Natural Gas Pipeline System In The United States

In this episode of the I Can't Sleep Podcast, fall asleep learning about the Natural Gas Pipeline System in the United States. Trying to come up with something interesting to say about this topic is putting me to sleep. Hopefully, it does the same for you.

Happy sleeping!

Transcript

Welcome to the I Can't Sleep podcast,

Where I read random articles from across the web to bore you to sleep with my soothing voice.

I'm your host,

Benjamin Boster.

Today's episode is from a Wikipedia article titled,

Natural Gas Pipeline System in the United States.

The U.

S.

Natural gas pipeline system is a complex system of pipelines that carries natural gas nationwide and for import and export for use by millions of people daily for their consumer and commercial needs.

Across the country there are more than 210 pipeline systems that total more than 305,

000 miles of interstate and intrastate pipelines.

Of the lower 48 U.

S.

States,

Those with the most natural gas pipeline running through them are Texas,

Louisiana,

Oklahoma,

Kansas,

Illinois,

And California.

The states with the least natural gas pipeline are Vermont and New Hampshire.

The U.

S.

DOT Office of Pipeline Safety,

OPS,

Administers the National Regulatory Program to assure the safe and environmentally sound transportation of natural gas,

Liquefied natural gas,

And hazardous liquids by pipeline.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission reviews and authorizes the operation of the interstate natural gas pipelines.

Interstate pipelines that run within one state and do not cross state boundaries are typically regulated by a state government agency.

For example,

In Texas,

The Railroad Commission of Texas regulates pipelines,

And in Louisiana it is the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources.

The first natural gas sold in the U.

S.

Was in Fredonia,

New York in 1825 by William Hart.

It was built to pipe the gas from the well to nearby shops.

Hart improvised a gasometer at the well site and laid pipe in the properties of his first customers.

Hart was later consulted to develop a gas lighting system for the Barcelona Lighthouse in 1829.

These early pipelines,

No longer in use,

Were made of pine logs.

Meanwhile,

Manufactured gas was more commonly used than natural gas in the early 19th century,

First introduced in Baltimore in 1816,

With underground pipes laid starting in 1851.

Gas plants could be sited within cities,

And many major U.

S.

Cities such as New York,

Chicago,

And San Francisco had gas distribution lines for manufactured gas by the 1870s.

The first major U.

S.

City to pipe in natural gas was Pittsburgh in 1883,

Sold by Penn Fuel Gas Company from a well 20 miles from the city and transported via a wrought iron pipe 5 5⁄8 inch in diameter.

This pipeline to Pittsburgh was the first use of a telescoping design with narrower pipeline at the well site and widening widths as it entered the city as a means to control the pressure inside the line.

Discovery of huge oil and gas fields in the southwest U.

S.

,

Combined with pipeline engineering advancements and national market demand,

Ultimately led to the development of a long-distance interstate pipeline in the 1920s and 30s.

Until the passage of the Natural Gas Act of 1938,

Pipelines were regulated only by states.

The Act gave federal oversight to the transportation and sale of natural gas and required approval by the Federal Power Commission for new interstate lines.

Just after World War II,

Demand for natural gas increased,

And so did the development of pipelines to new markets on the West Coast in California and in the southeastern states.

About half of today's existing natural gas pipelines were built in the 1950s and 1960s during the post-war boom.

In 1885,

Solomon Dresser patented a new coupling that was an important advancement in engineering pipeline,

Making it possible to assemble longer,

Less leaky pipes that were easier to screw together.

Compressors,

More commonly adopted after 1910,

Began to be used to control the pressure within natural gas pipelines.

Pipeline laid before the 1950s did not have technology for inspecting buried lines for erosion or corrosion.

Starting that decade,

Most pipeline operators began using pigging systems,

As well as external pipe coating to protect pipes from decay and detect defects.

Steel has been used in many pipeline projects since the 1950s,

As well as plastic beginning in the 1970s.

In 1970,

The Federal Gas Code Part 192 was adopted,

Based on the ASME B31.

8 technical standard that was in use by some states to regulate the quality and safety of pipeline construction.

