~LNG won’t even ignite, it has to be warmed to a vapor first. The methane vapor has to be diluted down to 15% concentration with air before it will ignite.~
Indeed, they are an explosion hazards in case of any minor fuel leak. I wouldn’t ever used one on high seas because of storms, waves etc.
Another thing is a price issue. LNG is not cheap at all and for that reason is not ever competitive with pipeline delivered gas in Europe.
It can’t beat oil as a boat fuel in that department as well.
Sounds like another green blunder.
I guess the decades of LNG carriers, running on LNG vaporized, have just all been lucky.
Another thing is a price issue. LNG is not cheap at all and for that reason is not ever competitive with pipeline delivered gas in Europe.
You imagine cost = equals price? LNG is already being imported into Europe. It is economic to convert to LNG, Transport and Vaporize. Pipelines don't provide enough gas to Europe and Asia to meet their demands.
You are misinformed. The LNG trade has been running for fifty years. In fact the first contract was for LNG from Algeria to the UK in 1964. During which time not a single LNG carrier has been lost. The worst accident was in a Japanese port when a Kaverner- Moss type carrier ran aground and ripped 600 ft of its hull. The vessel was off-loaded to a sister ship without further incident. The only fire aboard an LNG vessel was a lightning strike on a vent stack which was quickly put out.
LNG vessels use the boil-off from the cargo tanks in their own boilers so this technology of dual fired ships boilers is long established.
In addition these carriers have methane detectors all over them and purging systems which remove air from void spaces around the cargo tanks.