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Lecture 12,14,15 Gaseous Fuels
Lecture 12,14,15 Gaseous Fuels
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Gaseous Fuels
• Gaseous fuels are obtained either naturally or by the treatment of
solid or liquid fuel.
• Among the naturally occurring gaseous fuels natural gas and liquefied
petroleum gas are the most important.
• These gases have high calorific value.
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Gaseous Fuels
Gaseous fuels in common use are:
• Natural gas
• Liquefied petroleum gas
• Producer gas
• Coke oven gas
• Blast furnace gas
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Natural Gas
• Natural Gas is a clean, safe, efficient and environment friendly fuel. It contributes
about 46% of the total primary energy supply mix in the country.
• Pakistan has an extensive gas network of over 12,202 Km Transmission 119,736
KM Distribution and 32,823 Services gas pipelines to cater the requirement of
more than 8.4 Million consumers across the country by providing about 4 Billion
Cubic Feet per day natural gas.
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How Does Natural Gas Form?
Natural gas forms over millions of years from the decomposition,
deep burial of organic (plant and animal) matter under intense
pressure and heat . It is contained in rock formations such as shale.
Shale is plentiful in Pennsylvania. Origin of Oil and Gas is same.
Natural Gas
• The only gas occurring in nature.
• May be found with (associated) or without (unassociated) crude oil.
• Contains 60 to 90% methane, rest are propane, butane, heavier and more
complex hydrocarbons, carbon dioxide and nitrogen plus some helium.
Use of Natural Gas?
Natural gas is used as a fuel for heating, cooking, electricity generation, industry
and in the production of synthetic materials such as paint, fertilizer, plastic,
antifreeze, and more.
Although the burning of natural gas produces carbon dioxide, it is considered a
much cleaner fossil fuel than coal or petroleum. Slightly more than half of the
homes in the United States use natural gas as their main heating fuel.
Natural Gas
Natural gas is obtained from deposits in sedimentary rock formations which are also
sources of oil.
It is extracted from production fields and piped (at approximately 90 bar) to a
processing plant where condensable hydrocarbons are extracted from the raw product.
It is then distributed in a high-pressure mains system.
Pressure losses are made up by intermediate booster stations and the pressure is
dropped to around 2500 Pa in governor installations where gas is taken from the mains
and enters local distribution networks.
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Composition of Natural Gas
The composition of a natural gas will vary according to where it was extracted from, but
the principal constituent is always methane.
There are generally small quantities of higher hydrocarbons together with around 1% by
volume of inert gas (mostly nitrogen).
The characteristics of a typical natural gas are:
Composition (% vol)
CH4 92
other HC 5
inert gases 3
Density (kg/m3) 0.7
Gross calorific value (MJ/m3) 41
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Important Impurities
• Water
• Most gas produced contains water, which must be removed.
• Concentrations range from trace amounts to saturation.
• Sulfur species
• If the hydrogen sulfide (H2S) concentration is greater than 2 to 3%, carbonyl sulfide
(COS), carbon disulfide (CS2), elemental sulfur, and mercaptans may be present.
• Oxygen.
• Some gas-gathering systems operate below atmospheric pressure. As a result of leaking
pipelines, open valves, and other system compromises, oxygen is an important impurity
to monitor.
• A significant amount of corrosion in gas processing is related to oxygen.
QA 10
Natural Gas Processing
Certain processes have to be carried out.
1. Separation of liquid and gas. Liquid may be a hydrocarbon present
in the gas well along with the gas.
2. Dehydration. Water is corrosive and hydrates may form which will
plug the flow. Water will also reduce the calorific value of the gas.
3. Desulfurization. Presence of hydrogen sulfide is undesirable. The
gas is called sour. When the sulfur is removed the gas is
sweetened.
Processing
• Purification.
• Removal of materials, valuable or not, that inhibit the use of the gas as an
industrial or residential fuel
• Separation.
• Splitting out of components that have greater value as petrochemical
feedstocks, stand alone fuels (e.g., propane), or industrial gases (e.g., ethane,
helium)
• Liquefaction.
• Increase of the energy density of the gas for storage or transportation
QA 12
Separation of Natural gasoline from Wet
Gas
• Compression: Gas is compressed to 2400 kN/m2 , then cooled to 300 K where
heavy HC separated , Then gas is further cooled to 270-275 K where remaining
gasoline is separated.
• Absorption: Natural gasoline is absorbed by light gas oil flowing countercurrently.
Solvent is heated and passed to stripping column in which gasoline is removed
with steam.
• Adsorption: Gasoline is adsorbed on charcoal. Adsorbed HC are removed from
charcoal steam.
Natural Gas
Natural gas may be used as
Compressed Natural Gas (CNG).
“Natural” gas when made artificially it is called substitute, or synthetic or supple-
mental natural gas (SNG).