Pipelines installed before these safety rules were established were granted exceptions.

At the end of 2008,

The U.

S.

Had 305,

000 miles of natural gas interstate and intrastate transmission pipelines in the lower 48 states.

The full pipeline network is an estimated 3 million miles,

Including transmission lines as well as gathering lines,

Mains,

And service lines to consumers.

Main pipelines are generally 6 to 48 inches in diameter,

Made of strong carbon steel or advanced plastic.

The largest diameters are for intrastate and interstate transmission lines that channel natural gas into smaller mains and service lines.

Many bare steel pipelines,

Uncoated,

And other aging pipelines like those made of iron or brittle plastics,

Are being taken out of service and replaced to prevent pipeline failures.

Over the years,

There have been many natural gas explosions involving pipelines in which people have been injured or killed.

The most recent was the 2010 San Bruno pipeline explosion that killed at least 4 people,

Injured 60,

And more victims are still missing.

Portions of the San Bruno pipeline had been built in 1956.

In ideal situations,

Pipeline inspection gauges,

Or a PIG,

Is used to inspect and ensure the safe operation of natural gas pipelines.

About 63% of all natural gas pipelines in the U.

S.

Cannot be properly inspected using a PIG or automatic robot in the pipes because the pipelines are either too old or they twist and turn and PIGs cannot operate in them.

Many experts and studies show that the inferior oversight of gas pipelines have led to hundreds of pipeline accidents that have killed 60 people and injured 230 others in the last five years,

According to the New York Times.

This analysis excludes the causality figures from the 2010 San Bruno pipeline explosion that killed 7 people and injured more than 50 others.

Liquefied natural gas,

LNG,

Is natural gas,

Predominantly methane,

CH4,

With some mixture of ethane,

C2H6,

That has been cooled down to liquid form for ease and safety of non-pressurized storage or transport.

It takes up about 1 600th the volume of natural gas in the gaseous state at standard conditions for temperature and pressure.

LNG is odorless,

Colorless,

Non-toxic,

And non-corrosive.

Hazards include flammability after vaporization into a gaseous state,

Freezing,

And asphyxia.

The liquefaction process involves removal of certain components such as dust,

Acid gases,

Helium,

Water,

And heavy hydrocarbons,

Which could cause difficulty downstream.

The natural gas is then condensed into a liquid at close to atmospheric pressure by cooling it to approximately negative 162 degrees Celsius.

Maximum transport pressure is set at around 25 kilopascals,

Which is about 1.

25 times atmospheric pressure at sea level.

The gas extracted from underground hydrocarbon deposits contains a varying mix of hydrocarbon components,

Which usually includes mostly methane,

CH4,

Along with ethane,

C2H6,

Propane,

C3H8,

And butane,

C4H10.

Other gases also occur in natural gas,

Notably CO2.

These gases have wide-ranging boiling points and also different heating values,

Allowing different routes to commercialization and also different uses.

The acidic elements,

Such as hydrogen sulfide,

H2S,

And carbon dioxide,

CO2,

Together with oil,

Mud,

Water,

And mercury,

Are removed from the gas to deliver a clean,

Sweetened stream of gas.

Failure to remove much or all of such acidic molecules,

Mercury,

And other impurities,

Could result in damage to the equipment.

Corrosion of steel pipes and amalgamization of mercury to aluminum within cryogenic heat exchangers could cause expensive damage.

The gas stream is typically separated into the liquefied petroleum fractions,

Butane and propane,

Which can be stored in liquid form at relatively low pressure,

And the lighter ethane and methane fractions.

These lighter fractions of methane and ethane are then liquefied to make up the bulk of LNG that is shipped.

Natural gas was considered during the 20th century to be economically unimportant wherever gas-producing oil or gas fields were distant from gas pipelines or located in offshore locations where pipelines were not viable.

In the past,

This usually meant that natural gas produced was typically flared,

Especially since,

Unlike oil,

No viable method for natural gas storage or transport existed,

Other than compressed gas pipelines to end-users of the same gas.

