First LNG petrol station in Austria opened in Ennshafen
In just a few weeks of construction, the RAG Rohöl-Aufsuchungs Aktiengesellschaft has established Austria’s first LNG petrol station in Ennshafen, which has now been made available to the public. The station was officially opened on 26 September in the presence of the Deputy Head of Upper Austria Michael Strugl and other high-ranking guests from politics and economy.
With this milestone in the establishment of LNG as an environmentally friendly fuel for truck traffic, RAG makes a major contribution to the achievement of Austrian and European climate protection targets. The site Donaustraße in Ennshafen was selected, as its location in the central area of Upper Austria is ideally suited for this purpose. Transport companies that rely on LNG can get the fuel of the future there, without having to accept great detours.
At the Upper Austrian site, around 12 tonnes of liquefied natural gas can be stored, which is equivalent to around 60-90 truck tank fillings. The natural gas is supplied by RAG’s own LNG tanker. The natural gas comes amongst others from RAG’s natural gas deposits and is processed in RAG’s own LNG plant in Gampern, Upper Austria, where approximately two tonnes of LNG are produced per day, which can then be used at the LNG filling station Ennshafen. This corresponds to a refueling of 10-15 LNG trucks per day.
LNG (Liquified Natural Gas) is natural gas, which is converted into a liquid state by cooling it down to a temperature of about -160 ° C. The expansion ratio of liquid to gaseous in natural gas is 1: 600, so that large quantities of energy can be transported and stored in the form of LNG. It can be produced directly in Austria or transported to the customers using special tank trucks and tank ships.
In addition to simple storage and transport, LNG has another significant advantage: Liquified Natural Gas is very economical and efficient. As a very pure natural gas consisting almost 100 percent of methane, it has an average calorific value of about 11.3 kWh per cubic meter of gas.
Advantages of LNG-powered trucks:
- Compared to a EURO-6 diesel truck, up to 20,000 kilograms of CO2 per year can be saved per truck
- Reduction of fine dust by 95 percent
- Reduction of nitrogen oxides (NOx, NO2) by more than 70 percent
- No AdBlue / Catalyst required
- LNG sophisticated for heavy traffic and industry and permanently available
- LNG reduces noise emissions by approximately 50 percent
- Europe-wide LNG filling station network in expansion, already more than 60 filling stations in operation
- EU initiatives such as Horizon 2020