• It is used for production of H2 which is synthesis gas.
• It is used for production of NH3 fertilizer.
G E N E R I C R A W G A S A N D P R O D U C T S L AT E
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Natural Gas
• Natural gas comprises of:
• Methane (major constituent)
• Ethane
• Propane
• Butane
• Pentane
• Nitrogen
• Carbon Dioxide
• Traces of other gases and sulphur compounds
• Non-associated gas
• Non-associated gas occurs in reservoirs that contain little or no crude oil
• It is sometimes referred to as gas-well gas or dry gas.
QA 17
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Traditional natural gas
• Traditional natural gases, that is, associated and unassociated gas from
wells, vary substantially in composition
• Water is almost always present at wellhead conditions
• Unless the gas has been dehydrated before it reaches the gas
processing plant, the common practice is to assume the entering gas is
saturated with water at the plant inlet conditions.
QA 19
Natural Gases commonly are classified:
QA 20
Liquid Content
• The more liquids in the gas, the “richer” the gas.
• To quantify the liquids content of a natural gas mixture, the industry uses GPM, or
gallons of liquids recoverable per 1,000 standard cubic feet of gas.
• Determination of the GPM requires knowledge of the gas composition on a mole
basis and the gallons of liquid per lb-mole.
• The rich and lean terms refer to the amount of recoverable hydrocarbons
present. The terms are relative, but a lean gas will usually be 1 GPM,
whereas a rich gas may contain 3 or more GPM
QA 21
Sulfur Content
Sweet and sour refer to the sulfur (generally H2S) content.
• A sweet gas contains negligible amounts of H2S
• A sour gas has unacceptable quantities of H2S, which result to odor and
corrosion.
• When present with water, H2S is corrosive. The corrosion products are iron
sulfides, FeSX, a fine black powder.
QA 22
Compressed Natural Gas
Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) as an alternate fuel
for auto-motives in order to control environmental
degradation, reduce foreign exchange expenditure on
import of liquid fuel.
Liquefied Natural Gas
Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas (predominantly
methane, CH4)that has been cooled down to liquid form
for ease and safety of non-pressurized storage or
transport..
Liquefied Petroleum Gas
Mixture of two gases, Propane (C3 H8) & Butane
(C4H10) (60% Butane and 40% Propane)
Although they are normally used as gases, they are
stored and transported as liquids under pressure for
convenience and ease of handling
LPG Advantages
LPG has a higher calorific value than Natural Gas
In Pakistan, due to acute shortage of existing energy resources, exploring
alternate energy sources is high on the agenda of the Govt of Pakistan.
LPG is a clean, easily transportable fuel with multiple applications thereby
making it the ideal alternative to natural gas.
The combustion of LPG is smoother due to the higher octane content.
It is environmental friendly.
However it can be used in remote areas where ordinary gas supplies are
unavailable.
LPG Market has enormous potential for expansion.
LPG - Hazards & Precautions
• LPG vapor is denser than air, consequently, the vapor may flow along the
ground and into drains sinking to the lowest level of the surroundings and be
ignited at a considerable distance from the source of leakage.
• Escape of even small quantities of the liquefied gas can give rise to
large volumes of vapor / air mixture and thus cause considerable
hazard.
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LPG Use in Developing
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QA 42
Syngas Production
QA 43
Producer Gas
QA 44
The calorific value of producer gas is low as compaed to
other gaseous fuels.
The low calorific value is due to the presence of large
excess of non combustible gases like nitrogen and carbon
dioxide.
Blast Furnace Gas
• Blast furnace gas (BFG) is a by-product of blast furnaces that is
generated when the iron ore is reduced with coke to metallic iron.
• It consists of:
• Nitrogen (50-60%)
• Carbon dioxide (18-20%)
• Methane(20 %)
• Hydrogen (4%)
• Oxygen
• Carbon monoxide
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Coke Oven Gas
• Coke gas is created by high-temperature decomposition of
coking coals in the absence of oxygen.
• The gas mainly consists of hydrogen (50-60%), methane (25-
30%) and a small percentage of carbon monoxide, carbon and
nitrogen.
48
Town gas (Coal Gas)
The original source of the gas which was distributed to towns and cities
by supply utilities was from the gasification of coal.
The gas was produced by heating the raw coal in the absence of air to
drive off the volatile products.
This was essentially a two-stage process, with the carbon in the coal
being initially oxidized to carbon dioxide, followed by a reduction to
carbon monoxide C + O2 → CO2
CO2 + C → 2CO
49
Town Gas
A typical town gas produced by this process has the following
properties:
Composition (% vol)
(H2 48%, CO 5%, CH4 34%, CO2 13%)
• Russia • Nigeria
• Iran • Algeria
• Qatar • Venezuela
• Saudi Arabia • Iraq
• United Arab Emirates
• United States
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