A Belarusian machinery manufacturer showed off the world's first combine to run on compressed natural gas at the recent Agritechnica 2019.
Gomselmash showed off the innovative machine Palesse GS 4218 CNG at the Hanover event last month.
The 'world's first environmentally friendly combine' is powered by compressed natural gas - methane.
According to the firm, it is the only agricultural machine in the world that provides emissions toxicity at the level of the environmental class Stage V without using Adblue or urea and particulate filter.
Instead of a regular fuel tank the harvester is fitted with eight gas cylinders with the capacity of 1,816 litres, or up to 400m3 of compressed methane gas.
Methane is half as light as air, and for this reason, in case of a leak, it disappears 'quickly and completely' without causing any fire hazard.
Moreover, the gas cylinders are made of extremely durable carbon fibre, which is more reliable than metal.
It takes 15 minutes to fully refuel the combine and the amount of gas is enough for an eight-hour shift, Gomselmash adds.
The use of methane as fuel can reduce toxic emissions into the environment by 2-3 times and reduce fuel costs by 40%.
The combine uses a classic scheme for grain threshing and separation. It is designed to harvest cereals crops, sunflower, corn, leguminous, colza, and grass seed plants.
