Application of natural gas. Natural gas: composition, properties

What do we know about hydrocarbons? Well, except that something from the school program in chemistry, and the word "methane" that periodically flashes through the media ... What do we know about natural gas, except for its explosive properties? What is the use of natural gas, besides the well-known to us cooking and heating of residential buildings? What's new in the world of energy consumption and energy security?

Basic properties

To begin with, the well-known phrase about the smell of gas in an apartment or on the street is not entirely correct. Natural gas, which is fed to our apartments for cooking or for heating water, has neither taste nor smell. What we sense is nothing more than a special additive necessary to determine gas leaks. This so-called odorant, add it at specially equipped stations in the following proportions: 16 mg per one thousand cubic meters of gas.

The main component of natural gas, of course, is methane. Its content in the gas mixture is on the order of 89-95%, the remaining components are butane, propane, hydrogen sulfide and so-called impurities - dust and incombustible components, oxygen and nitrogen. The percentage of methane content depends on the type of deposit.

The energy of natural gas emitted during the combustion of one cubic meter of fuel is called the heat of combustion. This value is one of the initial in all questions of designing gas objects, and in different countries different values are taken as a basis. In Russia, the calculation is based on the lowest heat of combustion, in the countries of the West, such as France and the United Kingdom, at the highest.

Speaking about the explosion of natural gas, it is worth mentioning such concepts as explosive limits and dangerous concentration. The gas explodes when its concentration in the room is from 5 to 15% of the volume. If the concentration is lower, the gas does not burn, if the concentration is more than 15%, then the gas-air mixture burns with additional air supply. A dangerous concentration is usually called 1/5 of the lower explosive limit, i.e. 1%.

Basics of the types and applications of natural gas

Butane and propane have found their application as fuel for cars (liquefied gas). Also propane is used for refueling lighters. Ethane is rarely used as fuel because it is the raw material for the production of polyethylene. Acetylene is extremely flammable and is used for welding and cutting metals. The use of natural gas, or to be more precise, of methane, has already been discussed, it is used as fuel fuel in plates, columns and boilers.

Varieties of produced natural gas

According to the types of gas produced, the fields are divided into gas or associated gas. The main difference between them is the percentage of hydrocarbon content. In gas fields, the methane content is about 80-90%, in associated, or, as they are still called, "oil", its content is not more than 50%. The remaining 50% is propane-butane and oil separated from gas. One of the biggest disadvantages of gas from the associated field is its mandatory purification from various impurities. The production of natural gas is also associated with the extraction of helium. Such deposits are quite rare, helium is considered to be the optimum gas for cooling nuclear reactors. Sulfur, extracted from hydrogen sulphide, mined as an admixture of natural gas, is also used for industrial purposes.

The main tool in the extraction of natural gas is a drilling rig. It is a four-legged tower with a height of about 20-30 meters. A pipe with a drill at the end is hung to it. This pipe increases as the depth of the well increases, while drilling, a special liquid is added to the well, so that the rocks to be destroyed are not blocked. This fluid is supplied by means of special pumps. Of course, the cost of natural gas includes the costs of operation and construction of gas producing wells. From 40 to 60% of the cost price is the cost is for this.

How does gas come to us?

So, after leaving the extraction site, purified natural gas enters the first compressor station, or, as it is also called, the head one. It is located most often in the immediate vicinity of the deposit. There, with the help of installations, high-pressure gas enters the main gas pipelines. Booster compressor stations are installed to maintain a given pressure on the main gas pipelines. Since the laying of pipes with this category of pressure inside cities is prohibited, a branch is established before each major city. It already, in turn, does not increase, but lowers the pressure. Part of it is spent by large consumers of gas - industrial enterprises, factories, boiler houses. And the other part goes to the so-called gas distribution stations - gas distribution points. There, the pressure drops again. Where is the most familiar and understandable application of natural gas? This is a burner plate.

How long has he been with us?

The active use of natural gas originates in the middle of the 19th century, after the invention of a gas burner. And the initial use of it now for us is not quite familiar. First it was used for street lighting. Until the end of the 30s of the last century, there was no independent gas industry in the Soviet Union. Gas deposits were discovered accidentally, only when exploring oil wells. The active use of natural gas began with the times of the Great Patriotic War. The lack of fuel, in connection with the loss of part of coal and oil fields, gave a powerful impetus to the development of the gas industry. Already after the war, the gas industry was actively developing and gradually became one of the most energy efficient.

There is no alternative

Perhaps the best proof of the benefits of natural gas as the most convenient source of energy are Moscow's indicators. Gas connection allowed daily saving of one million cubic meters of firewood, 0.65 million tons of coal, 150,000 tons of kerosene and almost as much fuel oil. And all this was replaced by 1 million cubic meters. M of gas. Then followed the gradual gasification of the whole country and the search for new deposits. Later, huge gas reserves were found in Siberia, which are still in use today.

Industrial use

The use of natural gas is not limited to cooking, although indirectly, it is used to supply heat to residential buildings. Most large urban boiler houses in the European part of Russia use natural gas as their main fuel.

Also, more and more often natural gas is used in the chemical industry as a raw material for obtaining various organic substances. An increasing number of automobile giants are developing cars on alternative fuels, including hydrogen and natural gas.

Only gas is to blame

From the ecological point of view, natural gas can be called one of the safest types of organic fuel. However, the connection of gas to many areas of human life and subsequent combustion led to a multiple increase in the content of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Otherwise, this process is called "greenhouse effect." And this has a very negative impact on the climate of our planet. However, new technologies and production levels have recently reduced emissions to the atmosphere to the maximum. Let's remind, gas is one of the safest types of fuel.