Research progress of lossless and safe storage technology for cryogenic liquid tanks

With the widespread application of green and clean energy such as natural gas and hydrogen, the use of cryogenic storage tanks to store and transport liquefied natural gas and liquid hydrogen has become increasingly frequent in industrial production and daily life. Therefore, it is essential to understand the internal thermodynamic phenomena of cryogenic storage tanks under application environmental conditions and their impact on the safe storage of storage tanks and to predict the lossless storage time of cryogenic storage tanks quickly and accurately. This article introduces the current research status for the phenomenon of stratification, rollover, and self-pressurization caused by heat leakage in the storage and transportation of cryogenic storage tanks, such as liquid nitrogen, liquid hydrogen, and liquefied natural gas, the research progress on the heat and mass transfer behavior and its change with time in the storage tank under the condition of heat leakage by using experimental and numerical simulation methods. The different thermodynamic models for predicting the lossless storage time of cryogenic liquid tanks were summarized and appraised. On this basis, the key problems to be solved in the development of lossless storage technology for cryogenic liquid tanks are pointed out, which provides a reference for further research of lossless storage technology for cryogenic liquid tanks.