Natural Gas Processing from Midstream to Downstream

Nimir O. Elbashir, Mahmoud M. El-Halwagi, Ioannis G. Economou, Kenneth R. Hall, Nimir O. Elbashir, Mahmoud M. El-Halwagi, Ioannis G. Economou, Kenneth R. Hall

• Publisher: Wiley
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9781119270256
• eBook ISBN: 9781119269625
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Physical Sciences
• Subtopic: Energy

A comprehensive review of the current status and challenges for natural gas and shale gas production, treatment and monetization technologies

Natural Gas Processing from Midstream to Downstream presents an international perspective on the production and monetization of shale gas and natural gas. The authors review techno-economic assessments of the midstream and downstream natural gas processing technologies.

Comprehensive in scope, the text offers insight into the current status and the challenges facing the advancement of the midstream natural gas treatments. Treatments covered include gas sweeting processes, sulfur recovery units, gas dehydration and natural gas pipeline transportation.

The authors highlight the downstream processes including physical treatment and chemical conversion of both direct and indirect conversion. The book also contains an important overview of natural gas monetization processes and the potential for shale gas to play a role in the future of the energy market, specifically for the production of ultra-clean fuels and value-added chemicals. This vital resource:

• Provides fundamental chemical engineering aspects of natural gas technologies
• Covers topics related to upstream, midstream and downstream natural gas treatment and processing
• Contains well-integrated coverage of several technologies and processes for treatment and production of natural gas
• Highlights the economic factors and risks facing the monetization technologies
• Discusses supply chain, environmental and safety issues associated with the emerging shale gas industry
• Identifies future trends in educational and research opportunities, directions and emerging opportunities in natural gas monetization
• Includes contributions from leading researchers in academia and industry

Written for Industrial scientists, academic researchers and government agencies working on developing and sustaining state-of-the-art technologies in gas and fuels production and processing, Natural Gas Processing from Midstream to Downstream provides a broad overview of the current status and challenges for natural gas production, treatment and monetization technologies.

1
Introduction to Natural Gas Monetization

Nimir O. Elbashir

Petroleum Engineering Program, Texas A&M University at Qatar, Qatar

TEES Gas and Fuels Research Center, Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station, USA

Chapter Menu

1. 1.1 Introduction
2. 1.2 Natural Gas Chain
3. 1.3 Monetization Routes for Natural Gas
4. 1.4 Natural Gas Conversion to Chemicals and Fuels
5. 1.5 Summary

1.1 Introduction

Natural gas, mainly methane, has been known and utilized since the ancient Greek and Chinese civilizations. Natural gas began playing a prominent role in the energy market as early as the 1780s, during the start of the Industrial Revolution, where it was used in the United Kingdom as a source of lighting for homes and streets. Baltimore became the first city in the United States to light its streets using natural gas by the mid‐1880s.

Currently, natural gas enjoys a significant share in the primary energy mix market compared to other fossil fuel sources (oil and coal) as well as renewables and other sources (hydro and nuclear). As shown in Figure 1.1 the contribution of natural gas as a primary energy source increased by almost 40% from 1995 to 2017, and as the fastest‐growing fuel per annum, its share is expected to reach 30% by 2035 [1, 2]. Countries with the largest natural gas reserves are Russia (∼1,688 trillion cubic feet (tcf)), Iran (∼1,187 tcf), Qatar (∼890 tcf), the United States of America (∼388.8 tcf), Turkmenistan (∼353 tcf), Saudi Arabia (∼290 tcf), United Arab Emirates (∼215 tcf), Venezuela (∼195 tcf), Nigeria (∼182 tcf), and Algeria (∼159 tcf). These countries control almost 80% of the proven global natural gas reserves [3].

The global demand for natural gas is shown in Figure 1.2. The figure shows the apparent rise of natural gas demand in the United States and the rest of the world as a result of the significant enhancement in shale gas production, while the forecast shows a slight decrease in demand for the European nations. The world's largest consumers of natural gas are the United States, Russia, China, and Iran, while the most significant producers are Russia, the United States, Canada, Qatar, and Iran.

Figure 1.1 The global energy sources and their forecasted shares (*Renewables includes wind, solar, geothermal, biomass, and biofuels) [1].

Figure 1.2 The past and the prospected demand of natural gas (data obtained from [2]).

Qatar, a small country in the Middle East, is a good example of a success story in natural gas production and monetization since it is the fourth‐largest producer of natural gas, globally [4]. At current reserves‐to‐production (R/P) rates, Qatar has more than 135 years' worth of natural gas [4]. Thus, natural gas will continue to be a major contributor to Qatar's economy for the foreseeable future. Qatar also aims to be at the forefront of developing innovative ways to monetize natural gas, not only in economic terms but also in environmental terms. This chapter sheds light on the differences in natural gas monetization pathways of major world players in this field, either as producers or as consumers, with a focus on Russia, the United States, and Qatar. The first section of this chapter will briefly highlight the differences between the significant monetization routes for natural gas while the second part will reflect the differences in natural gas moneti...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Table of Contents
• Dedication
• List of Contributors
• About the Editors
• Preface
• 1 Introduction to Natural Gas Monetization
• 2 Techno‐Economic Analyses and Policy Implications of Environmental Remediation of Shale Gas Wells in the Barnett Shales
• 3 Thermodynamic Modeling of Natural Gas and Gas Condensate Mixtures
• 4 CO2 Injection in Coal Formations for Enhanced Coalbed Methane and CO2 Sequestration
• 5 Fluid Flow: Basics
• 6 Fluid Flow: Advanced Topics
• 7 Use of Process Simulators Upstream Through Midstream
• 8 Optimization of Natural Gas Network Operation under Uncertainty
• 9 A Multicriteria Optimization Approach to the Synthesis of Shale Gas Monetization Supply Chains
• 10 Study for the Optimal Operation of Natural Gas Liquid Recovery and Natural Gas Production
• 11 Modeling and Optimization of Natural Gas Processing and Production Networks
• 12 Process Safety in Natural Gas Industries
• 13 Thermodynamic Modeling of Relevance to Natural Gas Processing
• 14 Light Alkane Aromatization: Efficient use of Natural Gas
• 15 Techno‐Economic Analysis of Monetizing Shale Gas to Butadiene
• 16 Fractionation of the Gas‐to‐Liquid Diesel Fuels for Production of On‐Specification Diesel and Value‐Added Chemicals
• 17 An Energy Integrated Approach to Design a Supercritical Fischer‐Tropsch Synthesis Products Separation and Solvent Recovery System
• 18 Multi‐Scale Models for the Prediction of Microscopic Structure and Physical Properties of Chemical Systems Related to Natural Gas Technology
• 19 Natural Gas to Acetylene (GTA)/Ethylene (GTE)/Liquid Fuels (GTL) The Synfuels International, Inc. Process
• 20 Natural‐Gas‐Based SOFC in Distributed Electricity Generation: Modeling and Control
• 21 Design of Synthetic Jet Fuel Using Multivariate Statistical Methods
• Index
• End User License Agreement