(1) What is natural gas?
A mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons occurring in reservoirs of porous rock
(commonly sand or sandstone) capped by impervious strata. It is often associated
with petroleum, with which it has a common origin in the decomposition of organic
matter in sedimentary deposits. Natural gas consists largely of methane (CH4) and
ethane (C2H6), with also propane (C3H8) and butane (C4H10)(separated for bottled
gas), some higher alkanes (C5H12 and above) (used for gasoline), nitrogen (N2) ,
oxygen (O2), carbon dioxide (CO2), hydrogen sulfide (H2S), and sometimes
valuable helium (He).
(2) How Natural Gas is Formed
Millions of years ago, the remains of plants and animals decayed and built up in thick
layers. This decayed matter from plants and animals is called organic material –a
compound that capable of decay or sometime refers as a compound consists mainly
carbon. Over time, the mud and soil changed to rock, covered the organic material
and trapped it beneath the rock. Pressure and heat changed some of this organic
material into coal, some into oil (petroleum), and some into natural gas – tiny
bubbles of odorless gas. The main ingredient in natural gas is methane, a gas (or
compound) composed of one carbon atom and four hydrogen atoms, CH4 . It is
colorless, shapeless, and odorless in its pure form.
(3) How Natural Gas is Obtained
Geologists also have sensitive machines that can "sniff" surface soil and air for small
amounts of natural gas that may have leaked from below ground. The search for
natural gas begins with geologists who locate the types of rock that are known to
contain gas and oil deposits. Today their tools include seismic surveys that are used
to find the right places to drill wells. Seismic surveys use echoes from a vibration
source at the Earth's surface (usually a vibrating pad under a truck built for this
purpose) to collect information about the rocks beneath. They send sound waves
into the ground and measure how fast the waves bounce back. This tells them how
hard and how thick the different rock layers are underground.
(4) What is the Composition of Natural Gas
(5) Uses of Natural Gas
Natural gas fired electric generation, and natural gas powered industrial applications,
offer a variety of environmental benefits and environmentally friendly uses, including:
(1) Fewer Emissions - combustion of natural gas, used in the generation of
electricity, industrial boilers, and other applications, emits lower levels of NOx, CO2,
and particulate emissions, and virtually no SO2 and mercury emissions.
(2) Reduced Sludge - coal fired power plants and industrial boilers that use
scrubbers to reduce SO2 emissions levels generate thousands of tons of harmful
sludge.
(3) Reburning - This process involves injecting natural gas into coal or oil fired
boilers.
(4) Cogeneration - the production and use of both heat and electricity can increase
the energy efficiency of electric generation systems.
(5) Fuel Cells - Natural gas fuel cell technologies are in development for the
generation of electricity.
(6) Essentially, electric generation and industrial applications that require energy,
particularly for heating, use the combustion of fossil fuels for that energy.
