Liquefied Natural Gas Safety Research Overview.

Liquefied Natural Gas LNG is a growing factor in the United States energy supply situation, both for periods of high demand peak shaving and for daily supply base load. Safety has been a major issue in its acceptance by the public, the government, and industry. Perhaps becuase of this, industry and government have undertaken programs of research, development, testing, and evaluation that are more extensive than those for most other new hazardous materials. This paper records the experimental and theoretical work performed with the goal of increasing LNG safety, and has been organized in fourteen divisions land storage tank studies, rollover, dispersion from spills on land, land spill fire studies, land spill fire protection, ship studies, flameless explosion, dispersion from spills on water, underwater releases, water spill fire studies, vapor cloud deflagration, vapor cloud detonation, physical properties, and gelation. Examining the record of the LNG research effort leads inevitably to the conclusion that there is a basic understanding of the material, sufficient to design, operate, and regulate LNG transportation and storage. Author