ADVANCED ONBOARD STORAGE CONCEPTS FOR NATURAL GAS-FUELED AUTOMOTIVE VEHICLES

The evaluation of several advanced concepts for storing natural gas at reduced pressure is presented. The advanced concepts include adsorption on high surface area carbon, adsorption in high porosity zeolite, storage in clathration compounds, and storage by dissolution in liquid solvents. High surface area carbons with high packing density are the best low pressure storage mediums. A simple mathematical model is used to compare adsorption storage on a state of the art carbon with compression storage. The model indicates that a vehicle using adsoprtion storage of natural gas at 3.6 MPa will have 36 percent of the range, on the EPA city cycle, of a vehicle operating on a compression storage system having the same physical size and a peak storage pressure of 21 MPa. Preliminary experiments and current literature suggest that the storage capacity of state of the art carbons could be improved by as much as 50 percent, and that adsorption systems having a capacity equal to compression storage at 14 MPa are possible without exceeding a maximum pressure of 3.6 MPa.

• Corporate Authors:

  Institute of Gas Technology

  3424 South State Street
  Chicago, IL  United States  60616
• Authors:
  • Remick, R J
  • Elkins, R H
  • Camara, E H
  • Bulicz, T
• Publication Date: 1984-6

Media Info

• Pagination: 139 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Adsorption; Alternate fuels; Automobiles; Carbon; Handling and storage; Natural gas; Solvents; Storage facilities; Vehicle range
• Subject Areas: Freight Transportation; Highways; Terminals and Facilities; Vehicles and Equipment; I91: Vehicle Design and Safety;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00393795
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: NAS1.26:174655, DOE/NASA/0327-1, NASA-CR-174655
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: May 31 1985 12:00AM