The biggest energy innovation of the decade

[PLC1]

This should be big news, even bigger than Michael Jackson's demise was a few weeks ago:

New Way to Tap Gas May Expand Global Supplies

OKLAHOMA CITY — A new technique that tapped previously inaccessible supplies of natural gas in the United States is spreading to the rest of the world, raising hopes of a huge expansion in global reserves of the cleanest fossil fuel.

Since there seems to be a lot of natural gas, why couldn't we maybe use it to run our cars?

We know it can be done.

 

[Pidgey]

Well, frankly... we're probably going to have to. There's been a lot of discussion lately about "unconventional gas" and that we have quite a bit if we'd start using it. "Quite a bit" doesn't mean an infinite supply, though, and if it were my decision, I'd start preparing people for the changes that must take place.

I'll tell ya' more about the fun part of running cars and trucks on it later, though. Got somethin' I gotta' do this evenin'... y'all take care!

 

[Pidgey]

Okay, it's what I was thinking: a combination of horizontal drilling and water fracturing. It's not really "new" technology, it's just recently been applied this way. Apparently, they've been doing this in these places for a few years now, it's just that the news like your article hasn't really gotten "out there" until recently.

Now, as to compressed natural gas, let's take my little Ford Ranger pickup as an example. Let's say that we wanted to replace the 14+ gallon fuel tank with CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) in those standard K-sized welding gas and oxygen cylinders. They're generally pressurized to 2,500 psig and have an internal volume (@1 ATM absolute) of 1.76 cubic feet. We'd need six of them to contain the same energy and that would be a weight of 810 lbs in exchange for the typical gasoline tank weight under 50 lbs. That'd get you the approximately 350 mile range (tailgate down) that you'd get with the standard gasoline tank without respect for the weight differential.

One of the things that we're going to have to live with when it comes to CNG-powered cars is that a spectacular wreck will likely mean a spectacular explosion. Other accidents can cause the same thing. In firefighter parlance, they're called a "BLEVE", or: Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapor Explosion. There are photos here of a Honda that was a victim of arson:

http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/general/t-cng-honda-civic-car-fireexplosion-dialup-warning-many-photos-7555.html#post57336

There's discussion elsewhere if you're interested

 

[PLC1]

Okay, it's what I was thinking: a combination of horizontal drilling and water fracturing. It's not really "new" technology, it's just recently been applied this way. Apparently, they've been doing this in these places for a few years now, it's just that the news like your article hasn't really gotten "out there" until recently.

Now, as to compressed natural gas, let's take my little Ford Ranger pickup as an example. Let's say that we wanted to replace the 14+ gallon fuel tank with CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) in those standard K-sized welding gas and oxygen cylinders. They're generally pressurized to 2,500 psig and have an internal volume (@1 ATM absolute) of 1.76 cubic feet. We'd need six of them to contain the same energy and that would be a weight of 810 lbs in exchange for the typical gasoline tank weight under 50 lbs. That'd get you the approximately 350 mile range (tailgate down) that you'd get with the standard gasoline tank without respect for the weight differential.

One of the things that we're going to have to live with when it comes to CNG-powered cars is that a spectacular wreck will likely mean a spectacular explosion. Other accidents can cause the same thing. In firefighter parlance, they're called a "BLEVE", or: Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapor Explosion. There are photos here of a Honda that was a victim of arson:

http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/general/t-cng-honda-civic-car-fireexplosion-dialup-warning-many-photos-7555.html#post57336

There's discussion elsewhere if you're interested

Oh, so that answers the question of why not power our vehicles by natural gas.

I've seen CNG powered vehicles on the road, as have most of us, and wondered whether it would be practical for the rest of us to use it too. Apparently, the answer is that it is possible, but not very practical.

Kind of like a lot of answers to our energy problems.

 

[Pidgey]

Well, it might not be an answer that we'd like but it'll still work. You just have to be willing to live with the shortcomings. It'd probably be preferable to do some version of GTL (Gas To Liquid) conversion to make it more like gasoline. Natural gas is mostly methane, or CH4. The more "C's" in the molecule, the higher the volatility. Gasoline is often a combination of C4 to C12 with a blend average around C8 (Octane).

 

[Pidgey]

Correction on that last post (seeing as how you can only edit for about 30 minutes):

Change:

The more "C's" in the molecule, the higher the volatility.

To:

The less "C's" in the molecule, the higher the volatility.

 

[Pidgey]

More on the cars of the future... looks like Chrysler is dropping the plans to develop their proposed "ENVI" electric car line. Apparently, Fiat doesn't want to bother until somebody comes up with a more workable battery. Frankly, the Lithium batteries for those things are too expensive for "The Little People" to afford them and Lithium is itself in very short supply--nowhere near enough to make that many of that scale of batteries. Maybe that other invention from that group in Utah can help. Anyhow:

http://www.carsuk.net/chrysler-drops-electric-cars/