Why I Love To Blog -- Reason #56 -- October 24, 2016

I suppose this should be the #1 reason why I love to blog -- learning about things I had never heard of, but ... whatever.

A reader introduced me to Adsorbed Natural Gas domain, something I had never heard of. At the link, see the first comment.

For those unfamiliar with Adsorbed Natural Gas domain, this is probably as good an article as any: chemists find better way to pack natural gas into fuel tanks.

Until manufacturers can find a way to pack more methane into a tank at lower pressures and temperatures, allowing for a greater driving range and less hassle at the pump, passenger cars are unlikely to adopt natural gas as a fuel.

University of California, Berkeley, chemists have now developed a porous and flexible material - a so-called metal-organic framework (MOF) - for storing methane that addresses these problems.

The flexible MOF can be loaded with methane, the main ingredient of natural gas, at 35 to 65 times atmospheric pressure (500-900 psi), whereas compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicles compress natural gas into an empty tank under 250 atmospheres (3,600 psi). Liquefied natural gas (LNG) vehicles operate at lower pressures but require significant insulation in the tank system to maintain the natural gas at minus-162 degrees Celsius (minus-260 degrees Fahrenheit) so that it remains liquid.

Much more at the link.