This meant that natural gas markets were historically entirely local,

And any production had to be consumed within the local or regional network.

Developments of production processes,

Cryogenic storage,

And transportation effectively created the tools required to commercialize natural gas into a global market,

Which now competes with other fuels.

Furthermore,

The development of LNG storage also introduced a reliability in networks,

Which was previously thought impossible.

Given that storage of other fuels is relatively easily secured using simple tanks,

A supply for several months could be kept in storage.

With the advent of large-scale cryogenic storage,

It became possible to create long-term gas storage reserves.

These reserves of liquefied gas could be deployed at a moment's notice through regasification processes and today are the main means for networks to handle local peak shaving requirements.

The heating value depends on the source of gas that is used and the process that is used to liquefy the gas.

The range of heating value can span plus or minus 10 to 15%.

A typical value of the higher heating value of LNG is approximately 50 megajoules per kilogram or 21,

500 BTU per pound.

A typical value of the lower heating value of LNG is 45 megajoules per kilogram or 19,

350 BTU per pound.

For the purpose of comparison of different fuels,

The heating value may be expressed in terms of energy per volume,

Which is known as the energy density expressed in megajoules per liter.

The density of LNG is roughly 0.

41 kilograms per liter to 0.

5 kilograms per liter depending on temperature,

Pressure,

And composition compared to water at 1 kilogram per liter.

Using the median value of 0.

45 kilograms per liter,

The typical energy density values are 22.

5 megajoules per liter based on higher heating value or 20.

3 megajoules per liter based on lower heating value.

The volumetric energy density of LNG is approximately 2.

4 times that of compressed natural gas CNG,

Which makes it economical to transport natural gas by ship in the form of LNG.

The energy density of LNG is comparable to propane and ethanol,

But is only 60% that of diesel and 70% that of gasoline.

Experiments on the properties of gases started early in the 17th century.

By the middle of the 17th century,

Robert Boyle had derived the inverse relationship between the pressure and the volume of gases.

About the same time,

Guillaume Amanton started looking into temperature effects on gas.

Various gas experiments continued for the next 200 years.

During that time,

There were efforts to liquefy gases.

Many new facts about the nature of gases were discovered.

For example,

Early in the 19th century,

Cagnard de Latour showed there was a temperature about which a gas could not be liquefied.

There was a major push in the mid-to-late 19th century to liquefy all gases.

A number of scientists,

Including Michael Faraday,

James Joule,

And William Thomson – Lord Kelvin – did experiments in this area.

In 1886,

Karol Olszewski liquefied methane,

The primary constituent of natural gas.

By 1900,

All gases had been liquefied except helium,

Which was liquefied in 1908.

The first large-scale liquefication of natural gas in the US was in 1918,

When the US government liquefied natural gas as a way to extract helium,

Which is a small component of some natural gas.

This helium was intended for use in British dirigibles for World War I.

The liquid natural gas,

LNG,

Was not stored,

But regasified and immediately put into the gas mains.

The key patents having to do with natural gas liquefication date from 1915 and the mid-1930s.

In 1915,

Godfrey Cabot patented a method for storing liquid gases at very low temperatures.

It consisted of a Thomas bottle-type design,

Which included a cold inner tank within an outer tank,

The tanks being separated by insulation.

In 1937,

Lee Twomey received patents for a process for large-scale liquefication of natural gas.

The intention was to store natural gas as a liquid so it could be used for shaving peak energy loads during cold snaps.

Because of large volumes,

It is not practical to store natural gas as a gas near atmospheric pressure.

However,

When liquefied,

It can be stored in a volume one-six-hundredth as large.

This is a practical way to store it,

But the gas must be kept at a negative two-hundred-sixty degrees Fahrenheit.

There are two processes for liquefying natural gas in large quantities.

The first is the cascade process,

In which the natural gas is cooled by another gas,

Which in turn has been cooled by still another gas,

Hence named the cascade process.

There are usually two cascade cycles before the liquid natural gas cycle.

The other method is the Lindy process,

With a variation of the Lindy process,

Called the Claude process,

Being sometimes used.

