Natural gas is a motor fuel. History of natural gas use

Natural gas is gaseous hydrocarbons formed in the bowels of the earth. It is classified as a mineral, and its components are used as fuel.

Properties and composition of natural gas

Classification of natural gases

There are only 3 groups:

• The first of them is almost eliminating the content of hydrocarbons with more than two carbon compounds, the so-called dry gases, obtained exclusively in fields intended only for gas production.
• The second is gases produced simultaneously with primary raw materials. These are dry, liquefied gases and gas gasoline mixed with each other.
• The third group includes gases consisting of dry gas and a significant amount of heavy hydrocarbons, of which gasoline, naphtha and kerosene are isolated. In addition, the composition contains a small amount of other substances. These substances are extracted from gas condensate fields.

Properties of constituent substances

The first four members of the homologous series under normal conditions are flammable gases that are colorless and odorless, explosive and flammable:

Methane

The first substance of the alkanes series is the most resistant to temperatures. It is slightly soluble in water and lighter than air. The combustion of methane in the air is marked by the appearance of a blue flame. The most powerful explosion occurs when one volume of methane is mixed with ten volumes of air. At other volumetric ratios, an explosion also occurs, but with less force. In addition, a person may suffer irreparable harm if they inhale high concentrations of gas.

Methane can be in a solid aggregate state in the form of gas hydrates.

Application:

It is used as industrial fuel and raw material. Methane is used to produce a number of important products - hydrogen, freons, formic acid, nitromethane and many other substances. To produce methyl chloride and its homologous compounds, methane is chlorinated. Incomplete combustion of methane produces finely dispersed carbon:

CH4 + O2 = C + 2H2O

Formaldehyde appears through an oxidation reaction, and when reacting with sulfur, carbon disulfide appears.

CH4 + H2O -> CO+ 3H2

Used for binding hydrocarbons, alcohols, aldehydes and other substances. Methane is actively used as a fuel for vehicles.

Ethane

A limiting hydrocarbon, C2H6, is a colorless substance in the gaseous state that produces little light when burned. It dissolves in alcohol in a ratio of 3:2, as they say, “like in like,” but is almost insoluble in water. At temperatures above 600° C, in the absence of a reaction accelerator, ethane decomposes into ethylene and hydrogen:

CH4 + H2O -> CO+ 3H2

Ethane is not used in the fuel industry; the main purpose of its use in industry is to produce ethylene.

Propane

This gas is poorly soluble in water and is a widely used fuel. It produces a lot of heat when burned and is practical to use. Propane is a by-product of the cracking process in the oil industry.

Butane

It has low toxicity, a specific odor, has intoxicating properties, inhalation of butane causes asphyxia and cardiac arrhythmia, and negatively affects the nervous system. Appears during cracking of associated petroleum gas.

Application:

The undeniable advantages of propane are its low cost and ease of transportation. A propane-butane mixture is used as fuel in populated areas where natural gas is not supplied, when processing low-melting materials with small thickness, instead of acetylene. Propane is often used in the procurement of raw materials and processing of scrap metal. In everyday life, areas of necessity include space heating and cooking on gas stoves.

In addition to saturated alkanes, natural gas includes:

Nitrogen

Nitrogen consists of two isotopes 14A and 15A, and is used to maintain pressure in wells during drilling. To obtain nitrogen, air is liquefied and separated by distillation; this element makes up 78% of the air composition. It is mainly used to produce ammonia, from which nitric acid, fertilizers and explosives are obtained.

Carbon dioxide

A compound that changes at atmospheric pressure from a solid (dry ice) to a gaseous state. It is released during the breathing of living beings, and is also found in mineral springs and air. Carbon dioxide is a food additive used in fire extinguisher cylinders and air guns.

Hydrogen sulfide

A very toxic gas - the most active of the sulfur-containing compounds, and therefore very dangerous for humans due to its direct effect on the nervous system. A colorless gas under normal conditions, characterized by a sweetish taste and a disgusting odor of rotten eggs. It is highly soluble in ethanol, unlike water. Sulfur, sulfuric acid and sulfites are obtained from it.

Helium

This is a unique product that slowly accumulates in the Earth's crust. It is obtained by deep freezing gases containing helium. In the gaseous state, it is an inert gas that has no external expression. Helium is in a liquid state, also odorless and colorless, but can infect living tissues. Helium is non-toxic and cannot explode or ignite, but at high concentrations in the air it causes asphyxiation. It is used when working with metals and as a filler for balloons and airships.

