Posted on 03/08/2013 10:28:22 PM PST by neverdem
Vehicles powered by natural gas are cleaner than those running on petrol, and are of increasing interest to those living in countries that have to import oil. But the high pressures at which gas must be stored require expensive materials and distribution infrastructures, as well as radically different vehicle designs.
Metal organic frameworks (MOFs) could be the answer to the problem. These materials – which comprise metal ions connected by organic linkers – are able to store high quantities of gas at lower pressures than are required by traditional gas cylinders, for example. But their low capacity and the scale on which they can be synthesised have prevented their practical use so far.
However, a collaboration between US scientists could change this. Omar Farha, Randall Snurr and Joseph Hupp at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, and Taner Yildirim of the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Gaithersburg, Maryland have synthesised a MOF in gram-scale quantities that has 67% of the deliverable storage density of gas cylinders, but at only a quarter of the pressure.
‘What this [reduction in pressure] is going to do is reduce the compression cost ,’ explains Farha. ‘The infrastructure will become cheaper – you won’t need compressors to compress natural gas up to 250 bar.’
Farha’s research team designed the material, dubbed NU-125, by considering the criteria that were needed. The proposed structure consisted of copper ions connected by new hexa-carboxylic acid linkers, which provides greater porosity than MOFs made with conventional linkers. A computer simulation was then used to confirm that the material could deliver the required properties before scaling up and synthesis was carried out.
The researchers tested the material’s stability by repeated adsorption–desorption cycling over the course of a month, which revealed no degradation in performance. Isotherms were also measured on larger scales, using a gram of the MOF, and the physical properties found to be the same. ‘This suggests the material can be activated very well,’ comments Farha.
Russell Morris, of the University of St Andrew’s, UK, praises the researchers’ achievements: ‘I think the capacity is pretty much getting near to being enough,’ he says, but warns that the researchers need to explore the effects of impurities and stability over longer periods. Farha agrees, revealing this is the group’s next step, along with optimisation of the deliverable gas capacity even further.
C E Wilmer et al, Energy Environ. Sci., 2013, DOI: 10.1039/C3EE24506C
The U.S. should definitely being do a lot more of this considering the over-abundance of natural gas that we have.
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Honda Civic Natural Gas w/$3,000 fuel card
http://automobiles.honda.com/civic-natural-gas/
Just checked the map of natural gas fill-up stations...the closest one to my house is 2.5 hours away. No way this will happen until a lot more natural gas stations are built. I will not consider getting one of these vehicles until that changes.
If you have piped-in natgas heating, you can get a fueling station in your garage.
As fleets convert, the number of natgas filling stations will increase exponentially. I suspect truck stops will be first.
——I suspect truck stops will be first———
Boone Pickens is joint venturing with Flying J/ Pilot to provide the natural gas along interstate routes
Yep! There was article here about a year ago that showed a small portable unit that hooked into the house system. It would refuel over night. NG still needs a better infrastructure but it’s time is coming.
Nope, fully electric. I would be interested in finding out more about it though.
Unless you're talking about diesels, the first sentence is a lie.
How much cleaner is the CO2 and water vapor from a methane vehicle's exhaust than the CO2 and water vapor from a modern gasoline vehicle?
The best reason to switch to NG vehicles is lower fuel cost...not "cleaner".
I wonder what the temperature changes in the material are when you absorb the gas. And the reverse. Do you know?
Unless it's already piped to (or at least past) your home, it is unlikely to be practical (too expensive).
Quite a bit, actually. A LOT of other things form during gasoline combustion than just CO2 and H2O. Many MANY multi-carbon molecules, many aromatic, nitrated, organic acids, and on and on. They aren't there in very high concentrations, true.....but there are a LOT of cars out there. And although catalytic converters eliminate "some", a lot still escapes into the air. Combustion of natgas produces a LOT less of these things.
"The best reason to switch to NG vehicles is lower fuel cost...not "cleaner"."
Why not have both?? And the "cleaner" IS true, and could bring a lot of non-hardcore "green" types to vote other than Democrat.
This is what T-Boone Pickens wants gubmit help with.
Not one to defend Pickens, but he’s more right than wrong on this thing.
If these guys can actually produce quantities of theses MOF fuel tanks, it would be a big help expanding the NG fuel station network.
I believe the average converter "car" runs pretty close to nit-picky clean. The NG car likely needs no converter.
Probably not.
I think we all know the Watermelon Party is "green on the outside, and red on the inside".
True..which is why I said "non-hardcore". There ARE people who are "green" minded, but not ideologically so, and who are capable of making distinctions based on evidence. And actually probably more in numbers than the true "hardcore types". I have run across several.
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