The first liquefaction of gas, ie the transformation of the gas state into a liquid state, was performed by the British physicist and chemist Michael Faraday (1791-1867). In 1883, two professors at the Jagiellonian University - Zygmunt Wróblewski and Karol Olszewski - were able to liquefy oxygen and nitrogen from atmospheric air. The cooling and liquefaction technologies that can be implemented in refrigeration plants were patented in 1896 by the German engineer and businessman Karl Paul Gottfried von Linde, who in 1873 built the first refrigeration plant in Europe.
However, the first liquefier in the world appeared in Australia and was designed and built by the professor of Scotland - James Harrisson. The original technological concept was used for air cooling and was first used in the food sector. .
Natural gas cooling and liquefaction technology was first introduced in the United States. The first LNG liquefaction plant was opened in West Virginia in 1917 and the first commercial liquefaction plant was built in Cleveland, Ohio (USA) in 1941.
The first transport of liquefied natural gas took place after the Second World War. In January 1959, the "MetánPioneer", an adapted transport ship used in World War II, sailed from Lake Charles in Louisiana (USA) with cargo, including LNG, to reach its destination - Canvey Island in Great Britain.
After seven successful shipments of LNG by ship, the British Gas Council decided to import LNG from Venezuela. However, in connection with the discovery of deposits in Libya and Algeria, which were much closer to the United Kingdom than Venezuela, it was ultimately decided to import LNG from Algeria. Algeria thus became the world's first exporter of LNG. The first commercial delivery of LNG from Algeria to the British market took place in 1964. However, LNG supplies to the UK did not withstand competition with deposits discovered in the North Sea.
The 1970s and 1980s brought increased interest in LNG. In Asian countries, especially Japan and Korea, construction began on power plants to run on natural gas. This has significantly contributed to better conditions for the use of LNG.
