1. Shocked! As reported in the news, a trader who turned COOKING GAS CYLINDER into a natural gas vehicle (NGV) storage unit to power his van died hours after the tank exploded at a petrol station. The explosion is believed to have been caused by a spark from the engine, which was running at that time. The self-modified cooking gas cylinder was placed under the driver's seat and covered with a canvas. Looks how creative Malaysian is. This is one example of creativity that leads to deaths.2. After reading the news report, a member of OSHA (Daud Sulaiman) has written things to differ the reason for the explosion written in the news. These are the facts which obviously are not available to the reporters.
3. An LPG cylinder is designed to maximum 20 bar - or 300 psi, to contain liquefied Propane (70%) and Butane (30%). The pressure only comes from the propane, as the butane has almost no pressure. Check your cigarette lighter. Pressure can build up only if the liquid is vaporised.
4. This is important. The NGV cylinder is something like a BA (breathing apparatus), with similar pressures. The steel tank is normally designed for 200 bar - or 3,000 psi, 10 times the pressure for the LPG! If you want more gas, you will have to use an even higher pressure but that will increase the thickness of the cylinder required, and the weight will become prohibitive. In which case, composite material is the alternative.
5. What happened in this incident is that the LPG sphere was filled beyond its capacity and exploded - this is a physical explosion! The gas released was ignited almost immediately by the engine which was running - and this caused a second fire explosion! But the timing could be very fast and almost simultaneous. Most people would not have identified it as 2 explosions.
6. As a result the public must be made aware of the fact that any LPG cylinder is 10 times inferior to the NGV cylinder, in terms of pressure. Use the LPG cylinder, and you will have a time bomb in your hands.
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