Where Does The Natural Gas I Use In My Home Come From?
You may have heard of the term 'food miles'. It refers to how far the food on your plate has to travel from where it was produced to get to your kitchen. This is helpful measure for consumers who wish to lower their carbon footprint by buying food that generated less carbon emissions in its journey from farm gate to plate. But what about the gas you used to cook your food. Where does it come from? How did it get from deep beneath the surface of the earth to burning bright blue on your stove-top?
* How do they find it?
Natural gas is created when organic material, such as plants and animals, are buried under layers of sand, silt and sediment. As the material decays certain organisms produce methane gas, which can be extracted and used. Geologists and geophysicists the surface of the earth in promising areas using seismic survey technology. If an area looks to contain gas, an exploration well is drilled to confirm the result.
* How do they process it?
Once the gas has been captured from a well it is transported by pipeline to a processing facility. Natural gas is actually a combination of several different compounds including water vapour, acid gases, oil vapours, nitrogen, helium and heavier natural gases alongside the desirable methane. These contaminants are stripped away from the methane in a process known as refining, which includes chemically treating the raw gas, low temperature distillation and passing it through special membranes that trap unwanted elements but allow methane to pass through. At the end of the process the various components can be refined and processed into useful compounds and the natural gas can be sent along to the consumer.
* How is it transported?
Natural gas is not an easy substance to store or transport due to its low density and highly flammable nature. Across land, natural gas is most often transported in pipelines made of carbon steel. These pipes are buried a few feet underground and can be anywhere from 2 to 60 inches in diameter. Such pipelines are impractical when the gas needs to be transported over oceans. In such cases, the gas is cooled until it condenses into a liquid state and pumped into Liquid Natural Gas carriers. LNG carriers are some of the largest ships in the world and keep the gas cold enough so it remains a liquid where it can be pumped off at port.
Whether your gas travels by pipeline or ship, it is ultimately routed to your home buy a network of pumping stations and substations. The gas you use to cooked your meals or heat your home may have crossing continents and oceans to do so and it has come a long way from the well where it was discovered.
* How do they find it?
Natural gas is created when organic material, such as plants and animals, are buried under layers of sand, silt and sediment. As the material decays certain organisms produce methane gas, which can be extracted and used. Geologists and geophysicists the surface of the earth in promising areas using seismic survey technology. If an area looks to contain gas, an exploration well is drilled to confirm the result.
* How do they process it?
Once the gas has been captured from a well it is transported by pipeline to a processing facility. Natural gas is actually a combination of several different compounds including water vapour, acid gases, oil vapours, nitrogen, helium and heavier natural gases alongside the desirable methane. These contaminants are stripped away from the methane in a process known as refining, which includes chemically treating the raw gas, low temperature distillation and passing it through special membranes that trap unwanted elements but allow methane to pass through. At the end of the process the various components can be refined and processed into useful compounds and the natural gas can be sent along to the consumer.
* How is it transported?
Natural gas is not an easy substance to store or transport due to its low density and highly flammable nature. Across land, natural gas is most often transported in pipelines made of carbon steel. These pipes are buried a few feet underground and can be anywhere from 2 to 60 inches in diameter. Such pipelines are impractical when the gas needs to be transported over oceans. In such cases, the gas is cooled until it condenses into a liquid state and pumped into Liquid Natural Gas carriers. LNG carriers are some of the largest ships in the world and keep the gas cold enough so it remains a liquid where it can be pumped off at port.
Whether your gas travels by pipeline or ship, it is ultimately routed to your home buy a network of pumping stations and substations. The gas you use to cooked your meals or heat your home may have crossing continents and oceans to do so and it has come a long way from the well where it was discovered.
Source...