The Natural gas is a mixture of high calorific value gaseous fuel, formed in the bowels of the earth in the course of an evolutionary process of hundreds of thousands of years. The main component of the mixture that makes up the natural gas is a hydrocarbon called methane. The other components in very small quantities are other gases such as nitrogen oxides, carbon dioxide (CO2), or water vapor.

Where is it and how do we extract it?

Natural gas is, like oil, found in subsoil deposits in one of the following states:

Associated: When being extracted from the reservoir it's mixed with the crude.

Free or Not Associate: When found in a reservoir containing only gas.

Natural gas is found in deep underground reservoirs. In some areas of Colombia , the deposits of natural gas are under the ground surface as in Huila, Casanare, or the Magdalena Medio. Elsewhere, as in La Guajira, the deposits are found on the seabed. Natural gas is extracted by drilling until reaching the deposits. The discovery of gas fields is done through very complex geological explorations that can take several years.

Its composition, its specific gravity, molecular weight and calorific value are different in each reservoir. The range of variation of calorific value is between 900 and 1,400 BTU / PC.

How is it treated?

The presence of harmful substances makes it necessary to treat the natural gas, which means dehydrating, purifying and separating sulfur compounds. Also, before its transportation, is odorized adding substances of strong smell. This is a safety measure to alert against possible leaks.

Advantages of natural gas

Finding natural gas deposits; the extraction, treatment, transportation and distribution to the centers of consumption is a very complex process. It requires a long research, design, development, and advanced technological resources to ensure their safe use.

All these efforts and investments are justified considering the advantages that natural gas presents over other fuels, among which is worth highlighting the following:

Costs
The use of natural gas as fuel for domestic and industrial purposes is less expensive (one fifth) than the energy from hydropower plants.

Cleanness
The burning or combustion of natural gas produces much lower quantities of wastes (smoke, soot, volatiles toxic compounds) than other fuels (ACPM, fuel oil, gasoline, wood, coal, etc.). . In large industrial zones, the massive use of natural gas significantly improves air quality in the environment.

Environmental Conservation
Natural gas is a non contaminant, clean fuel. One of the purposes of the plan of mass consumption of natural gas is to promote the substitution of fuel wood consumption that today is used for domestic or industrial purposes.

Uses of Natural Gas
Natural gas is used as raw material or as fuel in the industrial, petrochemical, thermoelectric, domestic, commercial and transportation sectors. Its main use by sector is as follows:

 

SECTOR	USOS
INDUSTRIAL	Oil Refineries Glass Industry Nickel and iron Mining Food Industry Iron and steel	Pulp and paper Cement Industry Ceramic Textiles industries
PETROCHEMICAL	Urea Alcohols MTBE Ethylene ETC	Ammonium nitrate Aldehydes Acetylene Polyethylene
THERMOELECTRIC	Turbo generators Boilers (steam turbines) Combined Cycle Plant	Cycle "STIG" Plants Cogeneration Plants Trigeneration Plants
DOMESTIC - GENERAL	Kitchens Clothes Dryers Refrigeration and air conditioning	Water Heaters Heating Restaurants Hotels
GAS NATURAL FOR VEHICULES - AUTOMOBILES - GNV	Compressed Natural Gas Vehicles to replace petrol engine use	Requires dual adapter to work with gasoline or gas

 

Subtitutes of Natural Gas

Disadvantages of the use of substitutes for natural gas