Tangent- we have LPG, and from what I understand it's actually very successful in niche applications. Have we tried liquefied methane gas? We have many more sources of methane than propane.
Generally, it hasn't been very economical to do so, although I wonder what the numbers are now that we've got so much natural gas production in the US.
Comments
Tangent- we have LPG, and from what I understand it's actually very successful in niche applications. Have we tried liquefied methane gas? We have many more sources of methane than propane.
Natural gas is increasingly being shipped on the oceans:
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/LNG_carrier
When used as a portable fuel it is usually just compressed.
Methane has a much lower boiling point (-182 C) than propane (-42 C), so liquefying methane (and keeping it liquid) is substantially harder.
Can you not simply roughly double the pressure you store it at? Or is LPG already stored at borderline risky pressures.
Vapor pressure is exponentially related to temperature; you really need to keep it cold.
If you really want to produce a liquid transportation fuel from methane, the usual approach is F-T synthesis:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fischer%E2%80%93Tropsch_process
Generally, it hasn't been very economical to do so, although I wonder what the numbers are now that we've got so much natural gas production in the US.