Alaska News

New LNG semi-trailer could get cheaper energy to Interior

Efforts to get cheaper, cleaner energy to Fairbanks could get a boost from a new super-cold semitrailer that can haul more liquefied natural gas than anything else on the state road system, its developers say.

The five-axle trailer includes a cryogenic tank for keeping liquefied gas at Saturnesque temperatures of 265 degrees below zero. It's designed to carry as much LNG as allowed by Alaska law.

The launch, now set for December, was delayed for weeks after the barge carrying it faced 40-foot seas in the Gulf of Alaska and had to wait out a storm in a cove, said Pat Malara, president of Western Cascade Trucking Equipment in Tukwila, Washington.

The double-walled steel tank is designed to hold up to 13,000 gallons of the world's fastest growing fuel, a big jump from the 11,000 gallons that, in a best-case scenario, are currently hauled from the Titan LNG facility at Point MacKenzie to Fairbanks.

"We built this trailer specifically for the Alaska market and we think it will lower the cost per gallon on the transportation side," said Malara.

Western Cascade helped design the trailer and is marketing it for its owner, Heil Trailer International based in Tennessee.

The Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority plans to try out the semitrailer for a possible role in the Interior Energy Project, the effort to solve Fairbanks' energy woes using LNG.

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AIDEA owns Titan and Fairbanks Natural Gas, which delivers liquefied gas to about 1,100 customers in the Fairbanks area.

Karsten Rodvik, external affairs officer at AIDEA, said the agency will review the trailer's performance on demonstration runs between the Titan plant and Fairbanks, a distance of more than 300 miles.

It will also be tested on runs between the North Slope and Fairbanks, Rodvik said.

"If the testing is successful, a trailer of this size can lower energy costs in Interior Alaska," Rodvik said.

Under the Interior Energy Project, AIDEA is evaluating proposals from private companies seeking to win state financial help to haul LNG from Point MacKenzie or the North Slope, where there is currently no liquefaction plant.

Western Cascade is not involved in any of the proposals, but has met with AIDEA in the past about the possibility of delivering LNG to Fairbanks. The city is mostly dependent on fuel oil and wood for heating, so many residents would have to convert their heating system to accept natural gas.

Getting LNG to Fairbanks could include moving it by railcar. The Alaska Railroad Corp. recently became the nation's first railroad approved for hauling the fuel. But some trucking will be necessary until a 32-mile railroad spur to Point MacKenzie is built, a project being pursued by the Matanuska-Susitna Borough and the railroad using a legislative grant.

Malara said the trailer and railroad can "complement" each other, with each providing a backup, if bad weather or other problems prevent the other from delivering.

Five-axle trailers built by Western Cascade are already in use in Alaska, carrying loads such as jet fuel between Anchorage and Prudhoe Bay, said Malara. He said this one meets the state's requirements for weight distribution and other factors.

Dan Byrd, chief of commercial vehicle enforcement and permitting in the state Department of Transportation, said five-axle trailers are also used to deliver heavy loads such as pipe for oil or gas operations.

"They're not uncommon in Alaska," he said, and no permitting is required as long as they meet legal requirements.

Dan Britton, chief executive of Fairbanks Natural Gas, said the company has two LNG trailers in its semitrailer fleet designed to carry 13,000-gallons of LNG. But issues with the weight distribution over the axles means in reality they carry 11,000 gallons at best.

"If we can indeed put the full capacity into that (new trailer) and meet legal road requirements and avoid any unforeseen technical issues, it will be a benefit," he said.

Eleven thousand gallons of LNG is enough to serve 33 to 50 Fairbanks homes with heat in a winter month, on average.

The transport company Crowley will operate the trailer for the demonstration runs. In an apparently unrelated effort, Crowley recently won U.S. and Canadian approval to import LNG to Alaska from Canada.

Malara said the trailer has been successfully tested on a run in Idaho, with liquefied gas moved from a liquefaction facility to an LNG fueling station used by the Lower 48 trucking industry.

The company has a lease agreement with Titan to allow free use of the trailer for the trial demonstration. Malara said the company hopes AIDEA will find value in the trailer and order more.

"We've proven to ourselves it will carry the capacity we say it will in Alaska," Malara said. "So now it's a matter of (AIDEA) touching it and feeling it."

Alex DeMarban

Alex DeMarban is a longtime Alaska journalist who covers business, the oil and gas industries and general assignments. Reach him at 907-257-4317 or alex@adn.com.

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