As coal is becoming a more looked down upon material for industrial uses, the world is gravitating to thermal solutions such as Gas, HFO/bunker fuels, and Diesel, and renewable solutions such as solar and wind.
What are the advantages of Natural Gas power equipment compared to Diesel fuelled engines?
Overview
It is exceedingly difficult to choose between types of generators to use in different circumstances. For example, a diesel generator might be better for commercial, industrial, and standby power, while a gas generator might be better for stand-alone power. Factors that must be considered when deciding between diesel and natural gas power stations include reliability, safety, Environmental effects, Operational costs (fixed and variable), and fuel costs.
Diesel generators have a reputation of being more dependable and inexpensive, but they are also loud. While gas generators are expensive and difficult to use, but they are indeed quieter and much cleaner.
So, which is better gas or diesel? The answer to that question is that it will depend on what the company needs – there is no fixed answer to which is better because it is all situational and business-specific. For example, if the company needs a generator for industrial or commercial reasons, the best would be diesel because of its reliability and its inexpensiveness. While a gas generator might be the most environmentally friendly, while not being the safest or power efficient.
This article will help you make the decision between a diesel generator or a gas generator.
Diesel generators
Diesel generators Advantages
- Is maintenance cheap? Absolutely not, on average companies can spend $5,000,000 – $1,000,000,000, and this is just on general maintenance. Often, Gas generators create higher maintenance costs because of the emergency maintenance and big repairs. Diesel generators are less complex than gas generators, and are more cost efficient because there is a greater time interval between the replacement of major parts.
- Diesel generators are much more stable than gas generators.
Stability is one of the most important factors to consider in your power plant and is important when it comes to what kind of generator you would like to purchase. For example, facilities such as hospitals and mining sites will opt for a diesel generator because of its reliability as the sole power source and also its reliability for standby power. The instance of a temporary shortage of power at a hospital could lead to rapid death for ICU and critical care patients. The loss of power on a mining site would affect the ability to run equipment used for the extraction, refining, and conveyance of minerals & metals – resulting in a loss of money.
- Diesel generators are more efficient than gas generators.
Efficiency is key. If you want a power plant that runs well and gives the best results, you need a machine that will give you that, and simply a gas generator will not do that. But why is a diesel generator more efficient than a gas generator? Diesel generators are more efficient because they utilize compression to ignite the fuel and do not need as much fuel to operate as a gas generator.
Diesel generators disadvantages
- Diesel prices are unpredictable
This might sound like a contradiction because the previous statements say that diesel is a reliable option for a generator. Worry not, this is simply relating to the fuel itself. Diesel fuel in and of itself is expensive, as of writing this article the price of diesel is $1.45 per liter. The price of diesel is volatile across the world with no fixed price.
- Diesel is not the cleanest fuel option
Diesel is not the cleanest fuel as many other thermal and fuel options are, and in the long run, it will release more greenhouse gases. These greenhouse gases are:
- Nitrogen Oxides (NOx)
- Hydrocarbons (HC)
- Carbon monoxide (CO)
- Particulate matter (PM)
- Non-methane hydrocarbons (NMHC)
The release of these gases is ranked as one of the most harmful/toxic compounds to the atmosphere.
- Diesel generators are loud
Diesel generators are far noisier than gas generators. This might not be the biggest deal-breaker, but it could be an important factor in deciding what kind of machine you are looking for.
Gas generators
Gas generator advantages
- With a gas generator, you can always be connected to a gas line.
Having a continuous connection from a gas line provides a consistent and readily available source of fuel. Natural gas power stations are found in many cities because of the practicality of the consistently connected fuel lines found in the city. Natural gas engines remove the need for ridiculously big and irritating diesel fuel storage tanks.
- Gas generators are more environmentally friendly than diesel generators
Natural gas itself is a greenhouse gas called methane. This might sound alarming because this is what we are trying to avoid, but natural gas generators are much cleaner than diesel generators. Even though natural gas does give off some sort of emissions it still has a lower level of pollution that is sent out into the air. The types of emissions that natural gas emits are:
- Sulfur Dioxide
- Nitrogen Oxides
- Mercury
- Particulates
These emissions might sound frightening but don’t be alarmed, the amount of emissions that gas generators emit is so small that it is almost insignificant.
According to the United States Energy Information Association (USEIA):
“About 117 pounds of carbon dioxide are produced per million British thermal units (MMBtu) equivalent of natural gas compared with more than 2000 pounds of CO2 per (MMBtu) of coal and more than 160 pounds per (MMBtu) of distillate fuel oil.”
Overlooking the technical nature of that statement, it is simply highlighting the fact that natural gas is cleaner than its counterpart diesel.
Gas generator disadvantages
- Maintenance is difficult and expensive
As was mentioned in the previous sections of this article gas generators are not cost-efficient and are not the easiest to do maintenance on. In the long run, it will cost you more in maintenance and repairs. It is better to use that money to buy a diesel generator which will cut down the cost of your maintenance by a significant amount.
- Safety is the number one priority
There is nothing more important than safety, there are many accidents that happen on-site for many reasons whether it be negligence or machine malfunctions
Natural gas is extremely flammable in the case of a pipeline leak. Manufacturers are improving their enclosures for increased fire safety.
- Gas generators have a shorter lifespan than diesel generators
Natural gas generators do not last as long as diesel generators, but regular maintenance will help with this situation. As stated before, maintenance on gas generators is more expensive than for diesel generators.
Looking at all of these statisitics and information I think we can see a clear winner…
As was previously stated there is no right or wrong answer here, at the end of the day the machine that you will buy and use is up to what your business needs, but from all of this information that has been presented we conclude that diesel generators are much more stable, efficient, safe, and better than gas generators.
At USP&E we have had 20 years of experience in selling, and maintaining diesel and natural gas generators. for more information, get in touch with us at info@uspeglobal.com or visit our website: uspeglobal.com