Natural Gas

Abstract

grouped in with other fossil fuels and sources of energy, there are many characteristics of natural gas that make it unique. Below is a bit of background information about natural gas, what exactly it is, how it is formed, and how it is found in nature 2.1 History of Natural Gas Naturally occurring natural gas was discovered and identified in America as early as 1626, when French explorers discovered natives igniting gases that were seeping into and around Lake Erie. The American natural gas industry got its beginnings in this area. In 1859, Colonel Edwin Drake (a former railroad conductor who adopted the title 'Colonel' to impress the townspeople) dug the first well. Drake hit oil and natural gas at 69 feet below the surface of the earth. Without any way to transport it effectively, natural gas discovered pre-world war II was usually just allowed to vent into the atmosphere, or burnt, when found alongside coal and oil, or simply left in the ground when found alone. One of the first lengthy pipelines was constructed in 1891. This pipeline was 120 miles long, and carried natural gas from wells in central Indiana to the city of Chicago. However, this early pipeline was very rudimentary, and did not transport natural gas efficiently. It wasn't until the 1920's that any significant effort was put into building a pipeline infrastructure. After World War II welding techniques, pipe rolling, and metallurgical advances allowed for the construction of reliable pipelines. This led to a postwar pipeline construction boom lasting well into the 60's, creating thousands of miles of pipeline in America. Once the transportation of natural gas was possible, new uses for natural gas were discovered. These included using natural gas to heat homes and operate appliances such as water heaters and oven ranges. Industry began to use natural gas in manufacturing and processing plants. Also, natural gas was used to heat boilers used to generate electricity. The transportation infrastructure made natural gas easier to obtain, and as a result expanded its uses. 2.2 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, www.intechopen.com Natural Gas 4 How to reference In order to correctly reference this scholarly work, feel free to copy and paste the following:

Zeolites in Adsorption Processes: State of the Art and Future Prospects

“…Natural gas, a fossil fuel where the main component is usually CH 4 (30–98%), and the other components (CO 2 , light hydrocarbons, H 2 O, and H 2 S) are present in variable amounts. ,− It can appear associated with an oil deposit or nonassociated.…”

Natural Gas Purification Technologies - Major Advances for CO2 Separation and Future Directions

“…Generally, they are called condensates or natural gas Table 1. Composition of natural gas reservoirs in some parts of the world in volume percent basis (Rojey 1997;Bahadori, Mokhatab et al 2007;Bakar and Ali 2010) liquids (NGLs). This usually happens in a retrograde condensate reservoir (Beggs 1984;Bahadori, Mokhatab et al 2007).…”

Segmentation of Natural Gas Customers in Industrial Sector Using Self-Organizing Map (SOM) Method

“…Natural Gas is considered as more affordable in terms of price and have a lower level of pollution rather than other alternatives [4]. For this reason, industrial sector consumes more gas than other sectors as it is depicted in figure 2, thus industrial sector play an important role to the development of natural gas in Indonesia.…”