Argon

Noble, non-flammable, non-toxic, without taste or color. It is produced as an escort for the separation of air into oxygen and nitrogen gas. Used to displace water and oxygen to extend the shelf life of food, it is also used in metal welding and cutting.

A mixture of hydrocarbons, an object of religious worship, a dispute between scientists and the most important raw material resource. It is invisible and odorless. There is more of it in Russia than anywhere else in the world.

What does natural gas consist of?

The basis of natural gas is methane (CH 4) - the simplest hydrocarbon (an organic compound consisting of carbon and hydrogen atoms). Usually it also contains heavier hydrocarbons, homologues of methane: ethane (C 2 H 6), propane (C 3 H 8), butane (C 4 H 10) and some non-hydrocarbon impurities.

Natural gas can exist in the form of gas deposits located in certain rock layers, in the form of gas caps (above oil), and also in dissolved or crystalline form.

Smell of gas

Interestingly, none of these gases have either color or odor. The characteristic unpleasant odor, which almost every person has encountered in everyday life, is artificially given to gas and is called odorization. Sulfur-containing compounds are usually used as odorants, that is, unpleasant-smelling substances. A person can smell one of the most common odorants - ethanethiol - even if one part of this substance is in 50 million parts of air. It is thanks to odorization that gas leaks can be easily identified.

Odorant addition step
with an unpleasant odor.

Odorless natural gas

Natural gas
with an unpleasant odor

Scientists' dispute

There is still no consensus among scientists regarding the origin of natural gas (as well as oil). Two main concepts - biogenic and mineral - assert different reasons for the formation of hydrocarbon minerals in the bowels of the Earth.

Mineral theory

The formation of minerals in rock layers is part of the process of degassing the Earth. Due to the internal dynamics of the Earth, hydrocarbons located at great depths rise to the zone of lowest pressure, resulting in the formation of gas and oil deposits.

Biogenic theory

Living organisms that died and sank to the bottom of reservoirs decomposed in airless space. Sinking deeper and deeper due to geological movements, the remains of decomposed organic matter were transformed under the influence of thermobaric factors (temperature and pressure) into hydrocarbon minerals, including natural gas.

Invisible pores

A fairly common misconception is that gas is located underground in some kind of void, from which it is easily completely extracted. In fact, the gas may be inside a rock that has a porous structure so fine that it cannot be seen by the human eye. Holding a piece of sandstone in your hands, extracted from great depths, it is quite difficult to imagine that natural gas is contained inside.

Gas Worship

Humanity has known about the existence of natural gas for a long time. And, although already in the 4th century BC. e. in China they learned to use it for heating and lighting; for a long time, a bright flame that leaves no ashes was the subject of a mystical and religious cult for some peoples. For example, on the Absheron Peninsula (modern territory of Azerbaijan) in the 7th century, the temple of fire worshipers Ateshgah was erected, services in which took place until the 19th century.

By the way, not far from the Ateshgah temple in 1859, the first attempt in Russia (rather short-lived) to use natural gas for industrial purposes was made - at an oil refinery in Baku.

Thermal lamp and the first gas in Russia

The history of the Russian gas industry begins in 1811. Then the inventor Pyotr Sobolevsky created the first installation for producing artificial gas - thermal lamps. Having made a report on this at a meeting of the All-Russian Society of Lovers of Literature, Sciences and Arts, by decree of Alexander I, Sobolevsky was awarded an order for his invention. A few years later, in 1819, the first gas lamps were lit on Aptekarsky Island in St. Petersburg. Thus, the history of the gas industry in Russia began almost 200 years ago - in 2011 it celebrated its anniversary.

In the mid-1920s, 227.7 million cubic meters of gas were produced throughout the USSR. In 2010, the Gazprom Group produced 508.6 billion cubic meters of gas.

Russia ranks first in the world in terms of natural gas reserves. Gazprom's share in these reserves is about 70%. Thus, Gazprom has the world's richest natural gas reserves.

With the advent of the 20th century, the active development of the Russian gas industry began: gas fields were developed for the first time, associated (petroleum) gas was utilized.

Russian ingenuity

However, until the 20th century in Russia, natural gas was a by-product of oil production and was called associated gas. Even the very concepts of gas or gas condensate fields did not exist. They were discovered by chance, for example, when drilling artesian wells. However, there is a known case when, while drilling such a well, a resourceful Saratov merchant, seeing flames instead of water, built a glass and brick factory in this place. Industrialists gradually began to realize that natural gas could be extremely useful.