In this process,

The gas is cooled regeneratively by continually passing and expanding it through an orifice until it has cooled to temperatures at which it liquefies.

The process was developed by James Joule and William Thompson,

And is known as the Joule-Thompson effect.

Lee Twomey used the cascade process for his patents.

The East Ohio Gas Company built a full-scale commercial LNG plant in Cleveland,

Ohio,

In 1940.

It was named after a successful pilot plant built by its sister company,

Hope Natural Gas Company of West Virginia.

This was the first such plant in the world.

Originally it had three spheres,

Approximately 63 feet in diameter,

Containing LNG at negative 260 degrees Fahrenheit.

Each sphere held the equivalent of about 50 million cubic feet of natural gas.

A fourth tank,

A cylinder,

Was added in 1942.

It had an equivalent capacity of 100 million cubic feet of gas.

The plant operated successfully for three years.

The stored gas was regasified and put into the mains when cold snaps hit,

And extra capacity was needed.

This precluded the denial of gas to some customers during a cold snap.

The Cleveland plant failed on October 20,

1944,

When the cylindrical tank ruptured,

Spilling thousands of gallons of LNG over the plant and nearby neighborhood.

The gas evaporated and caught fire,

Which caused 130 fatalities.

The fire delayed further implementation of LNG facilities for several years.

However,

Over the next 15 years,

New research on low-temperature alloys and better insulation materials set the stage for a revival of the industry.

It restarted in 1959 when a U.

S.

World War II Liberty ship,

The Methane Pioneer,

Converted to carry LNG,

Made a delivery of LNG from the U.

S.

Gulf Coast to Energy Star of Great Britain.

In June 1964,

The world's first purpose-built LNG carrier,

The Methane Princess,

Entered service.

Soon after that,

A large natural gas field was discovered in Algeria.

International trade in LNG quickly followed,

As LNG was shipped to France and Great Britain from the Algerian fields.

One more important attribute of LNG had now been exploited.

Since natural gas was liquefied,

It could not only be stored more easily,

But it could be transported.

Thus,

Energy could now be shipped over the oceans via LNG,

The same way it was shipped in the form of oil.

The LNG industry in the U.

S.

Restarted in 1965 with the building of a number of new plants,

Which continued through the 1970s.

These plants were not only used for peak shaving,

As in Cleveland,

But also for baseload supplies for places that never had natural gas before this.

A number of important facilities were built on the East Coast in anticipation of the need to import energy via LNG.

However,

A recent boom in U.

S.

Natural gas production,

2010-2014,

Enabled by hydraulic fracturing has many of these important facilities being considered as export facilities.

The first U.

S.

LNG export was completed in early 2016.

The process begins with the pretreatment of a feedstock of natural gas entering the system to remove impurities such as H2S,

CO2,

H2O,

Mercury,

And higher-chained hydrocarbons.

Feedstock gas then enters the liquefaction unit,

Where it is cooled to between negative 145 degrees Celsius and negative 163 degrees Celsius.

Although the type or number of heating cycles and or refrigerants used may vary based on the technology,

The basic process involves circulating the gas through aluminum tube coils and exposure to a compressed refrigerant.

As the refrigerant is vaporized,

The heat transfer causes the gas in the coils to cool.

The LNG is then stored in a specialized double-walled insulating tank at atmospheric pressure,

Ready to be transported to its final destination.

Most domestic LNG is transported by land via truck-trailer design for cryogenic temperatures.

International LNG transport travels by special tanker ships.

LNG transport tanks comprise an internal steel or aluminum compartment and an external carbon or steel compartment with a vacuum system in between to reduce the amount of heat transfer.

Once on site,

The LNG must be stored in vacuum-insulated or flat-bottomed storage tanks.

When ready for distribution,

The LNG enters a regasification facility,

Where it is pumped into a vaporizer and heated back into gaseous form.

The gas then enters the gas pipeline distribution system and is delivered to the end user.

The natural gas fed into the LNG plant will be treated to remove water,

Hydrogen,

Sulfide,

Carbon dioxide,

Benzene,

And other components that will freeze under the low temperatures needed for storage,

Or be destructive to the liquefaction facility.

