Man, I should know this --

I hear such as T. Boone Pickens talk about getting off OPEC oil and onto our own natural gas. So, Natural gas, LP gas, propane gas - all different terms for the same product?

LP is pretty much propane C3H8. Natural gas is methane CH4.

Sort of. It all starts as natural gas like we get from gas wells, or the gas that is associated with oil wells. Mostly pure methane (CH4), but includes some heavier hydrocarbon components such as ethane, propane, butane, etc. These components exist as a gas at normal atmospheric pressures. As you go from methane to the heavier components, you have more energy. Gas producers usually process the gas produced from wells to separate out the heavier components, as they are usually worth more even after the expense of processing. So that is where we get the butane we use in torches and the propane (LP = liquid propane) for our barbeque grills or for home heating. The butanes and propanes have to be kept in pressurized tanks. The ethane is almost all used in the petrochemical industries, such as the base feedstock for many plastics.
Since we get more energy as we move from methane to the heavier components, that is why it takes a pretty big tank of CNG (compressed natural gas) to run a car. The propane tanks on LP tractors would have to be several sizes bigger to run the same amount of time if they used CNG.
And if you continue down the hydrocarbon chain, you eventually get to acetylene that we use for cutting torches, because it has so much more enrgy than butane or propane.

LP and propane are the same things. Natural gas is methane. They are both light end hydrocarbons. Propane is a by product of crude oil distilation. Methane is produced from wells as well as obtained from sewage treatment plants and landfills. Cows are alleged to produce a lot of methane. There is more to it but without getting into atoms and molecules that is mostly true (some methane comes from crude oil, ect). Reguardless of what Representative Pelosi says natural gas is a fossel fuel. T Boone has a point, we have a lot of natural gas, and it burns clean. The real solution though, I think is Nuclear Power plants. They can de-salt water, and produce electricity and hydrogen gas.

Lp gas produces 20% less power and almost cost half again more. But you can do it if you can afford the 40% total cost increase. My number are abritrairy but reflective.

LP is Liquified Petroleum Gas, which can be propane or butane. Natural gas is methane.

Sorry, but I'm not able to follow you.

Produces 20% less power-----than what?

Cost is almost 50% more-----than what?

LP or propane is easily contained in a low-pressure tank - it is a portable fuel.

Natural gas does not compress well, so is _not_ well suited for a portable fuel.

Natural gas needs constant flow from a pipeline - it's almost always a gas, not a liquid. As such, it has very low BTU per volume.

Propane (LP) will store in the big white tanks, and contains many more btu per volume as a liquid.

Propane turns into a liquid in the 100-200 lbs of pressure range. Natural gas turns into a liquid at about 3000 lbs of pressure.

Natural gas is a wonderful & 'local' energy source, but it requires many, many more pipelines if we wish to exapand it's use, and it does not work well for autos/trucks/trains. Works great for heat or a stationary engine.

Already there has been conflict between drying corn & heating houses with natural gas - the pipeline infrastructure would need massive upgrading to try to do a big increase in use.

Without much storage, kinda open to terrorist attacks on the big pipelines, and all heat/power shuts down..... One is dependant on that pipeline flowing 24/7.

--->Paul

(quoted from post at 08:35:45 06/29/10) Sorry, but I'm not able to follow you.

Produces 20% less power-----than what?

Cost is almost 50% more-----than what?

Click to expand...

Um, gasoline?

For some reason I always thought that Propane was just Compressed natural gas! Seems like when I was a kid the "East Ohio Gas Co." used to Compress the Natural gas into propane in huge "Ball" type tanks,and in the winter when Natural gas was being used ,They would convert it back to natural gas as they needed it. Maybe I got ot all wrong!..Jim in N M.

Beats me as yours is the first post to mention gasoline.

Propane has more BTU, not less, per standard cubic foot than does natural gas.