While the world’s petroleum supplies are slowly dwindling down, there are other forms of fuel to be found deep beneath the earth. Right alongside petroleum in many places, for example, lie mixtures of natural gas that are themselves heavy with energy-rich hydrocarbons. While natural gas has been used for many years in specific applications, it generally took a secondary place to petroleum on the average priority list. With petroleum deposits sinking lower, though, natural gas is starting to seem much more attractive and interesting.
One important reason for this is that, contrary to the trends with regard to petroleum, natural gas production has risen significantly in recent years. This has been most dramatically the case in the United States, a country that now ranks as the possessor of the world’s largest natural gas supply. In addition to becoming less expensive thanks to this recent bounty, natural gas is also a relatively clean burning fuel, as well. As a result, it can be a good fit for many applications both in terms of cost-effectiveness and other goals entirely, making it attractive to many.
One potential downside for the fuel in its raw form is that it does not necessarily boast especially impressive energy density. While natural gas might not turn heads in this respect at atmospheric pressures, though, it can be compressed into a much more compact form. The compressed natural gas, or CNG, that results, adds a great degree of energy density to the list of things that make the fuel appealing.
Storing gas in this form, naturally enough, does take some special equipment. With the gaseous fuel routinely being compressed to pressures of hundreds of pounds per square inch, a cng tank must be able to easily handle the associated stresses. Makers of cng tanks, though, have some highly effective ways of living up to all the associated requirements and challenges.
In some cases, for example, cng fuel tank will employ a two-layer construction that leverages the advantages typical of a pair of very different materials. Some natural gas tanks for sale today, for instance, will include an inner liner made from a single sheet of high-quality aluminum, with this non-reactive metal being used to contain the gas itself. An outer layer that is based on another material entirely, such as carbon fiber, can then be used to provide additional resilience, structural strength, and other appealing, useful features. While CNG can at first seem challenging to accommodate, it often turns out to be relatively simple to handle, thanks to such options.