Testing of Composite Material for Transport Tanks for LNG

Abstract

To reduce the emission of carbondyoxide (CO2) of combustion engines, liquefied naturalgas (LNG) is used as an alternative fuel. LNG is transported via truck, ship or railway for longdistances. Double walled stainless steel tanks are used for transportation, which are heavy and expensive.The vacuum insulation between the two walled structure ensures that the LNG stays liquid overthe transportation time (boiling point of LNG: −162 °C). This causes a high temperature differencebetween the transported good and the ambient air. A simplified tank construction is used to reduce the weight and price of the tank. Instead of stainlesssteel, glass fiber reinforced plastic (GFRP) is used. The designed is changed to a single walledconstruction with a solid insulation material outside on the GFRP structure. Goal of this work is the characterization of a suitable insulation material and configuration as wellas the analysis of the mechanical properties of GFRP under cryogenic conditions. Several experimentsare carried out. Numerical models of these experiments can then be used for parameter studies.