Hi Mike, We must have that beer some time soon.
> Is LNG the same as what's being promoted in Australia > as LPG? So as when "we" run low on petrol (peak oil), > "we" can sell zeez nice carbon based stuff for the > burning. In Australia, most petrol stations already > sell "LPG" or as it is known, "auto gas". To use it, > one needs to refit one's engine. The advantage is > that it costs half what petrol costs. The short answer is that they are both petroleum products, and are both based on butane and/or propane, along with various other components. Natural gas is "natural" because it more or less comes straight out of the ground; it's the stuff piped huge distances from gasfields and used in our homes. (Before large quantities of natural gas were found, coal gas [a.k.a "town gas"], produced by warming coal just below burning temperature and capturing the emissions, was the reticulated gas used for domestic purposes, 19th C. street lighting etc.) LPG is a more recent and more volatile product of refining, designed as an internal combustion fuel, like diesel, petrol/gasoline, avgas, kerosene, paraffin, etc. Both natural gas and refined petroleum gas liquefy when chilled, hence LNG and LPG. (As you probably know, most taxis in Australia run on LPG; when I was a cab driver there were some wild stories, probably urban legends, about the properties of super-chilled LPG, but I digress :-) And just to confuse you further, a handful of vehicles here have been adapted to run on LNG, although this does not seem to have been a huge success and I suspect that its lower volatility is a problem. regards, Grant
