Modelling and Simulation Comparison of Conventional and Innovative Transport for Natural Gas

Abstract

Nowadays, technology is still heavily dependent on fossil fuels, especially natural gas. Within the last century, the production and consumption of this resource increased decade by decade, using new technologies to increase profits and decrease the costs linked to production and transport. This paper aims to compare two already existing solutions for transporting natural gas, which have a high impact on the environment, with a prototype technology that will soon be available for commercial and industrial use: the airship. The research started by collecting data from previous studies and calculating the parameters needed to determine the cost of the two scenarios considered: one as a system pipeline+compressed natural gas (CNG) carrier, the second as an airship directly delivering the natural gas. The two scenarios have been then simulated in Anylogistix and modelled to examine the profits given the hypothetical but equal demand for natural gas transported by the pipeline+CNG carrier system and by airship. The simulation output has a present slight tendency of choosing the first system for CNG transport due to the careful optimisation of this system which, in real case studies, would not occur.