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Lube-Tech highlights LNG conversion benefits

LNG Industry,


Converting from petroleum-based fuels to liquid natural gas (LNG) is a move that is yielding both significant financial savings and environmental benefits. Among many others, it has benefitted Asphalt contractors in Minnesota.

“Convert your system to LNG,” said Don Debelak, an LNG specialist and field expert for Lubrication Technologies who works directly with operators. “Try it, and you will see the results. Now that some quantitative numbers are starting to be released, customers see a huge payoff.”

What paving contractor Mueller & Sons, of Hamburg, MN, has experienced this year is a prime example of the benefits that come with converting to LNG. “We’re running hotter, faster and cleaner,” said Tim Rohde, asphalt plant operator in Belle Plaine for Mueller & Sons. “It’s all about running consistently and reaping those rewards.”

An unusually wet spring kept the asphalt industry from getting out of the gate quickly, but the recent conversion to LNG helped Mueller overcome that.

“We had some catching up to do, so I noticed immediately how LNG was a boost to our daily production,” Rohde said. “Our hourly rate spiked from 15 - 17 trucks an hour; that’s 10% more productive. On top of running more efficiently, LNG is improving profit margins too.”

As well as an increased rate of production, Mueller’s saved over US$ 10 000 in energy costs in the shortened season. Muller us due to covert its plant burner from diesel to LNG in 2014, and officials at the company have anticipated that the company could save up to US$ 10 000/week.

Brainerd-based Anderson Bros. completed its plant conversion to LNG, which Rob Larson, who manages Anderson’s 100-truck fleet, described as going “easier than we were expecting”.

Even with such a short time frame to measure LNG’s benefits, Larson said he’s already seeing a positive environmental impact. “It’s the 80 – 90% savings in pollution emissions that caught our immediate attention,” he said. “That’s an amazing number. It’s one thing to say you’re running cleaner. Now we have the data that supports that.”

Lube-Tech’s General Manager of Energy Services, Jeff May, has said that he will hear more of the same from his customers in the years ahead. “LNG is the new frontier in Minnesota energy, and we’re delighted that our asphalt customers are already reaping the rewards.”

May’s customers are seeing LNG “drive profits while also being environmentally friendly. This represents a dramatic change in the efficient and energy-friendly way we’re doing business here in Minnesota.”

Adapted from press release by Ted Monroe

Read the article online at: https://www.lngindustry.com/small-scale-lng/05112013/lube-tech_highlights_lng_conversion_benefits/

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