Liquid Natural Gas in the United States
Liquid Natural Gas in the United States

Author: John Hrastar

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2014-06-24

Total Pages: 287

ISBN-13: 1476615098

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When natural gas was first discovered in Appalachia in the 19th century, its development as a fuel was rapid. Unlike oil and coal, gas could be moved only by pipeline and required large containers for storage. It was not possible to cope with peak loads without adding excessive pipeline capacity until just before World War II, when two sister gas companies developed a plant to liquefy and store natural gas as a liquid; the liquid was then regasified to deal with peak loads. The liquid is 1/600 the volume of the gas, but it requires storage at an extremely low temperature, 1-260°F. This worked well until 1944, when a liquid natural gas (LNG) tank in Cleveland ruptured and caused a fire with 130 fatalities. The fire did not end the industry but caused it to pause. Over the next few years the problems in materials, design, standards, and siting were solved. The recognition that liquefaction made LNG transportable without a pipeline was the breakthrough. In 1959 a shipload of LNG went from Louisiana to Britain and restarted the LNG industry. It is now a major worldwide energy industry and the topic of this work.

Austenitic Steels at Low Temperatures
Austenitic Steels at Low Temperatures

Author: T. Horiuchi

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2012-12-06

Total Pages: 384

ISBN-13: 1461337305

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The need for alternate energy sources has led to the develop ment of prototype fusion and MHD reactors. Both possible energy systems in current designs usually require the use of magnetic fields for plasma confinement and concentration. For the creation and maintenance of large 5 to 15 tesla magnetic fields, supercon ducting magnets appear more economical. But the high magnetic fields create large forces, and the complexities of the conceptual reactors create severe space restrictions. The combination of re quirements, plus the desire to keep construction costs at a mini mum, has created a need for stronger structural alloys for service at liquid helium temperature (4 K). The complexity of the required structures requires that these alloys be weldable. Furthermore, since the plasma is influenced by magnetic fields and since magnet ic forces from the use of ferromagnetic materials in many configur ations may be additive, the best structural alloy for most applica tions should be nonmagnetic. These requirements have led to consideration of higher strength austenitic steels. Strength increases at low temperatures are achieved by the addition of nitrogen. The stability of the austenitic structure is retained by adding manganese instead of nickel, which is more expensive. Research to develop these higher strength austenitic steels is in process, primarily in Japan and the United States.