Electricity from natural gas

Another special situation arises when one resource has its origin in two different processes. For instance, when a process uses the electricity provided by an energy company, it is possible that this electricity is generated partly by burning coal and partly by burning natural gas. In this case, the process should be considered to use two different types of electricity electricity from coal and electricity from natural gas. Both types of electricity then have their own derived depletion time and, based on how much they contribute to the total amount of electricity supplied, their own exergy flow. 

The most economical transport systems favor C02 capture from centralized power plants, where C02 volumes will be large. The smaller power plants now commonly being built to produce electricity from natural gas make C02 capture and transport much more costly, suggesting the likelihood of stranded C02 at such sites. 

Assumes use of electricity from natural gas combined cycle without transmission and distribution costs. 

Consonni S, Viganb F, 2005. Decarbonized hydrogen and electricity from natural gas. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 30,701-718. 

Calcium Carbide. Until the 1940s, calcium carbide, which is made by interacting quicklime and coke in an electric furnace, was the only source of acetylene. Although much more acetylene is now derived from natural gas, calcium carbide is stiH being produced, using 0.9—1.0 t of quicklime to make 11 of carbide... 

PV growth faces similar challenges, since deregulation is likely to lower the cost of electric power from natural gas and coal. 

The ten leading energy consumers in the food industry use about one-half of the energy of the total food processing industry. About 50% of the end use energy is from natural gas, 15% is from petroleum, and 15% is from from purchased electricity. Some of the electricity is produced from natural gas and petroleum so the source use would be higher for gas and petroleum. There have been improvements in efficiencies in most of these industries but the relationships of industries still hold. 

The various routes from agricultural production to fuel are shown in Figure 1. Products of agricultural production can be converted to a more available energy form as electricity and natural gas as shown in Figure 2. 

Honda has built a solar-powered hydrogen station to refuel its FCX fuel cell fleet. Honda has also been testing a Home Energy Station that extracts hydrogen from natural gas, while generating electricity and hot water for home use. But, natural gas jumped from about 5/thousand cubic feet in 1999 to almost 12 in 2006. 

Almost 40% of our energy is derived from oil. For the electric utilities about 21% is produced by coal, with about 8% from nuclear, about 23% from natural gas and the rest from hydro and other renewables. This accounts for most of the energy use in the United States. 

Figure 16.10. Cost comparison hydrogen from surplus wind electricity and from natural gas reforming at different natural gas prices and with and without carbon taxes.

Today, different processes (steam reforming, autothermal reforming, partial oxidation, gasification) are available and commercially mature for hydrogen production from natural gas or coal. These processes would have to be combined with technologies for C02 capture and storage (CCS), to keep the emissions profile low. A power plant that combines electricity and hydrogen production can be more efficient than retrofitted C02 separation systems for conventional power plants. 

Hydrogen production. Intensive R D is underway on the production of hydrogen from natural gas and biomass. Concerning biological hydrogen, a national co-operative platform has been formed with 11 institutes and universities. In addition, thermal (pyrolysis) and hydrothermal processes are being studied at multiple places. Other research areas include various thermal and hydrothermal processes (BTC, TNO, ECN), and hydrogen from electricity produce by renewables (solar, wind, and tidal power). 

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