LPG Week

Liquefied Petroleum Gas, recently renamed to Liquid Gas (LG), comprises of a mixture of propane and butane. LG is sourced from natural gas and crude oil and has a wide variety of applications. It is used as a process heating fuel, as well as refrigeration, and is well suited as a fuel for cooking and for heating homes.

Due to its extensive civil use, LG has garnered a huge industry around its sourcing, transport, storage, distribution, and application. A congregation of experts in these different aspects of the LG industry met at the annual LPG Week, organised by the World Liquid Gas Association (WLGA), held in November in Cape Town in 2024, opened by a keynote address given by the Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, Gwede Mantashe, on the role of LG in South Africa’s energy mix.

Through the BMBF funded GreenQUEST project, The Catalysis Institute has become an active player in the sustainable LG technology market and was represented at the meeting by Prof Jack Fletcher who participated in a panel discussion on Clean Energy in LPG.

IN parallel to the LPG week, the Global Science Conference dedicated an entire day to innovative solutions to synthesize renewable LG. Two talks from the Catalysis Institute and GreenQUEST were presented. The first, Novel Non-PGM based Catalysts for the Synthesis of green LG, was given by Tiana Mathew and co-authored by Prof Nico Fischer and Dr Wijnand Marquart. The second representation, presented by Candace Eslick, presented a joint paper with Bianca Tarboton, Hilton Heydenrych, and Prof Jack Fletcher on the process techno-economics of LG synthesis starting from a feedstock of captured CO₂ and green-H₂. For this work Candace Eslick and Bianca Tarboton were awarded the Young Scientist recognition award for contributions to the field by the GSC organisers, Keith Simons and Nikos Xydas.