Making Liquid Methane (and blowing up my Cryocooler)

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In this video I'm going to Liquify Methane / Natural gas with my Mixed-Gas

Joule-Thomson Cryocooler. Methane liquifies at -162C under ambient
pressure, but at elevated pressures, it can be condensed as high as -85C.
In this experiment I'll condense some at -118C / 12 bar of pressure.

My cryocooler was meant for making liquid air or liquid nitrogen, but I

figured I'd try liquefying some methane along the way to see if there's
any pitfalls / issues with making liquefied natural gas (LNG), which there
definitely were.

The joule-thomson cycle works by compressing gas and then expanding it,

which forces it to drop its temperature. By back-flowing the cold low
pressure gas back over the high pressure gas in a counterflow heat
exchanger, the cryocooler creates a positive feedback loop that drives the
temperature down into the cryogenic range. The lowest temperature I
recorded was -180C.

Using pure methane or pure nitrogen would require hundreds of atmospheres

of pressure in the cycle to reach the desired temperature, but by using a
mixture of gases with different boiling points (similar to an
"autocascade" refrigeration system), the same effect can be achieved at
just 20-30 bar which a repurposed air conditioner compressor can handle
without any problem. For liquefying Methane, a gas mix of Propane,
Ethylene, Methane, Argon and Nitrogen is used. The same components are
used for liquefying Nitrogen, but in different proportions to optimize
heat lift at lower temperatures.

If you want to learn more about the joule-thomson refrigeration cycle,

check out my previous videos on the subject:

Liquid Methane / LNG is becoming used more frequently both for power

generation and vehicles because it has an energy density similar to
gasoline/diesel/kerosene, but is extremely easy to ignite/burn and burns
very clean. In the near future, hardware will be delivered to the moon via
LNG-burning rockets (starship). At the hobby level, I don't see much use
for it, but it's a fun science experiment since this is technically the
first cryogenic liquid I've produced.

Music Used:

Mining by Moonlight - Kevin MacLeod
Backbay Lounge - Kevin MacLeod
Apero Hour - Kevin MacLeod
George Street Shuffle - Kevin MacLeod

[HyperspacePirate]

BTW the convict thing was a joke. I haven't been to prison (yet).

[johnblanchard]

Remember kids don't try this at to the neighbors

[matthewnardin]

The emergency pressure relief burrito operated flawlessly.

[R.Daneel]

The safety warning is legit. Look up house natural gas explosions. Think 'crater filled with finely-shredded house'.

[jammysmears]

"I live in Florida." *Plugs his household gas supply into some random gadget on the garage floor*.
Now, I'm European and no anthropologist but, from what I've read on the internet, this checks out.

[Grimbach]

"...Some unqualified ex-convict on youtube who uses stupid MS Paint animations."
The Hyperspace Pirate lore just got a lot deeper.

[mrgreenguy]

I like watching the progress in these videos! They're all very interesting

[ParallelLogic]

10:16 "Everything electronic was turned off", glad you kept the camera on though, lol

[thebamplayer]

Now you need a way to make liquid oxygen, and with that, you can make your own rocket.

[Michael.]

14:19 Upgrade from a burrito to a pipe bomb, brilliant. Love your vids.

[siberx]

As soon as I saw the forbidden burrito, the title started making a lot of sense...

[ericlotze]

Some Bits from a fellow Alternative Fuels Nerd:

- I would 100% be down for a series where you try and run a Natural Gas / CNG Generator on a LNG System you make! (“Adsorbed Natural Gas” is a thing to check out too)

- I mentioned this in my safety bit, but for not just that but also procedure/system design checking up on the Code Books and Academic Literature (that is if you haven’t already) for LPG, LNG, Cryogens/Odd HVAC Stuff etc may be worth a look. Sidenote “LNG Train” is a common term for a unit at a plant that makes the stuff (they can have multiple for more throughput)

- FINALLY Check out “Dimethyl Ether”, it stores like Propane, Works well as Diesel (Cetane Value is higher than diesel, and as with Autogas (ie lpg in Spark ignition engines) it evaporating quicker can help with fuel injector effectiveness (also can condense air/generate boost *i think* ). It is made Catalytically, often from Methanol, so given your experience, i THINK you could totally make this. And again a series running it in a cheap amazon/ebay single cylinder diesel engine would be REALLY cool. Just a thought from a MAJOR DME nerd lol.

Hope this helps/was interesting and keep up your great work!

[defenestrated]

HSP sees gaseous gasses at STP and says, "Not on my watch!"

[ericlotze]

11:20 Your built quality *IS* improving, so your work hasn’t been for nothing and legit credit where credit is due!

[MSP_TechLab]

Based on video where Hyperspace Pirate produced refrigerant from pee! I was a little worried about how he's going to collect methane 😂.

[realcygnus]

One of the best channels out there IMO. Making cold is quite an interesting branch of engineering.

[msmith]

14:15 - next episode, mad cryo-cooler guy is gonna make an LNG pipe bömb 😯

[Pants]

Exploding metal burritos is one thing... but surely you can't just casually mention "ex-convict" and leave us hanging!? Story time!!!?

[jhonbus]

Another great vid. I feel I have to say two things that you probably already know, but I'll feel better having said them:
1: Eliminating ignition sources is not enough safety. You need to be ensuring that you're not forming an explosive mixture in the first place, because sooner or later an atmosphere that can ignite, _will_ ignite, either through an unexpected ignition source (bear in mind we could be talking unexpectedly catalytic materials, not just something above the autoignition temp) or just through the Maxwell-Boltzman energy lottery.
2: It's pronounced "car-no", it's French.

[CodeParade]

This series keeps evolving. I hope one day you take it to it's logical conclusion: Liquid Helium!