LNG typically contains more than 90% methane.

It also contains small amounts of ethane,

Propane,

Butane,

Some heavier alkanes,

And nitrogen.

The purification process can be designed to give almost 100% methane.

One of the risks of LNG is a rapid phase transition explosion,

RPT,

Which occurs when cold LNG comes into contact with water.

The most important infrastructure needed for LNG production and transportation is an LNG plant consisting of one or more LNG trains,

Each of which is an independent unit for gas liquefaction and purification.

A typical train consists of a compression area,

Propane condenser area,

And methane and ethane areas.

The largest LNG train in operation is in Qatar,

With a total production capacity of 7.

8 million tons per annum,

MTPA.

LNG is loaded onto ships and delivered to a regasification terminal,

Where the LNG is allowed to expand and reconvert into gas.

Regasification terminals are usually connected to a storage and pipeline distribution network to distribute natural gas to local distribution companies,

LDCs,

Or independent power plants,

IPPs.

The LNG industry developed slowly during the second half of the last century because most LNG plants are located in remote areas not served by pipelines,

And because of the high costs of treating and transporting LNG.

Constructing an LNG plant costs at least $1.

5 billion per 1 MTPA capacity,

A receiving terminal costs $1 billion per 1 BCF per day,

Throughput capacity and LNG vessels cost $200 million to $300 million.

In the early 2000s,

Prices for constructing LNG plants,

Receiving terminals,

And vessels fell as new technologies emerged and more players invested in liquefaction and regasification.

This tended to make LNG more competitive as a means of energy distribution,

But increasing material costs and demand for construction contractors have put upward pressure on prices in the last few years.

The standard price for a 125,

000 cubic meter LNG vessel built in European and Japanese shipyards used to be $250 million.

When Korean and Chinese shipyards entered the race,

Increased competition reduced profit margins and improved efficiency,

Reducing costs by 60%.

Costs in U.

S.

Dollars also declined due to the devaluation of the currencies of the world's largest shipbuilders,

The Japanese yen and Korean won.

Since 2004,

The large number of orders increased demand for shipyard slots,

Raising their price and increasing ship costs.

The per-ton construction cost of an LNG liquefaction plant fell steadily from 1970s through the 1990s.

The cost reduced by approximately 35%,

However recently the cost of building liquefaction and regasification terminals doubled due to increased costs of materials and a shortage of skilled labor,

Professional engineers,

Designers,

Managers,

And other white-collar professionals.

Due to natural gas shortage concerns in the northeastern U.

S.

And surplus natural gas in the rest of the country,

Many new LNG import and export terminals are being contemplated in the United States.

Concerns about the safety of such facilities create controversy in some regions where they are proposed.

One such location is the Long Island Sound between Connecticut and Long Island.

Broadwater Energy,

An effort of TransCanada Core and Shell,

Wishes to build an LNG import terminal in the Sound on the New York side.

Local politicians,

Including the Suffolk County Executive,

Raised questions about the terminal.

In 2005,

New York Senators Chuck Schumer and Hillary Clinton also announced their opposition to the project.

Several import terminal proposals along the coast of Maine were also met with high levels of resistance and questions.

On September 13,

2013,

The U.

S.

Department of Energy approved Dominion Cove Point's application to export up to 770 million cubic feet per day of LNG to countries that do not have a free trade agreement with the U.

S.

In May 2014,

The FERC concluded its environmental assessment of the Cove Point LNG project,

Which found that the proposed natural gas export project could be built and operated safely.

Another LNG terminal is currently proposed for Elba Island,

Georgia.

Plans for three LNG export terminals in the U.

S.

Gulf Coast region have also received conditional federal approval.

In Canada,

An LNG export terminal is under construction near Gosborough,

Nova Scotia.

In the commercial development of an LNG value chain,

LNG suppliers first confirm sales of the downstream buyers and then sign long-term contracts,

Typically 20 to 25 years,

With strict terms and structures for gas pricing.

