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Natural Gas
Natural gas is a fossil
fuel. Natural gas is often informally referred to as simply gas especially when compared to
other energy sources such as oil or coal. Gas
consists primarily of methane,
typically with 0–20% higher hydrocarbons (primarily
ethane). It is found associated with other hydrocarbon fuel, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is an important
fuel source and a major feedstock for fertilizers.
Most natural gas is
created by two mechanisms: biogenic and thermogenic. Biogenic gas is created by
methanogenic organisms in marshes, bogs, landfills, and shallow sediments. Deeper in
the earth, at greater temperature and pressure, thermogenic gas is created from
buried organic material.
Before natural gas can
be used as a fuel, it must undergo processing
to remove almost all materials other than methane. The by-products of
that processing include ethane, propane, butanes, pentanes,
and higher molecular weight hydrocarbons,
elemental sulfur, carbon dioxide, water vapor, and sometimes helium and nitrogen.
Power generation
Natural gas is a major
source of electricity generation through
the use of gas turbines and steam turbines. Most grid peaking power plants and some off-grid engine-generators use natural gas.
Particularly high efficiencies can be achieved through combining gas turbines
with a steam turbine in combine cycle mode. Natural gas burns more cleanly than
other Hydrocarbon fuels, such as oil
and coal, and produces less carbon dioxide per unit of energy released.
CO2 emissions
Natural gas is often described as the
cleanest fossil fuel, producing less carbon dioxide per joule delivered than either coal or oil and far fewer
pollutants than other hydrocarbon fuels. However, in absolute terms, it does
contribute substantially to global carbon emissions, and this contribution is projected to grow. More
information about the effects on the environment can be found at the website: Understanding
Natural Gas
Safety
A minute amount of odorant which will contain t-butyl
mercaptan, with an odor that is associated with natural gas, and has been
described as a rotten egg odor, is added to the otherwise colorless and almost
odorless gas used by consumers, to assist in detecting leaks before a fire or
explosion occurs.