Natural gas is one of the non-renewable minerals. According to one of the most popular theories, they are formed during a long process of anaerobic decomposition of living organisms in the soil under the influence of high temperature and pressure. The extracted raw materials contain methane, butane, ethane, propane and other compounds. Natural gas is odorless and colorless. In Russia, mining and processing of this mineral began about 200 years ago. At first, gas was considered a by-product of oil production (both types of fuel usually occur next to each other). However, subsequently they began to extract these minerals separately.

Gas fields

The Russian Federation has the largest gas reserves in the world. The United States is considered to have the second largest reserves of this mineral. Following it are some countries from the post-Soviet space (Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan) and states located in the Persian Gulf. Natural gas is produced all over the world. Moreover, the development of blue fuel deposits is not limited to land areas. It is actively mined from the seabed. In Russia, gas fields are mainly located behind the Ural Mountains. They are also found in the North Caucasus and the Black Sea. The largest reserves of blue fuel were found in the following deposits:

• Urengoyskoe. It is located in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug. This field is the second in the world in terms of natural gas reserves.
• Nakhodkinskoe. This deposit also belongs to the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug. Its development began in 2004. It is estimated that its gas reserves reach 275 billion cubic meters.
• Angaro - Lenskoye. Located in the Irkutsk region. Exploration data indicates that about 1.4 trillion cubic meters have accumulated in the field. gas
• Kovyktinskoe. Located near Irkutsk. It is one of the most difficult deposits in terms of production, since part of the territory is covered with a layer of permafrost. According to preliminary estimates, about 2 trillion cubic meters lie here. gas and approximately 120 million tons of liquid condensate.
• Shtokman. Another deposit that belongs to the largest category. It is located approximately 600 km from Murmansk and includes about 3.8 trillion cubic meters. gas Due to the great depth of mineral deposits, mining at this deposit is not yet underway.

All large and most small fields in the Russian Federation belong to Gazprom. The gas monopolist, which produces and processes more than 74% of all Russian fuel reserves, occupies a 20% share of the world market. In addition to its main tasks, Gazprom is also carrying out gasification of the country.

Gas exploration and production methods

Before the start of production, geological exploration of the territory where there may be deposits of blue fuel is carried out. They make it possible to determine approximate gas reserves and the prospects for field development. Area reconnaissance is carried out using one of the following methods:

• Gravitational. During which experts evaluate the gravity of rocks. The presence of gas is indicated by areas of lower density.
• Magnetic. It is based on the different magnetic permeability of rocks.
• Seismic. Such geological exploration involves the use of special equipment that sends waves of various lengths through the earth's layers and picks up the reflected echo.
• Geochemical. Groundwater is being studied to determine the level of concentration of certain chemical compounds in it.
• Drilling. It is considered the most accurate method of geological exploration. However, drilling is also the most expensive way to explore deposits.

There are several fairly effective methods for extracting natural gas. These include:

• One of the most basic areas is, of course, drilling. Natural gas fills many voids in the earth's rocks, connecting with each other through channels. When drilling a well, fuel begins to rise upward under natural pressure. To ensure uniform production, the well itself is created in the form of a “ladder”, and its walls are strengthened with casing pipes.
• Hydraulic fracturing. This method also involves drilling wells into which a large amount of water or air flow is then injected. This approach allows you to destroy the partitions formed in the rock, allowing all the gas to escape under pressure.
• Underwater mining. Underwater gas production is carried out from special platforms, the concrete base of which rests on the bottom. It is in the latter that the columns through which wells are drilled and tanks for temporary fuel storage are built. The gas is then sent through a pipeline to land, where it is processed in the traditional way.

The extracted gas contains a wide variety of impurities. Therefore, it is sent to a special station, which is usually built next to the field. It is necessary to process fossils because it is necessary to remove impurities and various inclusions such as sand and water from them.

Subsequently, the blue fuel is sent for storage. To do this, it is pre-cooled to a temperature of -160 degrees and filled with containers made of aluminum alloys or steel. Most gas storage facilities are built underground.

To transport gas to end consumers and for export deliveries, special main pipelines are used, through which gas is supplied to gas distribution stations, where pressure is reduced, but also an odorant (ethyl mercaptan) is added, a substance that gives the gas a characteristic odor and helps prevent unnoticed gas leakage.

Today, gas production is one of the most important industries in Russia. It forms a significant part of the country's budget.

Natural gas combustion

Natural gas is a mineral in a gaseous state. It is used very widely as a fuel. But natural gas itself is not used as a fuel; its components are separated from it for separate use. It is often an associated gas during oil production. Natural gas in reservoir conditions (conditions of occurrence in the bowels of the earth) is in a gaseous state in the form of separate accumulations (gas deposits) or in the form of a gas cap of oil and gas fields - this is free gas; either in a dissolved state in oil or water (in reservoir conditions), and in standard conditions - only in a gas state. Natural gas can also be in the form of gas hydrates.

