An overview of compressed natural gas as an alternative fuel and Malaysian scenario

Natural gas in the form of compressed natural gas (CNG) becoming the subject of interest today, as the combustion of gasoline and diesel fuels result in the emission of noxious pollutants which threaten the very survival of life in this planet. this overview will concentrate on Malaysian scenarios of using CNG, and the trend of research to overcome the lack of CNG engine performance. The crude oil of fossil fuel is believed to be finished at the early decades of this century. According to this situation the use of compressed natural gas (CNG) become a very good option as the alternative fuel. However, the current situation shows that CNG still cannot replace the gasoline as a prime resource of fuel but it is expected that as the gas distribution network expands and the number of refueling stations increase, increasingly more dedicated single-fuel engines will be develop for mass production which will be designed from scratch and will be fully optimized to accommodate the characteristics physical and chemical properties of natural gas. Although at present bi-fuel gasoline conversions seem to be a convenient way to spread the use of CNG in the passenger car market, research of improving the performance of CNG-Engine vehicle at least nearly equal to the petrol engine. Most of the research done by automotive manufacturers, universities or research organizations is focusing on how to increase the performance of the vehicle by increase the engine power equal to gasoline vehicle counterpart, increase the driving range, reducing the weight of CNG storage, exhaust emissions meet or better than CARB/ULEV or SULEV standard, and meet all motor vehicle standard and trunk storage space comparable to gasoline vehicle.