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Natural Gas
what the frack
(by Marie, Callie, Hayley, Josie, and Carlie
(RIP))
What the frack is it?
● fossil fuel formed when layers of
buried plants, gases, and animals are
exposed to intense heat and pressure
over thousands of years.
● energy originally obtained from sun is
stored in the form of chemical bonds
● hydrocarbon gas mixture consisting of
primarily methane
History of Natural Gas
★ Oracle at Delphi built around gas
which created an “eternal flame” in
the ground
★ Chinese created crude pipelines to
boil sea water
★ Britain used gas from coal to fuel
street lamps
★ America has first commercialized
gas company in Maryland
★ More than 900 gas systems in US
today
Science of natural gas ●
composed of decayed organic
matter
● mainly methane (70-90%)
● only loses 10% of energy
● Kinda renewable? Some natural
gas can be plentiful in landfills,
created from degradable matter
in trash
o but this takes a long time
and landfills cannot meet
demand
Production of Natural Gas
● found in deep underground reservoirs
● fracking- drilling and injecting fluid into the ground at a
high pressure in order to fracture shale rocks to release
natural gas inside
● more than 500,000 active natural gas wells in the US.
● Gas with hydrogen sulfide has bad odor, but before the
natural gas is supplied to consumers, hydrogen sulfide
and carbon dioxide are removed.
● Remaining gas is odorless, so to detect gas leaks, strong
smelling substances (thiols or mercaptans) are added
● Most of the natural gas obtained from petroleum deposits
is wet gas—natural gas that contains a relatively large
proportion of heavy hydrocarbons that condense into
liquid form under ordinary conditions of pressure and
temperature.
How does it become electricity?
➔burning natural
gas
➔steam
➔turbines move
➔ELECTRICITY
Uses of Natural Gas
★ 28% of US energy needs
★ Heats 51% of homes
★ Used for cooking
★ Fleets of natural gas powered trucks and
buses because it burns cleaner
Production
★ certain amounts of natural gas occur in all areas where
petroleum occurs
★ leading producers: Russia, United States
○ accounts for over ½ the production
○ almost ⅔ of US production comes from Texas,
Louisiana, and Oklahoma
Natural Gas Production—California
★ imports 90% of its natural gas
★ imports delivered from interstate pipelines
from the Southwest, Rocky Mountains, and
Canada.
★ California is vulnerable to disruptions in
supply and fluctuations in transportation
prices
Transportation
● system of welded steel pipes
● US: pipelines more than 1,000
miles
● pressure maintained by
compressor stations 50-100
miles apart
● shipment by sea: gas turned
into liquid
o this can be serious
explosive hazard
Transportation in US
How effective is it?
★ one of cleanest burning alternative fuels,
cheaper than gas
★ roughly 20-45% less smog produced, about
5-9% less greenhouse gas emissions
★ 1 kilowatt hour of electricity = 0.00786 MCF
(1,000 ft) natural gas
★ most reserves are underutilized
drawbacks
-emits greenhouse gasses
-non-renewable
-methane spills during transportation
-highly flammable
-leak detection very difficult
Climate Affects
● although C02 emissions are less than coal, it still affects the environment by
contributing to the greenhouse effect.
❖ Acid rain
❖ ground-level ozone
❖ damage to cropland and forests by
drilling
Sources
http://www.energyquest.ca.gov/story/chapter08.html
http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/bifueltech.shtml
http://www.apga.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=3329
http://www.api.org/oil-and-natural-gas-overview/exploration-and-production/natural-gas/natural-gas-uses
http://www.davidsuzuki.org/issues/climate-change/science/energy/natural-gas/
http://geology.com/articles/natural-gas-uses/