Compressed natural gas (CNG)

Compressed natural gas (CNG) is a fossil fuel substitute for gasoline (petrol), diesel, or propane/LPG. Although its combustion does produce greenhouse gases, it is a more environmentally clean alternative to those fuels, and it is much safer than other fuels in the event of a spill (natural gas is lighter than air, and disperses quickly when released). CNG may also be mixed with biogas, produced from landfills or wastewater, which doesn't increase the concentration of carbon in the atmosphere. CNG is made by compressing natural gas (which is mainly composed of methane [CH4]), to less than 1% of the volume it occupies at standard atmospheric pressure. It is stored and distributed in hard containers at a pressure of 200248 bar (29003600 psi), usually in cylindrical or spherical shapes.

Natural Gas
Natural gas is a naturally occurring hydrocarbon gas mixture consisting primarily of methane, with up to 20 % of other hydrocarbons as well as impurities in varying amounts such as carbon dioxide. Natural gas is widely used as an important energy source in many applications including heating buildings, generating electricity, providing heat and power to industry, as fuel for vehicles and as a chemical feedstock in the manufacture of products such as plastics and other commercially important organic chemicals. Natural gas is found in deep underground natural rock formations or associated with other hydrocarbon reservoirs, in coal beds, and as methane clathrates. Petroleum is also another resource found near and with natural gas. Most natural gas was created over time by two mechanisms: biogenic and thermogenic. Biogenic gas is created by methanogenic organisms in marshes, bogs, landfills, and shallow sediments. Deeper in the earth, at greater temperature and pressure, thermogenic gas is created from buried organic material.[2][3] Before natural gas can be used as a fuel, it must undergo processing to clean the gas and remove impurities including water in order to meet the specifications of marketable natural gas. The byproducts of processing include ethane, propane, butanes, pentanes, and higher molecular weight hydrocarbons, hydrogen sulphide (which may be converted into pure sulfur), carbon dioxide, water vapor, and sometimes helium and nitrogen. Natural gas is often informally referred to simply as gas, especially when compared to other energy sources such as oil or coal.

Natural-gas processing
Natural-gas processing is a complex industrial process designed to clean raw natural gas by separating impurities and various non-methane hydrocarbons and fluids to produce what is known as pipeline quality dry natural gas. Natural-gas processing begins at the well head. The composition of the raw natural gas extracted from producing wells depends on the type, depth, and location of the underground deposit and the geology of the area. Oil and natural gas are often found together in the same reservoir. The natural gas produced from oil wells is generally classified as associated-dissolved, meaning that the natural gas is associated with or dissolved in crude oil. Natural gas production absent any association with

crude oil is classified as non-associated. In 2004, 75 percent of U.S. wellhead production of natural gas was non-associated Most natural-gas production contains, to varying degrees, small (two to eight carbons) hydrocarbon (any class of compound containing only hydrogen and carbon; examples include methane gas (CH4), benzene (C6H6), and butane (C4H10). Although they exist in a liquid state at underground pressures, these molecules will become gaseous at normal atmospheric pressure. Collectively, they are called condensates or natural gas liquids (NGLs). The natural gas extracted from coal reservoirs and mines (coalbed methane) is the primary exception, being essentially a mix of mostly methane and carbon dioxide (about 10 percent). Natural-gas processing plants purify raw natural gas produced from underground gas fields or extracted at the surface from fluids produced by oil wells. A fully operational plant delivers pipelinequality natural gas that can be used as fuel by residential, commercial and industrial consumers. In the plant, contaminants are removed and heavier hydrocarbons are captured for other commercial uses. For economic reasons, however, some plants may be designed to yield an intermediate product typically containing over 90% pure methane and smaller amounts of nitrogen, carbon dioxide, and sometimes ethane.

Types of raw-natural-gas wells

Crude oil wells

Natural gas that comes from crude oil wells is typically termed associated gas. This gas can have existed as a gas cap above the crude oil in the underground formation, or could have been dissolved in the crude oil.

Gas wells

Natural gas from gas wells and from condensate wells, in which there is little or no crude oil, is termed non-associated gas. Gas wells typically produce only raw natural gas.

Condensate wells

Condensate wells produce raw natural gas along with other low molecular weight hydrocarbons. Those that are liquid at ambient conditions (i.e., pentane and heavier) are called natural gas condensate (sometimes also called natural gasoline or simply condensate).

Natural gas is termed sweet gas when relatively free of hydrogen sulfide; however, gas that does contain hydrogen sulfide is called sour gas. Raw natural gas can also come from methane deposits in the pores of coal seams, and especially in a more concentrated state of adsorption onto the surface of the coal itself. Such gas is referred to as coalbed gas or coalbed methane (Coal seam gas in Australia). Coalbed gas has become an important source of energy in recent decades.