Comparative Study Investigating Compressed Natural Gas, Diesel, and Gasoline as Fuel for the Transportation Sector: A Case of UAE

The continuous population increase in many developing and developed countries leads to an increase in CO2 and SO2 emissions and oil consumption at an alarming rate in many sectors, mainly the transportation sector. As a result, natural gas is rapidly gaining interest within the transportation sector due to its considerably lower cost than oil and other fossil fuels. This study investigates the challenges of compressed natural gas (CNG) and examines the well-to-wheel emissions of CNG, diesel, and gasoline for the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The GREET 2020 model was used to simulate the GHG emissions of various vehicle and fuel technologies. Specifically, this paper assesses the feasibility of CNG, diesel, and gasoline as operational fuels in transit. This study shows that the CO2 equivalent emissions from well-to-pump for CNG, diesel, and gasoline are 12.56, 15.21, 15.02, respectively. Another finding of this study is that CNG in transit buses and school buses produces respectively 2.4% and 1.7% more operational CO2 equivalent emissions than diesel fuel. This study shows that diesel produces the highest amount of CO2 emission during its diesel extraction process from the well.