Don’t hate on natural gas: It’s the bridge we need between petrol and EV batteries
Full electrification won’t just happen overnight
Storing natural gas is tricky business
Storage is a huge challenge — and hinders natural gas adoption. This is because it needs to be stored under very high pressure — about 700 times atmospheric pressure — which requires complex and expensive tanks.
To make methane usable, scientists needed to figure out the best way to both store it a lower pressure, and cycle it up to the level required by a vehicle’s engine. That figure, friends, is between five and 80 times atmospheric pressure.
So what’s the new solution to natural gas’ storage issue?
A research team at the University of Michigan — led by professor of chemistry Adam Matzger found that synthetic metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) presented untapped potential to store methane.
MOFs are rigid, porous structures composed of metals linked by organic ligands. Using computational screening, the team scanned nearly one million MOFs from 21 different databases, searching for potential matches with the right characteristics.
They found three specific MOFs worked well with methane, mainly because they contain small pores that can attract gas molecules. The materials can store methane through a process called adsorption, in which the molecules of a substance cling to the surface of a material, making storage at low pressures possible.
With this technique, running vehicles on natural gas becomes far more feasible. A fuel storage chamber filled with adsorbent MOFs eliminates the need for expensive tank designs, as the material can store the gas at low pressures.
“The thing that sets this study apart is that we set the record for methane storage,” Matzger explained toUniversity of Michigan News. “These MOFs are better than any other methane storage material previously identified, and so that helps us figure out whether we’re getting close to a practical system.”
If other scientists can build on Matzger’s research and create a scalable way for vehicles to store and use natural gas, it could have untold benefits. Of course, the end goal is complete electrification, but we’re still a long way from commercial planes running on battery power — and natural gas could be the perfect stopgap before we get there.
You can find the full researchhere.
Story byIoanna Lykiardopoulou
Ioanna is a writer at TNW. She covers the full spectrum of the European tech ecosystem, with a particular interest in startups, sustainabili(show all)Ioanna is a writer at TNW. She covers the full spectrum of the European tech ecosystem, with a particular interest in startups, sustainability, green tech, AI, and EU policy. With a background in the humanities, she has a soft spot for social impact-enabling technologies.
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