Stanadyne and Katech demonstrate feasibility of LPG direct injection for medium-duty engines
By Bradley Osborne - 28th March 2024
USA – A report published by the Propane Education and Research Council (PERC) shows that, using a direct injection fuel system developed by Stanadyne LLC and Katech Engineering LLC, a medium-duty engine running on liquid propane gas (LPG) can achieve the same performance as gasoline while lowering carbon emissions by 5% to 10%.
The study conducted by the PERC focused on an engine designed for medium-duty or Class 3-7 applications. The aim of the research, which began in 2021, was to overcome “vapour lock”, or the tendency of LPG to change state from liquid to gas while it is still in the fuel delivery system. This problem can cause the engine to lose power or to stall completely. To resolve this issue, Stanadyne and Katech developed vapour lock inhibitor hardware and software. With this solution, the research partners demonstrated stable operation of the engine during hot-start, cold-start, hot-soak, and hot-idle conditions, and robust performance over a 250-hour durability test.