Almost 90% of it consists of hydrocarbons, mainly methane (CH 4). It also contains heavier hydrocarbons - ethane, propane, butane, as well as mercaptans and hydrogen sulfide (usually these impurities are harmful), nitrogen and carbon dioxide (they are basically useless, but not harmful), water vapor, beneficial impurities of helium and other inert substances gases

Chemical composition

The main part of natural gas is methane (CH 4) - up to 98%. Natural gas may also contain heavier hydrocarbons - homologues of methane:

• ethane (C 2 H 6),
• propane (C 3 H 8),
• butane (C 4 H 10),
• and other alkanes – from C 5 and above

As well as other non-hydrocarbon substances:

• A more thorough analysis made it possible to detect small amounts of helium (He) in natural gas.

Physical properties

Approximate physical characteristics (depending on composition):

• Density:
  • from 0.7 to 1.0 kg/m 3 - dry gaseous, at n. u.
  • 400 kg/m 3 - liquid.
• Heat of combustion of one m 3 of natural gas in a gaseous state at normal conditions: 28-46 MJ, or 6.7-11.0 Mcal.
• Octane number when used in internal combustion engines: 120-130.
• The concentration limits of ignition (explosion) of natural gas (methane) are in the range from 5 to 15%. Outside these boundaries, the gas-air mixture is not capable of spreading flame. During an explosion, the pressure in a closed volume rises to 0.8... 1 MPa.
• Pure natural gas is colorless and odorless. To be able to detect a leak by smell, a small amount of odorants (most often ethyl mercaptan is used as an odorant) that have a strong unpleasant odor are added to the gas; these are odorants.
• Natural gas quickly evaporates and disperses into the atmosphere, which is important from a safety point of view.

Natural gas reserves

Map of natural gas reserves in the world

Methane and some other hydrocarbons are widespread in space. Methane- the third most common gas in the universe, after hydrogen and helium. In the form of methane ice, it participates in the structure of many planets and asteroids far from the sun, but such accumulations, as a rule, are not classified as natural gas deposits, and they have not yet found practical application. A significant amount of hydrocarbons is present in the Earth's mantle, but they are also not of interest.

Huge deposits of natural gas are concentrated in the sedimentary shell of the earth's crust. According to the theory of the biogenic (organic) origin of oil, they are formed as a result of the decomposition of the remains of living organisms. Natural gas is believed to form in sedimentary shells at greater temperatures and pressures than oil. Consistent with this is the fact that gas fields are often located deeper than oil fields.

Russia (Urengoyskoye field), USA, Canada have huge reserves of natural gas. Among other European countries, Norway is worth noting, but its reserves are small. Among the former republics of the Soviet Union, Turkmenistan, as well as Kazakhstan (Karachaganak field), have large gas reserves.

In the second half of the 20th century at the University. I.M. Gubkin discovered natural gas hydrates (or methane hydrates). Later it turned out that the reserves of natural gas in this state are huge. They are located both underground and in a slight depression under the seabed.

Natural gas production and processing

Gas fields

An oil or gas reservoir is an accumulation of hydrocarbons that fill the pores of permeable rocks. If the accumulation is large and its exploitation is economically feasible, the deposit is considered industrial. Deposits occupying significant areas form deposits.

Gas drying

The moisture content of gas during its transportation often causes serious operational difficulties. Under certain external conditions (temperature and pressure), moisture can condense, form ice plugs and crystalline hydrates, and in the presence of hydrogen sulfide and oxygen cause corrosion of pipelines and equipment. To avoid these difficulties, the gas is dried by reducing the dew point temperature by 5...7 °C below the operating temperature in the gas pipeline.

Gas purification from hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide

In flammable gases used for gas supply to cities, the hydrogen sulfide content should not exceed 2 g per 100 m 3 of gas. There are no norms limiting the carbon dioxide content, but for technical and economic reasons in the transported gas it should not exceed 2%.

Gas odorization

Natural gas is odorless. Therefore, in order to detect gas leaks in a timely manner, they give it a smell - the gas is odorized. Ethyl mercaptan (C 2 H 5 SH) is used as an odorant. In terms of toxicity, it is qualitatively and quantitatively identical to hydrogen sulfide and has a sharp, unpleasant odor.

