What is Natural Gas?
Natural gas is a type of gas that consists mainly of methane. It is found in coal beds and with other hydrocarbon fuels, and is both a major source of fuel and an important component in fertilizers. There are two major ways that natural gas is created: through biogenic and thermogenic mechanisms. Biogenic natural gas is created by organisms found in bogs, landfills, and marshes, while thermogenic gases come from organic material buried deep beneath the Earth’s surface, at areas of greater temperature and pressure.
Sources of natural gas
Biogas
Methane-rich natural gases can be produced by the anaerobic decay of organic matter, such as what is found in landfills, swamps, and marshes, as well as the digestion of sewage sludge and manure by various bacteria. For example, once water vapor is removed, methane accounts for about half of landfill gases.
Natural gas
Pure natural gas can be found in a number of places in nature, including oil fields, isolated in natural gas fields, and in coal beds, as a form of methane. It is often found this way in combination with heavier hydrocarbons such as propane and butane, which are removed and processed for commercial use before the remaining methane is sold for chemical plant feedstock or as a consumer material.
Town gas
Town gas is a mixture of methane and other gases (notably carbon monoxide) that is produced synthetically by treating coal chemically and it can be used in ways similar to natural gas. This form of gas creation is not currently economically viable due to current gas prices, though it is sometimes used in some local circumstances.
Uses of natural gas
Domestic use
Natural gas is supplied to homes in the United States through pipes, and is used for cooking, heating water, and central heating, gas-heated clothes dryers, and boilers and furnaces. A compressed form of natural gas can be used for portable gas grills as well.
Power generation
Many power plants generate electricity through the use of steam turbines and gas turbines (the two of which can be combined to achieve high rates of efficiency). Burning natural gas is the cleanest form of energy production using hydrocarbon fuels, as it emits 30 percent less carbon dioxide than petroleum and 45 percent less than coal. In addition, fuel cell technology is opening the way for even cleaner methods of electricity production through the use of natural gas.
Aviation
Natural gases such as kerosene can be used as aircraft fuel. Research is being done into the use of liquid methane for airplanes, since natural gas provides more energy than kerosene, while its lower temperature can help cool the air that the engine compresses for greater efficiency; it may also be used to reduce the temperature of an aircraft’s exhaust.