EASTERN CAPE INDUSTRIAL & BUSINESS NEWS
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issn NO: 1996-9708
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R17,10 (VAT incl.) MARCH/ APRIL 2014 issue no. 60
Inside Development opportunities in E Cape - page 3 Pumps, Valves, Pipes & Fittings page 7
Food & Beverage page 12
Hydraulics & Pneumatics - page 14
Agriculture - page 16
Instrumentation, Measurement & Process Control - page 18
Company & Product News - page 20
T
Alternative fuel on the way
he continued rise in the cost of conventional fuel and subsequent rise in the cost of living is proving a huge challenge for South Africans across the board. NGV Gas, a subsidiary of CNG Holdings recently took the first step in a new drive to counteract the monopoly by conventional fuel companies with the opening of a compressed natural gas public filling station at Langlaagte in Johannesburg, bringing the power of clean energy and a reduction in costs to South Africa’s industrial and public transport sectors. CNG Holdings CEO Stephen Rothman reported that the company is in the process of converting 1 000 taxis to run on CNG which will allow them to refuel at the new CNG public filling station with ease. “This will have an incredibly positive effect on the fuel and operating costs of South Africa’s most accessible form of public transport. We are also converting existing filling stations to offer Compressed Natural Gas as an alternative fuel source,” he adds. The launch of the latest phase of CNG Holding’s roll out of natural gas into South Africa was made possible by investment and funding in the company by the Industrial Development Corporation’s (IDC) which saw it acquiring a 26% stake in the company in April 2013 and a further 12.64% in March 2014 giving it a total of 38.64%. The CNG Holdings total planned investment will amount to R120-million by the second quarter of 2014 and will complete Phase 1 of the CNG Groups roll out strategy. This followed a three year feasibility study by CNG Holdings into the viability of the project including a pilot phase that recorded industrial customers experiencing a 10% 25% saving on operating fuel/energy costs (depending on fuel substituted) and vehicle tests that showed a 25% - 35% saving in running fuel costs. The IDC investment allowed CNG Holdings to proceed with a R100-
Stemming the rising fuel costs - using compressed natural gas as an alternative fuel million expansion programme to make CNG an affordable energy alternative for industrial users and fleet owners. As a result, several blue chip multinationals have already begun making use of CNG. Rothman explains that this development comes against the backdrop of gas now being widely recognised as the fastest growing energy source in the world with natural gas’s share of global energy expected to rise from 20% to 25% between 2005 and 2030. Demand for natural gas is also expected to rise by 60% between 2005 and 2030. “Despite these buoyant figures, global gas reserves remain largely under exploited with annual production sitting at 110 Tcfs despite estimated worldwide reserves of 6 600 Tcf. The problem stems from issues such as difficulty with transportation resulting in so called ‘stranded reserves’ – an issue that our operations aim to alleviate,” says Rothman. The new public filling station is a significant next step in CNG’s nation-
wide rollout plans and is adjacent to an already up and running CNG ‘Mother Station’, located at Sasol’s main supply point to the Egoli Gas network in Johannesburg. The Mother Station concept forms a core part of CNG Holding’s other company Virtual Gas Network which supplies CNG via road transport or what it terms a Virtual Pipeline. “This virtual network stemmed from a need for specialised vehicles to facilitate the distribution of natural gas in South Africa. NGV Gas and Virtual Gas Network were therefore established using proven technology and expertise to retrofit and upgrade existing vehicle platforms within the transport and industrial market,” explains Rothman. The Virtual Pipeline system is specifically designed to provide solutions to customers too far away to utilise an existing pipeline; large industrial and commercial customers within a radius of 300 km from a Compression Station and smaller continued on page two
Improvement of N2-18 open
M
id March saw the official opening of the N2-18 between Sitebe and Viedgesville. The launch formed part of government’s key national rollout of infrastructure delivery. National Route 2, Section 18 was originally constructed during the 1950s. During the late 1970s the Transkei Department of Works and Energy improved the road by means of adding surfaced shoulders and a new wearing course. From the late 1970s to date, only routine road maintenance was undertaken on this section of road. On 4 July 2000 this section of road was proclaimed a national road (N218) and came under the jurisdiction of the South African National Roads Agency Limited (SANRAL). When SANRAL took over, the road was in a poor state of repair but efforts were made to keep it safe with repairs under the routine maintenance contract. Despite being identified in 2003 as being in need of rehabilitation, it was only in 2007 that Aurecon was contracted to undertake the investigation and design. The contractor had to deal with a number of issues that needed to be addressed, namely that the road only had a design speed of between 60 and 70km, the vertical curves were too sharp and too short and although the horizontal alignment was generally acceptable the geometric layout of the intersection was inadequate as was the pavement structure. The N2 carries very heavy traffic, approximately 15% of which are heavy vehicles and the Viedgesville intersection was not coping. The improvements on the intersections were to relocate where necessary and to construct a new interchange. The first of its kind in the former Transkei. This road can now safely be travelled at 120km/h, an upgrade from 60km/h and necessary warning and advisory signs have been posted. More than R400 million was spent on this project which took 30 months Enquiry No: 1 to complete.