said. “Who’s going to help you go from proving out the technology to getting prototypes out on the road?” Now that REL Inc. is approaching the end of its participation in ARPA- E, the company has reached a partner- ship with Houston-based Southwest- ern Energy (SWN), the third largest producer of natural gas in the conti- nental U.S. Improving CNG storage and use in automobiles and trucks holds obvious commercial appeal for SWN, which led to the company’s $2.1-million, three-year investment in December 2014. “We want to get the tank under
Southwestern Energy, with its own fleet of CNG-fueled vehicles, invested in the project in hopes of producing a commercially viable storage tank.
REL Inc., with the success of its ARPA-E project, sees the first half of the equation solved; the cast A206 aluminum tank can improve CNG
storage. Now, the goal is to produce the tanks in a commercially viable way. “It’s important to find resources to make that transition,” Adam Loukus
the bed,” said John Gargani, vice president, SWN. “Tanks today sit in the bed and take up a lot of the space, which is a drawback to the consumer.” Michigan Technology Univ.,
Houghton, Mich., also will participate in the project by helping to optimize material used for the tank. MTU will also conduct testing of the tanks after they are cast by REL Inc. “Tere will be mechanical engi-
neering and materials science stu- dents and faculty working together at Tech,” said Greg Odegard, professor of computational mechanics, MTU. “Once the tank is fabricated, REL will give it back to us and we’ll test it—put it on a pickup truck, mount it, drive it around. REL and Michigan Tech are positioned ideally to develop this tank.” With its own fleet of CNG
vehicles, SWN has the potential to be REL Inc.’s first customer. A more environmentally friendly fuel than gasoline, CNG is also more afford- able, costing drivers between $1-$1.50 per gallon. While recent decreases in gas prices limit cost savings in the near future, the CNG’s cost savings compared to gasoline are expected to be a major advantage of CNG-fueled vehicles in the long-term. “We have proven the technology
is viable,” Adam Loukus said. “The next step is a matter of making it competitive. I think this project has shown a lot of potential. Now it’s about improving our processes and materials so these castings are the best we can produce.”
24 | MODERN CASTING February 2016
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