Understanding LNG: Bunker supplier Ferus performs demonstration

Demonstration shows what happens to LNG in various scenarios.

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Updated on 18 Apr 2017 16:41 GMT

While the topic of liquefied natural gas (LNG) as a marine fuel has been covered extensively on Bunker Index, many readers will perhaps not have seen what LNG actually looks like when it exits the fuelling hose or how it reacts in various scenarios. In an effort to educate the market, North American bunker supplier Ferus has uploaded an LNG video demonstration to show exactly that. In the video, Bernie Pyra, Coordinator, Health, Safety & Environmental, shows what occurs when LNG is poured into a beaker and how LNG reacts when it is introduced into an empty tray. Pyra then compares LNG to hydrocarbon fuel by pouring each into a tray of soil to mimic what would happen in the event of a spill. While the hydrocarbon fuel still remains in the soil, pouring LNG results in the soil maintaining its loose consistency and not absorbing any of the liquid. There is no evidence of contamination. When LNG is poured into a beaker of water, the water quickly boils, the LNG draws the heat from the water and leaves a deposit of ice. In the demonstration, Pyra then proceeds to drink the water and remarks: "Absolutely no contamination of that water at all." "It'll float on top; it'll convert itself back into a gas. The end result is that you may have ice on the surface of the water, but there's no contamination of the soil, no mixture into the lower levels of the water and no hazard to aquatic marine life in the spill zone." When diesel is poured into the water, the hydrocarbon floats on top but it does not dissipate. "In comparison to LNG, which dissipates itself, it converts itself to a gas and is gone. Diesel or gasoline or oil - or any other hydrocarbon - will stay floating on top of that water." Cam Jesse, Director, Health, Safety & Environmental, concludes: "I think really it's very important for people to just really understand what a product is, and that's really the goal of this [video] - it's to help educate people. "LNG has been in the marketplace for a lot of years. It's been operating safely in their neighbourhoods for going on 40 or 50 years. They haven't even known that it existed. It's just really hit the mainstream now, so really that's what we're trying to accomplish here - to get the message out that it is a safe product if it's utilized properly." The full video can be viewed by clicking on the link below. Video: Ferus LNG demonstration