One of the world’s most preferred fossil fuel is natural gas. Experts believe that the energy has the potential of becoming the world’s number one in the coming decades. In its structure, natural gas has varied composition, which makes it more expedient. Principally, consumers have been receiving methane that contains a small amount of heavy hydrocarbon and ethane as natural gas (Franco et al. 112). Natural gas, however, has its specific definition, how it was formed, and history, its existence in the United States and the world, and itemized location.
The Natural Gas Definition
Natural gas is considered the world’s absolute produce in energy sector. This fuel is one of the innocuous, uncontaminated, and useful compared to all other coals. The outstanding characteristics of the gasoline are its explosive nature and the gaseous mixture of hydrocarbon compounds found in its structure before its processing. Some porous rocks are made to have aptitude of harboring methane as the primary constituent. Other substances such as propane, ethane, and pentane are the ingredients of this gas but appear in small quantities in every sample of the whole product (Zhang et al. 34). During burning, the gas produces carbon dioxide as the primary product, small amounts of nitrogen, and water vapor.
The Formation of Natural Gas
The occurrence of natural gas is similar to oil, with the decomposed organic matter being the main opus. The decomposition is typical dependent on marine microorganisms, working on deposits of over 550 million years (Zhang et al. 42). Once in its location, silt, mud, and sand gradually burry the deposits while introducing oxygen. The materials are subjected to pressure and heat in a natural way, breaking down the substance to hydrocarbons. These dregs occur in gaseous state while in standard conditions, but in a refined state, the organic substance produces natural gas.
The History of Natural Gas
The first users of natural gas were the Japanese and the Chinese. At this time, the transportation was through bamboo pipes because of the underdeveloped state of the world. The widespread of this product started making headlines in 1821, in New York State (Ristenen et al. 41). Later, numerous sources of this product were discovered in the United States with Texas and Kansas becoming leaders in production. The development of this commodity was slow due to lack of pipe systems (Xie et al. 67). The rapid expansion of using energy took place during and after World War II, consequently, making it advance to a level of being the most admired and used energy.
The natural gas in the Unites States and the World and where found
Since its first discoveries in Alaska to 2012, the production of natural gas recorded 1235 trillion cubic feet (tcf). There has been a substantial improvement in reserves because of the technological growth (Ristenen et al. 43). The preponderance of the consumable gas is produced domestically, unlike oil, which manufacturing process is commercial. Many more countries are now producing the energy across the world, with the United States’ reserves constituting only 3 percent of the entire world’s stock. Some of the conceivable signs for natural gas are oil seeps because gas and oil are in some scenarios found together. It means the principal place where natural gas is found is underground in rocks suitable for holding gas.
In conclusion, natural gas is the safest, the cleanest, and the most useful energy among its other types in the current world. The secret to this is that the fuel produces clean products when burning and, thus, its destructive mechanism in terms of pollution is feeble. The product has a rich history; the United States was its place of origin before spreading to the rest of the world. The product is found underground, due to compositions of organic matter in the form of gases, before lodging in specific rocks.
Works Cited
Franco, S, De Almeida., et al. “A Comprehensive Approach to Evaluate Feed Stream Composition Effect on Natural Gas Processing Unit Energy Consumption.” Journal of Natural Gas Science and Engineering, vol. 83, no.2, 2020, pp. 111-167. d
Ristenen, Robert, et al. Energy and Environment. John Wiley & Sons, 2020.
Xie, Yan., et al. “Review on the Accumulation Behavior of Natural Gas Hydrates in Porous Sediments.” Journal of Natural Gas Science and Engineering, vol.83, 2020, pp. 67-118.
Zhang, Haitao., et al. “Oedometer Test of Natural Gas Hydrate-Bearing Sands: Particle-Scale Simulation.” Journal of Natural Gas Science and Engineering, vol.84, 2020, pp. 21-56.