What is and especially why LNG-CNG?

We start by looking at what these acronyms stand for, so you immediately get a better insight into the products:
LNG stands for Liquified Natural Gas
CNG stands for Compressed Natural Gas

These 2 products are natural gas products and should not be confused with LPG.
LPG stands for Liquified Petroleum Gas, a by-product of oil refining.

What exactly is the difference between LNG-CNG?

For a layman, all these acronyms look alike and it is sometimes a bit unclear. Hence we would like to give you an overview. To get straight to the point, we can already say that LPG is a completely different fuel than LNG-CNG. LPG is a mixture of gases that is produced as a residual product from oil refining. CNG / LNG are natural gas products, whereas CNG is a product for passenger cars, LNG is for trucks. It is important to know that you cannot exchange the products. A car for LPG cannot therefore refuel with CNG or vice versa.

What are the benefits of CNG?

Its main benefit is that it is better for the environment. But it is good to know that this is also cheaper than traditional fuels. CNG is 30 to 40 percent cheaper than diesel or petrol and much more environmentally friendly than conventional fossil fuels. CNG emits 90 percent less NOx, 77 percent less particulate matter and 7 to 16 percent less CO2 than diesel or petrol. All this and even cheaper refueling? Doesn’t that seem like an ideal deal? The only problem is that CNG is less readily available abroad and that a number of car manufacturers have indicated that they will stop offering CNG cars due to disappointing sales.

And what about LNG?

LNG emissions are much cleaner than diesel: there is 10 to 15% less CO2 emissions and 30% less health damage from particulate matter and NOx. In addition, it also ensures less noise pollution and all this for a cheaper product! Because they cool the natural gas product, it becomes liquid, which means that LNG takes up much less space than normal natural gas. This allows more space in the tank and immediately increases the action radius enormously. Ideal for trucks! They are now investigating whether LNG is overall much cleaner than diesel. Especially the latest diesel engines with Euro 6 standard are much cleaner than their predecessors, in addition, a lot of harmful substances are created during the LNG production process.

Where can I go for LNG-CNG?

With the handy and especially free MAES fuel card you have an excellent network for CNG and LNG. Take a look at our stationfinder.be and you will see that in the Benelux you can go to 76 locations to refill CNG and currently 9 LNG locations. At MAES we are trying to expand both!