Premium
High‐energy density storage of natural gas in light Hydrocarbon solutions
Author(s) -
Horstkamp S. W.,
Starling K. E.,
Harwell J. H.,
Mallinson R. G.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
aiche journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.958
H-Index - 167
eISSN - 1547-5905
pISSN - 0001-1541
DOI - 10.1002/aic.690430424
Subject(s) - compressed natural gas , methane , natural gas , propane , liquefied natural gas , chemistry , butane , gasoline , mole fraction , volume (thermodynamics) , hydrocarbon , fraction (chemistry) , equation of state , thermodynamics , analytical chemistry (journal) , chromatography , organic chemistry , physics , catalysis
The storage of natural gas in other light hydrocarbons is one procedure for automotive natural gas usage that reduces the requirement of high‐pressure or cryogenic storage. Model solutions of methane in n‐butane, propane, and a liquefied‐bottled‐gas mixture were simulated using the Benedict‐Webb‐Rubin‐Starling equation of state to determine the pressures necessary to maintain a liquid phase with perturbations in both temperature (−1°C to 38°C) and mole fraction (50 to 80 mol% methane). Methane storage in these liquid solutions is between 45 and 93% of an equal “tank” volume of compressed natural gas (CNG) at 21 MPa and 15°C. The simulation results indicate that solutions of this type contain 40 to 67% of the energy of gasoline at pressures that range from 60 to 40% that of CNG at 21 MPa and 15°C.