Transportation

The main type of gas transport currently is pipeline. Gas moves through large diameter pipes under a pressure of 75 atmospheres (7.5 MPa). As gas moves through the pipeline, it loses energy; it is spent on overcoming the frictional force both between the pipe wall and the gas, and between the layers of the gas itself. In order for the pressure in the pipeline to be maintained at a given level, it is necessary to have compressor stations (CS) at a certain distance from each other, which must maintain the pressure in the pipeline at a level of 75 atmospheres. Maintaining and constructing a pipeline costs a lot of money, but, nevertheless, the pipeline is the cheapest way to transport oil and gas.

Another way to transport gas is to use special tankers - gas carriers. These are specially equipped ships for transporting gas in a liquefied state under certain conditions. To transport gas using this method, it is necessary, in addition to the tankers themselves, to carry out a number of preparatory measures to enable their use. It is necessary to extend a gas pipeline to the seashore, build a port for tankers, a gas liquefaction plant, and the tankers themselves. However, this type of gas transportation is economically feasible when the consumer is more than 3,000 km away from the production sites.

Natural gas synthesis

There are many ways to obtain natural gas from other organic substances, such as waste from agricultural activities, wood processing and food industries, etc.

How many people these days can immediately define natural gas? Do they know its history and chemical composition? Obviously not, because everything can be found on Google.

So.

Natural gas is a mixture of hydrocarbons that is something ephemeral, something that cannot be touched, seen and odorless. The basis of natural gas is methane (CH4), the simplest hydrocarbon (an organic compound consisting of carbon and hydrogen atoms). Typically, it also contains heavier hydrocarbons, homologs of methane: ethane (C2H6), propane (C3H8), butane (C4H10) and some non-hydrocarbon impurities.

In search of truth.

Scientists still cannot come to a consensus regarding the origin of natural gas, and in their dispute they split into two camps, trying to prove the occurrence of gas, they proposed two main theories.

Mineral theory

According to this theory, all the chemical elements that make up natural gas and oil are initially embedded in the Earth's mantle, representing mineral deposits. located deep in rock layers are part of the Earth's degassing process. Due to the internal movements of the Earth, hydrocarbons located at great depths rise closer to the surface, where the least pressure is generated, thus resulting in oil and gas deposits.

Biogenic theory.

Proponents of this theory believe that natural gas was formed from the remains of plant and animal organisms that died out at the end of the Paleozoic era, which, under the influence of bacteria, high pressure and temperature, turned into a mixture of gaseous carbons. It was biochemical processes that provided the chemical cocktail of natural gas: 80-98% methane, 2-3% of its closest homologues - ethane, propane, butane, pentane, as well as a small amount of impurities - hydrogen sulfide, carbon dioxide, nitrogen.

Do you see gas? No. And he is.

Most people who are far from the gas industry imagine that gas located underground is similar to valuable minerals, it occupies certain voids in the bowels of the earth, and is easily completely extracted. But this is not entirely true. Natural gas really is found deep underground, inside rocks that have a porous structure, but the pores are so microscopic that it is almost impossible to see them with the naked eye. Therefore, when you pick up a small piece of sandstone extracted from the depths of the earth, it is difficult to realize that natural gas is contained inside.

Sacred fire.

Ancient Zoroastrian temple Ateshgah

For many peoples, fire evoked awe. People worshiped fire, loved fire, hated fire.

Humanity has known about the existence of natural gas for a long time. And, although already in the 4th century BC. e. in China they learned to use it for heating and lighting; for a long time, a bright flame that leaves no ashes was the subject of a mystical and religious cult for some peoples. For example, on the Absheron Peninsula (modern territory of Azerbaijan) in the 7th century, the temple of fire worshipers Ateshgah, revered at different times by Zoroastrians, Hindus and Sikhs, was erected. The temple arose on the site of “eternal” unquenchable fires - burning outlets of natural gas, due to which the temple is called “Ateshgah”, which means “House of Fire”. Services took place there until the 19th century. However, the Zoroastrians themselves say that they do not worship fire as such, but honor the Creator (Q’rt’), whose symbol is fire.

Get it and use it.

“Humanity is only about 200 thousand years old. But gas production began only in the last century.”

Man always and everywhere seeks profit. So the Persian king in the 1st century AD, seeing a fire that burned day and night, not requiring additional fuel, ordered the construction of a palace kitchen in the place where the gas came to the surface. Natural gas was first used in 1821 in Fredonia, New York.

On a note: The total length of gas pipelines in Russia is two times greater than the distance from the Earth to the Moon or 20 times greater than the length of the equator.