CNG, LPG and biogas distribution: Technology advances
Carbon-fibre cylinders, renewable LPG and India's city gas push
Carbon-fibre cylinders, renewable LPG and India's city gas push What this tab covers The newest technologies in service or close to adoption, what each improves, and how the main options compare.Lighter composite cylinders, renewable LPG, fast-growing biomethane injection and big city gas build-outs are the main changes.
Latest advances
Type 4 composite CNG modules in service · 2025Carbon-fibre cylinders with plastic liners in 10 to 45 foot containers (virtual pipelines)7
Improves: More gas per trip than steel; up to 9,860 kg per 45-foot module
Renewable liquid gases (bioLPG and renewable DME) being deployed · 2024Propane, butane and dimethyl ether (DME) made from renewable feedstocks1
Improves: Drop-in lower-carbon LPG; capacity reached 480,000 tonnes per year at end 2024, up from 300,000
Biomethane grid injection in service · 2025Upgraded biogas fed into transmission and distribution grids8
Improves: Injection up about 12% in a year; France, Germany, Denmark, Italy and the Netherlands make up 94%
City gas and CNG build-out in India being deployed · 2025Licensed city gas areas with targets of 18,336 CNG stations and about 126 million piped connections6
Improves: Moves cooking and transport from imported LPG and diesel to piped gas
New very large gas carriers being deployed · 2025105 VLGCs on order at end 2025 against a fleet of 4212
Improves: Adds long-haul capacity as US exports grow
Comparing the options
| Option | Efficiency | Cost | Capacity or distance | Maturity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CNG tube trailer (virtual pipeline)712 | Gas is about one third of loaded mass (calculated) | Not published in sources used | about 8.7 t of gas, roughly 116 MWh, per 40-foot module (calculated) | mature |
| LPG cylinders3 | No boil-off; return trips for empties | Landed US LPG about 700 USD per tonne in India, March 2026 | Reaches homes with no grid | mature |
| LPG by VLGC2 | Long voyages but large ships | Earnings about 50,300 USD per day (Q4 2025 average) | Ocean-scale trade | mature |
| Biomethane grid injection89 | Uses existing gas grid | Global average about 18 USD per GJ (about 65 USD per MWh, calculated); Europe about 74 euros per MWh | 43.2 TWh a year in Europe | mature |
Pipelines beat all of these when demand is dense enough to justify them. LPG cylinders win for scattered households because the fuel is easy to liquefy. CNG trailers serve sites a pipeline has not yet reached. Biomethane is cleanest when injected into an existing grid, but in most regions costs much more to produce than wholesale natural gas.
Sources
- Q&A: Global LPG growth defies 2024 headwinds (on the WLGA and Argus Statistical Review of Global LPG 2025) Argus Media, 2025
- Q4 2025 Earnings Presentation BW LPG, 2026
- India faces LPG supply crisis despite VLGC transits through Hormuz Riviera Maritime Media, 2026
- City Gas Distribution MIS as on 31.10.2025 PNGRB, 2025
- Mobile Pipeline X-STORE ADR gas modules datasheet Hexagon Agility, 2025
- ENTSOG Report on Annual Renewable Gas Injections into Gas Networks 2026 ENTSOG, 2026
- Outlook for Biogas and Biomethane: A global geospatial assessment (WEO special report, revised May 2025) IEA, 2025
- 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, Vol. 2, Ch. 1, Table 1.2 (default net calorific values: LPG 47.3, natural gas 48.0 TJ per Gg) IPCC, 2006