The increasing trend in autogas use can be seen from Figure 1.įigure 1. LPG is not used much in heavy-duty vehicles. In Europe LPG is mostly used in the private sector, in cars which typically have been retrofitted with LPG equipment as opposed to Korea where LPG vehicles are original equipment manufactured (OEM). In Korea and Japan, most of the LPG is used in taxis and other light-duty fleet vehicles due to incentives and regulations. The use of autogas is concentrated in a small number of markets: Korea, Turkey, Russia, Poland and Italy accounted for half of world consumption in 2010 and the top ten countries for 75 %. Rest of the LPG is used, for example, in space and water heating, cooking, electricity production and in many industrial processes. Little more than 9% of the global consumption of LPG is used in transportation. In 2010, LPG was used to power more than 17 million vehicles around the world. The remaining 40% is formed as a by-product in crude oil processing either in distillation phase or after-treatment (cracking) processes. Around 60% of total amount of LPG produced is recovered directly from oil and gas fields (WLPGA) in which case no actual refining is needed. LPG is a mixture of propane and butane, and it is being produced as by-product of natural gas and oil refining industry. Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) – also known as autogas – is a widely used alternative fuel. Compared to natural gas, emission performance is worse, but distribution and storage are easier. Compared to diesel, lower NOx and particulate matter emissions can be obtained, whereas CO and HC emissions are typically higher with LPG (similar to gasoline). Regulated emissions are dependent on the vehicle type (OEM or retrofit, bi-fuel or dedicated, injection type, age etc.), but with proper designing, somewhat better emission performance can be achieved in modern vehicles compared to gasoline.

The use of LPG in transportation is concentrated in few countries (Korea, Turkey, Russia, and Poland) and it is mainly used in bi-fuel light duty vehicles. LPG is a mixture of propane and butane and it is a by-product of gas and oil industries. LPG is a mature, but quite niche alternative fuel that can be used in special spark ignition engines or as an auxiliary fuel in dual fuel compression ignition engines together with diesel oil.

E gas lpg system