What is LNG?

LNG stands for liquefied natural gas. Its just like the natural gas you use in your home, except that it has been compressed until it is so gold that it turns into a liquid. When one drop of the liquid makes contact with water, it will expand instantly to be a gas, getting 600 times bigger in the process.

The amount of LNG that fits in a couple of larger trash can expands into enough natural gas to completely fill a house.

NG Natural Gas

This is the gas that you use in your homes for heating and cooking. It is colorless, odorless gas, to which "the stink" is added. Natural gas is perhaps the cleanest burning of all fossil fuels, but it still does produce some pollution. Burning natural gas releases additional carbon dioxide, a global warming gas, into the atmosphere.

CNG Compressed Natural Gas

Compressed natural gas is just ordinary natural gas that has been compressed so that it can be stored more compactly—something like the compressed air used in breathing tanks. It's common application is in light to moderate weight fleet vehicles, like buses and smaller trucks.

LNG Liquefied Natural Gas

Liquefied natural gas is just ordinary gas that has been compressed 600 times, until it is super-cold and becomes a liquid. A trash can or two of liquefied natural gas is enough to fill an entire house when it evaporates.

This form of natural gas becomes useful for transport, across an ocean, for example, or for heavy-duty trucking, because the fuel is so concentrated.

Large scale commercial use of LNG will involve giant ships, long as three football fields, carrying 33 million gallons of LNG. The amount of energy stored in this much gas is about 50 times as much as was released in the Hiroshima nuclear blast. This gas will ten be stored in LNG terminals, like the one proposed for Terminal Island. That facility will be able to hold 85 millions gallons of natural gas.

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2005.03.22