Health & Environmental Research Online (HERO)


Print Feedback Export to File
6108166 
Journal Article 
Production of Hydrocarbons from Natural Gas 
Speight, JG; Speight, JG 
2011 
Gulf Professional Publishing 
Boston 
Handbook of Industrial Hydrocarbon Processes 
127-162 
WOS:000323512200005 
Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the production of hydrocarbons from natural gas. Natural gas, which is predominantly methane, occurs in underground reservoirs separately or in association with crude oil. The principal types of hydrocarbons produced from natural gas are methane (CH4) and varying amounts of higher-molecular-weight hydrocarbons from ethane (CH3CH3) to octane [CH3 (CH2)6CH3]. While natural gas is predominantly a mixture of combustible hydrocarbons, many natural gases also contain nitrogen (N2) as well as carbon dioxide (CO2) and hydrogen sulfide (H2S). The gas from coal (town gas) is a mixture of methane and other gases, mainly carbon monoxide, which can be used in a similar way to natural gas. Although coal gasification is not usually economic at current gas prices, the depletion of petroleum and gas reserves, and related infrastructure considerations, allows coal to be a viable future option for gas production and (via the Fischer–Tropsch process) a plentiful source of hydrocarbons. 
Speight, James G.