An investigation of the use of odorants in liquefied natural gas used as a vehicle fuel

Conference · Sat Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1994

OSTI ID:254743

Green, T; Williams, T ^[1]

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1. Gas Research Institute, Chicago, IL (United States)

Interest in liquefied natural gas (LNG) as an alternative vehicle fuel has increased significantly. Its greater storage density relative to compressed natural gas makes it an attractive option for both volume and weight constrained vehicle applications. The public transportation market, specifically transit bus properties, have been very aggressive in pursuing LNG as an alternative vehicle fuel. Naturally, when dealing with the general public and a new transportation fuel, the issue of safety must be addressed. With this in mind, the Gas Research Institute has initiated a number of safety related studies including an investigation of the use of odorants in LNG. This paper presents the preliminary results of an investigation performed by the Institute of Gas Technology to determine both the applicability and effectiveness of odorizing LNG. This includes an overview of the current state-of-the-art in LNG vehicle fueling and safety systems as well as a discussion of an LNG odorization program conducted by San Diego Gas & Electric in the mid 70`s. Finally, the paper discusses the results of the modeling effort to determine whether conventional odorants used in natural gas can be injected and remain soluble in LNG at temperatures and pressures encountered in LNG fueling and on-board storage systems.

• OSTI ID: 254743
• Report Number(s): CONF-940813--
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

03 NATURAL GAS
LIQUEFIED NATURAL GAS
MARKET
ODORANTS
ODORIZATION
SAFETY
SOLUBILITY
STORAGE
THIOLS