Posted on 05/02/2011 5:24:23 AM PDT by thackney
What is the flash point of gasoline ?
Faster, please.
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Does that help?
Yes you should.
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I don’t think that the flashpoint illustrates the issue very well, nevertheless gasoline has a flashpoint of -43 F.
By way of comparison, propane, which is much safer to handle than natural gas, has a flashpoint of -156 F.
Imagine this: carry a open can of gasoline out on your patio. Then, take the cylinder of propane (something many times safer than liquid natural gas) and open the valve.
One of those will vaporize slowly in the sun, and, if in an enclosed sapce may even cause an explosion when lit. The other is so dangerous that to even get close to to it when light the venting may very well prove deadly, even in an open space.
Taking a WAG, liquified natural gas is 100, or even a 1,000 times as dangerous as either gasoline or propane.
Very interesting, even exciting.
I have been on the engineering design team for propane and natural gas facilities, including compression up to 5,000 psi.
You are very mistaken about propane versus natural gas safety. The National Fire Protection Agency writes codes that are used by the industry. In my career, I have had to read and utilize many of these codes.
Propane is far more dangerous. Most of that danger is created by being heavier than air. A leak in a methane system quickly rises ups and dissipates. Propane leaks puddle up and can create ignitable sources.
Thanks, I’m seeing that I need to reconsider.
Methane requires 5% before it become ignitable. It may seem like a small difference. However, with a small leak that is difficult to discover, the propane is accumulating and the methane is dissipating.
I'm not trying to suggest that propane in vehicle sized fuel containers is too dangerous to use. I'm trying to suggest that methane is even safer than the propane we are already used to handling.
The pressure required for CNG has reason for safety precautions and strict design requirements. But it is no different than systems we commonly used for acetylene welding, a far more dangerous gas.
It’s my experience with acetylene, LP, and gasoline since a young boy that formed my opinions.
Thanks for the posts, I appreciate hearing from someone close to the subject at hand.
There isn’t enough information there to make a determination about compression energy required vs. compressed gas produced.
That looks like it was put together by a marketer, and not an engineer.
But I have done several industrial compressed storage facilities, compressing for storage above 3,000 psi. We don't get close to a tenth of the value of the gas.
The first reading through the NFPA propane codes made me nervous. The section of fire fighting dealt strongly with first knowing if you should leave or fight the fire. That is good advice for any oil/gas industrial complex fire, but the strong descriptions of how fast and how large a fire ball could be created was unlike any of the other codes. The only thing I remember close to it was a boil-over event of floating roof tanks. But those were still an order of magnitude smaller, in my opinion.
Propane puddles when spilled. Nat gas is lighter than air, thus is the safer product.
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