Properties of Natural Gas Systems

Phase behavior of Natural gas

 NATURAL GAS PROPERTIES
Natural gas is colorless, odorless, tasteless, shapeless, and lighter than air.

The natural gas after appropriate treatment for acid gas reduction, odorization,
and hydrocarbon and moisture dew point adjustment would then be sold within
prescribed limits of pressure, calorific value, and possibly Wobbe index(often
referred to as the Wobbe number).

The Wobbe index (calorific value divided by the specific gravity) gives
a measure of the heat input to an appliance through a given aperture at
a given gas pressure.
Properties of natural gas
 Since natural gas as delivered to pipelines has practically no odor, the
addition of an odorant is required by most regulations in order that the
presence of the gas can be detected readily in case of accidents and leaks.
This odorization is provided by the addition of trace amounts of some
organic sulfur compounds to the gas before it reaches the consumer. The
sulfur compound, a chemical odorant (a mercaptan also called athiol with
the general formula R-SH and the odor of rotten eggs), is added to natural
gas so that it can be smelled if there is a gas leak.
The standard requirement is that a user will be able to detect the presence of
the gas by odor when the concentration reaches 1% of gas in air. Since the
lower limit of flammability of natural gas is approximately 5%, this
requirement is equivalent to one-fifth the lower limit of flammability.
The combustion of these trace amounts of odorant does not create any
serious problems of sulfur content or toxicity. The following section
discusses important gas properties, including specific gravity,
compressibility factor, formation volume factor, density, and viscosity
 Gas-Specific Gravity
Specific gravity of gas is defined as
Where M air is the molecular weight of air, which is equal to 29.
Once we can calculate the value of the molecular weight of the mixture, we
can calculate the specific gravity of the mixture. For a gas mixture, we can
calculate the molecular weight as where Mi is the molecular weight of
component i, yi is the mole fraction of component i, and n is the total
number of components.

Various gas properties, including the molecular weights for pure

components, are given in Table 1-3.
 Ideal and Real Gas Laws
The volume of a real gas is usually less than what the volume of an ideal gas
would be, and hence a real gas is said to be super compressible.
The ratio of the real volume to the ideal volume, which is a measure of the
amount the gas deviates from perfect behavior, is called the super
compressibility factor, sometimes shortened to the compressibility factor.
It is also called the gas deviation factor and is given the symbol Z.
The gas deviation factor is, by definition, the ratio of the volume actually
occupied by a gas at a given pressure and temperature to the volume it would
occupy if it behaved ideally. The real gas equation of state is then written as
Ideal and Real Gas Laws cont..
Gas formation volume factor
Gas density
 Gas Viscosity
just as the compressibility of natural gas is much higher than that of
oil, water, or rock, the viscosity of natural gas is usually several orders
of magnitude lower than oil or water.
This makes gas much more mobile in the reservoir than either oil or
water. Reliable correlation charts are available to estimate gas
viscosity, and the viscosity of gas mixtures at one atmosphere and
reservoir temperature can be determined from the gas mixture
composition:
Variation of gas viscosity with temperature.
 Gas Viscosity
Where ga is the viscosity of the gas mixture at the desired temperature
and atmospheric pressure, yi is the mole fraction of the ith component.

ga is the viscosity of the ith component of the gas mixture at the desired
temperature and atmospheric pressure.
Mgi is the molecular weight of the ith component of the gas mixture, and N
is the number of components in the gas mixture.
 Quality
The amount of energy that is obtained from the burning of a volume of natural gas is
measured in British thermal units (Btu). The value of natural gas is calculated by its
Btu content. The energy content of natural gas is variable and depends on its
accumulations, which are influenced by the amount and types of energy gases they
contain: the more noncombustible gases in a natural gas, the lower the Btu value. In
addition, the volume mass of energy gases that are present in a natural gas
accumulation also influences the Btu value of natural gas.
The more carbon atoms in a hydrocarbon gas, the higher its Btu value. Btu analyses
of natural gas are done at each stage of the supply chain. Gas chromatographic
process analyzers are used in order to conduct fractional analysis of the natural gas
streams, separating natural gas into identifiable components. The components and
their concentrations are converted into a gross heating value in Btu-cubic foot.
Normally, natural gas as it is when extracted is not suitable for pipeline transportation
or commercial use before being processed. Pipelines set their specifications for the
quality of natural gas. In any case, natural gas must be processed in order to remove
unwanted water vapor, solids, or other contaminants and to get those hydrocarbons
that have a higher value as separate products