Verification process begins for CNG dispensers

The NGC CNG Company Ltd has teamed up with the TT Bureau of Standards to have all dispensers at CNG service stations verified by the Legal Metrology Inspectorate (LMI). It said this should ensure accuracy in the volume of gas dispensed.

In a joint release earlier in the week, the companies said it began verification work on the nozzles of the dispensers. There are ten operational CNG stations in Trinidad and three fleet-based stations – two in Trinidad and one in Tobago.

The release said the verification exercise is required under the Metrology Act chapter 82:06 which mandates the LMI to monitor and verify prescribed measuring devices used in trade, including CNG dispensers at all service stations.

“This ensures that all stakeholders in the value chain, including the end-user; the CNG vehicle driver, are assured as to the quantity being paid for, is in fact received.”

NGC CNG president Curtis Mohammed thanked the bureau for its continued support saying he was glad verification is now a main focus of the CNG industry.

“The consumer can now be very comfortable that there is a third party verifying calibrations of the company. This helps to know that the actual entity that determines the verification will be doing that going forward.”

Once a CNG dispenser nozzle passes the verification test, a yellow ‘passed’ LMI label will be placed on it and a certificate of verification will be given to its owner. This process is done every six months.

Manager of the bureau’s Metrology Division Erica Caruth said this was a milestone in the fuel retail sector.

“This provides assurance that the measurements that are being provided by the instruments are in fact reliable and accurate,” she said.

The process is done using a micro-motion Coriolis mass flow metre. The release said, “The master metre is connected between the CNG dispenser and the vehicle serves to accurately measure the CNG that flows into the vehicle.”

“The bureau, in accordance with the Metrology Act, is the national custodian and verifier of reference standards and as such, it must obtain, conserve, develop and disseminate the basic measurement units and the highest level of calibration standards that the country demands.”

It said the company has a mandate to “accelerate the supply of CNG at 22 new service stations for the public and also increase the demand.”