In my previous LNG project, we need to supply gas with specified minimum methane number and specified higher heating value.
What is methane number?
It is the measure of resistance of fuel gases to engine knock, known as detonation. Detonation is produced by the auto-ignition of fuel/air mixture ahead of the propagating flame. Detonation must be immediately stopped to avoid increase of wear and tear and engine damage.
If MN is too low, the detonation can reduce engine efficiency and increases the quantity of harmful engine emissions.
MN Calculation
I searched if there is formula for the calculation, but I cannot find it. MN is not gas thermodynamic property, so no equation of state can be used to calculate it. I found there are several online methane number calculators. I tested three of them, Cummin, Wartsilla, and DNV MN calculator, respectively by using LNG Tangguh composition. These are the results.