Natural gas uses for

To illustrate further, the relative humidity of air at 320°F is about 1% and the absolute humidity of the air is about 0.027 lbs. of water per pound of dry air. This already includes moisture from the products of combustion of the natural gas used for heating in an open system. This is a long way from... 

Molar Volume The main component of natural gas used for home heating and cooking is methane (CH4). Calculate the volume that 2.00 kg of methane gas will occupy at STP. 

The primary energy input is from the combustion of coke at 0.22 t/t of lead, representing an input of 6270 MJ/t of product lead. Electric power is used for blast air blowers and gas handling fans as well as fans for ventilation air. Total power use is estimated at 80 kWh/t of bullion, and natural gas use for miscellaneous heating uses 5 Nm /t of lead, equivalent to 185 MJ/t of product lead. 

Hydrogen, propane, butane and natural gas used for low temperature brazing and welding small and thin parts. 

Relatively new methods for separating helium from natural gas use pressure swing adsorption (PSA) processes to recover helium at better than 99.99% purity. This type of process is probably less costiy for the production of gaseous helium but might be uneconomical for liquefied helium production. The PSA process is widely used to produce specification pure helium from 85+% cmde helium in conjunction with cryogenic enrichment of the ca 50% helium raffinate. 

High temperature steam reforming of natural gas accounts for 97% of the hydrogen used for ammonia synthesis in the United States. Hydrogen requirement for ammonia synthesis is about 336 m /t of ammonia produced for a typical 1000 t/d ammonia plant. The near-term demand for ammonia remains stagnant. Methanol production requires 560 m of hydrogen for each ton produced, based on a 2500-t/d methanol plant. Methanol demand is expected to increase in response to an increased use of the fuel—oxygenate methyl /-butyl ether (MTBE). 

Figure 4-8 can be used to get a quick approximate solution for the temperature drop of a natural gas stream. For example, if the initial pressure is 4,00() psi and the final pressure is 1,000 psi, AP is 3,000 psi and the change in temperature is 80 F. This curve is based on a liquid concentration of 20 bbl/MMscf. The greater the amount of liquid in the gas the lower the temperature drop, that is, the higher the calculated final temperature. For each increment of 10 bbl/MMscf there is a correction of 5 F. For example, if there is no liquid, the final temperature is 10 F cooler (the temperature drop is 10°F more) than indicated by Figure 4-8. 

Despite the environmental benefits of natural gas vehicles, large numbers of compressed natural gas stations need to be built or compressed natural gas will never be more than a niche fuel servicing large fleets of buses, cabs, and delivei y trucks that can be fueled at a central location. Nonroad short-range vehicles such as forklifts, backhoes, street sweepers, and airport ground support equipment are also ideally suited for natural gas use. 

Demand for natural gas, in all markets—residential, commercial, and industrial—is projected to grow into the foreseeable future, particularly in the electric power generation market and the industrial sector. Total natural gas use in the United States is projected to grow from 20.1 quadrillion British thermal units in 1992 to 26.1 by 2010, an average growth rate of 1.6 percent per year. 

For oil-base muds Equation 4-197 can be applied, but K and p must be calculated for an average natural gas using tables or the corresponding algorithms. 

Higher molecular weight hydrocarbons present in natural gases are important fuels as well as chemical feedstocks and are normally recovered as natural gas liquids. For example, ethane may be separated for use as a feedstock for steam cracking for the production of ethylene. Propane and butane are recovered from natural gas and sold as liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). Before natural gas is used it must be processed or treated to remove the impurities and to recover the heavier hydrocarbons (heavier than methane). The 1998 U.S. gas consumption was approximately 22.5 trillion ft. ... 

Three factors favored construction of ammonia pipelines. First, over 50% of this country s agricultural nitrogen is used in the Midwest and between 40 and 65% of this total is applied directly to the soil as anhydrous ammonia. Second, the low price of natural gas needed for the production of ammonia favored a Gulf Coast plant site or one near a large gas field. Third, much of the Midwest is inaccessible to cheap barge transportation. 

Sublette [285] describes a process for desulfurizing sour natural gas using another commonly known chemolithotrophic microorganism, the aerobic bacterium T. denitrifi-cans. This patent describes a process wherein bacteria of the Thiobacillus genus convert sulfides to sulfates under aerobic conditions. Sublette defined the ideal characteristics of a suitable microorganism for the oxidative H2S removal from gaseous streams as ... 

G. Chiavari, D. Fabbri, R. Mazzeo, P. Bocchini and G.C. Galletti, Pyrolysis gas chromatogra phy mass spectrometry of natural resin used for artistic objects, Chromatographia, 41,273 281... 

The thermal conductivity of methane is about twice as high as that of any other flammable compound of natural gas. Sensors for determining the methane number use this effect, and the principle is already in use for gas engines [2], as their performance depends heavily on the methane number. 

Haines A process for recovering sulfur from natural gas, using a zeolite adsorbent. The hydrogen sulfide in the gas is adsorbed on the zeolite when the bed is saturated, hot sulfur dioxide is passed through it. The zeolite catalyzes the reaction between hydrogen sulfide and sulfur dioxide to fonn elemental sulfur, which sublimes out and is condensed. The process was invented by H. W. Haines in 1960 it was developed by Krell Associates and piloted in Canada from 1961 to 1962, but not commercialized because of problems caused by fouling of the zeolite with heavy hydrocarbons. 

Plug Power, a Latham, NY, based manufacturer of stationary hydrogen fuel cell generator units for backup power has developed a hydrogen fueling station with the help of Honda. This station uses a small steam reformer that extracts hydrogen fuel from natural gas using steam. The steam reformer has been reduced to half the size of the previous version. 

Figure 15.1. Projected natural gas use in the United States by sector (USDOE, 2007a), and projected demand for natural gas to make hydrogen for fuel-cell vehicles until 2030 (based on extension of USDOE s most aggressive scenario for introducing hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles (Gronich, 2006)).

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