Handbook of Natural Gas Transmission and Processing

Principles and Practices

Saeid Mokhatab, William A. Poe, John Y. Mak

• Publisher: Gulf Professional Publishing
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9780128016640
• Edition: 3
• Topic: Tecnología e ingeniería
• Subtopic: Combustibles fósiles

Written by an internationally-recognized author team of natural gas industry experts, the third edition of Handbook of Natural Gas Transmission and Processing is a unique, well-documented, and comprehensive work on the major aspects of natural gas transmission and processing. Two new chapters have been added to the new edition: a chapter on nitrogen rejection to address today's high nitrogen gases and a chapter on gas processing plant operations to assist plant operators with optimizing their plant operations. In addition, overall updates to Handbook of Natural Gas Transmission and Processing provide a fresh look at new technologies and opportunities for solving current gas processing problems on plant design and operation and on greenhouse gases emissions. It also does an excellent job of highlighting the key considerations that must be taken into account for any natural gas project in development.

• Covers all technical and operational aspects of natural gas transmission and processing in detail.
• Provides pivotal updates on the latest technologies, applications and solutions.
• Offers practical advice on design and operation based on engineering principles and operating experiences.

Chapter 1

Natural Gas Fundamentals

Abstract

Natural gas is the most energy efficient fossil fuel—it offers important energy saving benefits when it is used instead of oil or coal. Although the primary use of natural gas is as a fuel, it is also a source of hydrocarbons for petrochemical feedstock and a major source of elemental sulfur, an important industrial chemical. Its popularity as an energy source is expected to grow substantially in the future because natural gas can help achieve two important energy goals for the twenty-first century—providing the sustainable energy supplies and services needed for social and economic development and reducing adverse impacts on global climate and the environment in general. This chapter gives the reader an introduction to natural gas by describing the origin and composition of natural gas, gas sources, phase behavior and properties, and transportation methods.

Keywords

Composition; Natural gas origin; Phase behavior; Properties; Transportation methods

1.1. Introduction

Natural gas is the most energy efficient fossil fuel—it offers important energy saving benefits when it is used instead of oil or coal. Although the primary use of natural gas is as a fuel, it is also a source of hydrocarbons for petrochemical feedstock and a major source of elemental sulfur, an important industrial chemical. Its popularity as an energy source is expected to grow substantially in the future because natural gas can help achieve two important energy goals for the twenty-first century—providing the sustainable energy supplies and services needed for social and economic development and reducing adverse impacts on global climate and the environment in general. Natural gas consumption and trade have been growing steadily over the past two decades and natural gas has strengthened its position in the world energy mix. Although natural gas demand declined in 2009, as a result of the economic slowdown, it is expected to resume growth in both emerging and traditional markets in the coming decades. Such increase in the near future will be driven because of additional demand in current uses, primarily power generation. There is yet little overlap between the use of natural gas and oil in all large markets. However, there are certain moves in the horizon, including the electrifying of transportation, which will push natural gas use to ever higher levels.

This chapter gives the reader an introduction to natural gas by describing the origin and composition of natural gas, gas sources, phase behavior and properties, and transportation methods.

1.2. Natural gas history

The discovery of natural gas dates from ancient times in the Middle East. It was considered by ancients to be a supernatural manifestation. Noticed only when ignited, it appeared as a mysterious fire bursting from fissures in the ground. Natural gas seeps were discovered in Iran between 6000 and 2000 BC. The practical use of natural gas dates back to the Chinese of 2500 years ago, who used bamboo pipes to collect it from natural seeps and convey it to gas-fired evaporators, where it was used to boil ocean water for the salt. Apparently, natural gas was unknown in Europe until its discovery in England in 1659. However, since manufactured gas (coal gas) was already commercially available, natural gas remained unpopular. In 1815, natural gas was discovered in the United States during the digging of a salt-brine well in Charleston, West Virginia. In 1821, an American gunsmith named William Aaron Hart drilled the first natural gas well in the United States. It was covered with a large barrel, and the gas was directed through wooden pipes that were replaced a few years later with lead pipe. One of the earliest attempts of monetization occurred in 1824 in Fredonia, New York, which led to the formation of the first natural gas company in the United States, the Fredonia Gas Light Company, in 1858.

The nineteenth century is considered as the starting point of the gas industry. In the early 1900s, huge amounts of natural gas were found in Texas and Oklahoma, and in the 1920s modern seamless steel pipe was introduced. The strength of this new pipe, which could be welded into long sections, allowed gas to be carried under higher pressures and, thus, in greater quantities. As the technology to create seamless steel pipe and related equipment advanced, the size and length of pipelines increased, as did the volumes of gas that could be transported easily and safely over many miles. The first natural gas pipeline longer than 200 miles was built in 1925, from Louisiana to Texas.

Steady growth in the use of gas marked the early and mid-twentieth century. However, it was the shortages of crude oil in the late 1960s and early 1970s that forced major industrial nations to seek energy alternatives. Since those events, gas has become a central fossil fuel energy source. Today, natural gas has become extremely important as a concentrated, clean fuel for home heating and co...