Only when the customers are confirmed and the development of a greenfield project deemed economically feasible could the sponsors of an LNG project invest in their development and operation.

Thus,

The LNG liquefaction business has been limited to players with strong financial and political resources.

Major international oil companies,

IOCs,

Such as ExxonMobil,

Royal Dutch Shell,

BP,

Chevron,

Total Engineers,

And national oil companies,

NOCs,

Such as Pertamina and Petronas,

Are active players.

LNG is shipped around the world in specially constructed seagoing vessels.

The trade of LNG is completed by signing an SPA sale and purchase agreement between a supplier and receiving terminal,

And by signing a GSA gas sale agreement between a receiving terminal and end-users.

Most of the contract terms used to be DES,

Or ex-ship,

Holding the seller responsible for the transport of the gas.

With low shipbuilding costs and the buyers preferring to ensure reliable and stable supply,

However,

Contracts with FOB terms increased.

Under such terms,

The buyer,

Who often owns a vessel or signs a long-term charter agreement with independent carriers,

Is responsible for the transport.

LNG purchasing agreements used to be for a long term,

With relatively little flexibility both in price and volume.

If the annual contract quantity is confirmed,

The buyer is obliged to take and pay for the product,

Or pay for it even if not taken,

In what is referred to as the obligation of take-or-pay contract,

TOP.

In the mid-1990s,

LNG was a buyer's market.

At the request of buyers,

The SPAs began to adopt some flexibilities on volume and price.

The buyers had more upward and downward flexibilities in TOP,

And short-term SPAs less than 16 years came into effect.

At the same time,

Alternative destinations for cargo and arbitrage were also allowed.

By the turn of the 21st century,

The market was again in favor of sellers.

However,

Sellers have become more sophisticated and are now proposing sharing of arbitrage opportunities and moving away from S-curve pricing.

There has been much discussion regarding the creation of an OGEC as a natural gas equivalent of OPEC.

Russia and Qatar,

Countries with the largest and the third largest natural gas reserves in the world,

Have finally supported such a move.

Until 2003,

LNG prices have closely followed oil prices.

Since then,

LNG prices in Europe and Japan have been lower than oil prices,

Although the link between LNG and oil is still strong.

In contrast,

Prices in the US and the UK have recently skyrocketed,

Then fallen as a result of changes in supply and storage.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s,

The market shifted for buyers,

But since 2003 and 2004,

It has been a strong seller's market,

With net back as the best estimation for prices.

Research from Global Energy Monitor in 2019 warned that up to $1.

3 trillion in new LNG export and import infrastructure currently under development is at significant risk of becoming stranded as global gas risks become oversupplied,

Particularly if the United States and Canada play a larger role.

The current surge in unconventional oil and gas in the US has resulted in lower gas prices in the US.

This has led to discussions in Asia's oil-linked gas markets to import gas based on Henry Hubb Index.

A recent high-level conference in Vancouver,

The Pacific Energy Summit 2013,

Convened policymakers and experts from Asia and the US to discuss LNG trade relations between these regions.

Receiving terminals exist in about 40 countries,

Including Belgium,

Chile,

China,

The Dominican Republic,

France,

Greece,

India,

Italy,

Japan,

Korea,

Poland,

Spain,

Taiwan,

The UK,

The US,

Among others.

Plans exist for Bahrain,

Germany,

Ghana,

Morocco,

Philippines,

Vietnam,

And others to also construct new receiving regasification terminals.

Gas-load LNG projects require natural gas reserves,

Buyers,

And financing.

Using proven technology and a proven contractor is extremely important for both investors and buyers.

Gas reserves required 1 TCF of gas required per 1 MTPA of LNG over 20 years.

LNG is most cost-efficiently produced in relatively large facilities due to economies of scale.

Market sites with marine access allowing regular large bulk shipments direct to market.

This requires a secure gas supply of sufficient capacity.

Ideally,

Facilities are located close to the gas source to minimize the cost of intermediate transport infrastructure and gas shrinkage,

Fuel loss,

And transport.

The high cost of building large LNG facilities makes the progressive development of gas sources to maximize facility utilization essential,

And the life extension of existing financially depreciated LNG facilities cost-effective.

