How can I store methane gas in a gas cylinder?

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3 Answers

Bastiaan Snijder, former Engine Service Field Representative, now retired, at Caterpillar
(1981-2016)
Answered Feb 23, 2019

I hope that when you say ‘gas cylinder’ you are not referring to a cooking gas cylinder?
Those are only meant for LPG which is liquid at room temperatures and modest pressures
inside the bottle.

Storing methane(=natural gas) is a whole different ballgame. At room temperatures

methane will always be in gas form no matter how much it is compressed (CNG) For
practical purposes pressure in methane storage tanks is usually limited to 200–250 bar .
Needless to say that such pressures can only be contained in a heavy duty tank which bears
no comparison to a LPG cylinder. Specialized multi stage compressor systems are required
so dont try this at home.

Methane gas can be liquified but it will need to be cooled to something like MINUS 160 C
and kept there while stored in a tank. This is called LNG (Liquified Natural Gas) . Storing and
transporting methane as LNG allows energy density of three times that of CNG. However
the refrigeration required makes this much more complicated and expensive than simply
compressing the methane into CNG.

433 views · View 1 Upvoter

Jerome Zoeller, Ph.D from The University of Texas at Austin (1987)

Answered Mar 26, 2019 · Author has 6.2k answers and 2m answer views

The scientific supply houses have all the equipment you need to do this, but the task should
not be done by an inexperienced person. Briefly, it involves connecting a vacuum pump, a
gas cylinder and the methane source to a vacuum line fitted with several clever little on-off
valves. Some other crucial appendages are needed in order to get this operation realized
done without a mishap.

Connect all three to the vacuum line and close all the valves. Open the line to the pump and
pull a high vacuum. Open the valve to the empty cylinder and pull a hi vac on it. Close valve
to vacuum pump, open va...

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David A Kelly, Production, Energy and Environmental management

Answered Feb 22, 2019 · Author has 11.3k answers and 3.3m answer views

“How can I store methane gas in a gas cylinder?”

You need a CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) cylinder. NG utilities can fill it for you. That kind
of container is what is used by trucks and taxis that run on natural gas. Some utilities used
to rent you such a compressor for allowing you to fuel up your truck.

Important note. This is not LNG (Liquified Natural Gas) which needs to be super-refrigerated
while stored.