Chief Engineer and General Manager for the Sanitation Districts. "The LNG trucks emit about 35% less oxides of nitrogen and particulate matter than equivalent diesel vehicles."
Cummins ISX 15-liter engines, equipped with Westport's High Pressure Direct Injection (HPDI) fueling system, power the LNG trucks. The HPDI system, certified by the California Air Resources Board and the United States Environmental Protection Agency, allows engines to operate at lower emissions using LNG instead of diesel, as the primary fuel, using only a small quantity of diesel as the starting ignition source.
"The Sanitation Districts strive to lead the way in the use of CNG and LNG vehicles, and, in fact, at the time the trucks were ordered, there was only one available source," added Maguin.
Sixty percent of the cost of the vehicles was funded by grants from the South Coast Air Quality Management District, the Gas Technology Institute, and the California Energy Commission, agencies that hope to facilitate continued deployment of these vehicles to reduce the impact of diesel emissions.
The Sanitation Districts are a partnership of 24 independent agencies serving over 5 million people in 78 cities and unincorporated territory within Los Angeles County. The Sanitation Districts provide environmentally sound, cost effective wastewater and solid waste management, and in the process convert waste into resources such as reclaimed water, energy, and recycled materials.
For more information, contact:
Frank Caponi
Supervising Engineer
Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County
(562) 699-7411, ext. 2460
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