Particularly when combined with lower sale prices due to large installed capacity and rising construction costs,

This makes the economic screening justification to develop new and especially greenfield LNG facilities challenging.

Even if these could be more environmentally friendly than existing facilities with all stakeholder concerns satisfied.

Due to high financial risk,

It is usual to contractually secure gas supply concessions and gas sales for extended periods before proceeding to an investment decision.

The primary use of LNG is to simplify transport of natural gas from the source to a destination.

On the large scale,

This is done when the source and the destination are across an ocean from each other.

It can also be used when adequate pipeline capacity is not available.

For large scale transport uses,

The LNG is typically regasified at the receiving end and pushed into the local natural gas pipeline infrastructure.

LNG can also be used to meet peak demand when the normal pipeline infrastructure can meet most demand needs,

But not the peak demand needs.

These plants are typically called LNG peak shaving plants as the purpose is to shave off part of the peak demand from what is required out of the supply pipeline.

LNG can be used to fuel internal combustion engines.

LNG is in the early stages of becoming a mainstream fuel for transportation needs.

It is being evaluated and tested for over-the-road trucking,

Off-road,

Marine,

And train applications.

There are known problems with the fuel tanks and delivery of gas to the engine,

But despite these concerns,

A move to LNG as a transportation fuel has begun.

LNG competes directly with compressed natural gas as a fuel for natural gas vehicles since the engine is identical.

There may be applications where LNG trucks,

Buses,

Trains,

And boats could be cost-effective in order to regularly distribute LNG energy together with general freight and or passengers to smaller,

Isolated communities without a local gas source or access to pipelines.

China has been a leader in the use of LNG vehicles,

With over 100,

000 LNG-powered vehicles on the road as of September 2014.

In the United States,

The beginnings of a public LNG fueling capability are being put in place.

An alternative fueling center tracking site shows 84 public truck LNG fuel centers as of December 2016.

It is possible for large trucks to make cross-country trips,

Such as Los Angeles to Boston,

And refuel at public refueling stations every 500 miles.

The 2013 National Trucks Directory lists approximately 7,

000 truck stops.

Thus,

Approximately 1% of U.

S.

Truck stops have LNG available.

While as of December 2014,

LNG fuel and NGVs were not taken to very quickly within Europe,

And it was questionable whether LNG will ever become the fuel of choice among fleet operators,

Recent trends from 2018 onwards show different prospects.

During the year 2015,

Netherlands introduced LNG-powered trucks in transport sector.

The Australian government is planning to develop an LNG highway to utilize the locally produced LNG and replace the imported diesel fuel used by interstate haulage vehicles.

In the year 2015,

India also made small beginnings by transporting LNG by LNG-powered road tankers in Kerala state.

Japan,

The world's largest importer of LNG,

Is set to begin use of LNG as a road transport fuel.

Engine displacement is an important factor in the power of an internal combustion engine.

Thus,

A 2.

0 liter engine would typically be more powerful than a 1.

8 liter engine,

But that assumes a similar air-fuel mixture is used.

However,

If a smaller engine uses an air-fuel mixture with higher energy density,

Such as via a turbocharger,

Then it can produce more power than a larger one burning a less energy-dense air-fuel mixture.

For high-power,

High-torque engines,

A fuel that creates a more energy-dense air-fuel mixture is preferred because a smaller and simpler engine can produce the same power.

With conventional gasoline and diesel engines,

The energy density of the air-fuel mixture is limited because the liquid fuels do not mix well in the cylinder.

Further,

Gasoline and diesel fuel have auto-ignition temperatures and pressures relevant to engine design.

An important part of engine design is the interactions of cylinders,

Compression ratios,

And fuel injectors,

Such that pre-ignition is prevented but at the same time as much fuel as possible can be injected,

Become well-mixed,

And still have time to complete the combustion process during the power stroke.

Reviews

Thank you!! I lived in NH for over 10 years and recently moved and wasn’t surprised to hear that they are one of the states with the least amount of natural gas pipelines. ☺️