Exploiting Competitive Adsorption Microenvironments over a Sulfur-Tolerant MoS 2 Catalyst for the Utilization of Low-Grade Natural Gas

The natural gas in the Alaskan arctic represents a truly significant resource; a resource which should be exploited in the most appropriate manner. Currently, the proven reserves of natural gas in Alaska are estimated to be 19.7% (36.7 TSCF) of the total US reserves (186.7 TSCF). In addition, the undiscovered recoverable natural gas resources of Alaska are about 89 TSCF compared to 610 TSCF in the lower 48 states. Furthermore, the Alaskan unconventional gas resources are more than 500 TCF. The purpose is to review the potential of natural gas resources in Alaska and to address various important issues related to utilization of natural gas. This report provides a brief summary of various gas fields and their geologic settings. The different options for utilization of natural gas to lower 48 states via gas pipeline, conversion to liquefied natural gas and transport, conversion to fuel grade methanol and/or gasoline, natural gas for enhanced oil recovery, gas based petrochemical complex, gas utilization in the form of utilities are critically reviewed with respect to merits and demerits addressing engineering, economic, environmental, supply/demand, market and political aspects. 22 refs., 2 figs., 5 tabs.

A novel combined cycle with synthetic utilization of coal and natural gas

This study aims to contribute to industry discussion on gas utilization opportunities available to Ghana. Specifically, it will analyze Ghana's existing natural gas plans. i.e., the Gas Master Plan analyze possible opportunities and associated challenges and finally propose sources of finance for gas sector projects. In order to discover opportunities of natural gas utilization as well as challenges that come in the course of implementation, data was sourced from secondary sources as well. Benchmarking was also done using the natural gas journeys of three (3) case study countries: Nigeria, China, and the United Kingdom and a comparative analysis compared their natural gas journeys in terms of policy direction, natural gas utilization, infrastructure development and challenges encountered vis a vis the natural gas journey of Ghana. The analysis showed that various opportunities existed for natural gas utilization in the areas of industrial power generation, LNG export, CNG, Fertilizer and bauxite production. Various challenges such as lack of human and technical capacity, sector debt, regulatory issues, pricing issues, security of supply and others plagued most natural gas economies. These findings suggest that an ‘armory’ of opportunities exist for natural gas utilization in Ghana. However, the implementation of these utilization options is contingent on the development of proper policy instruments and extensive investment in infrastructure. The country should also be conscious of bottlenecks that may hinder natural gas utilization efforts.

Natural gas flaring, with its harmful environmental, health, and economic effects, is common in the Nigerian oil and gas industry because of a lower tax regime for flared gases. Based on the adverse effects of flared gas, the Nigerian government has renewed and improved its efforts to reduce or eliminate gas flaring through the application of natural gas utilisation techniques. However, because the conventional approach to flare gas utilisation is heavily reliant on achieving scale, fuel, and end-product prices, not all technologies are technically and economically viable for typically capturing large and small quantities of associated gas from various flare sites or gas fields (located offshore or onshore). For these reasons, this paper reviews and compares various flare gas utilisation options to guide their proper selection for appropriate implementation in the eradication of routine gas flaring in Nigeria and to promote the Zero Routine Flaring initiative, which aims to reduce flaring levels dramatically by 2030. A qualitative assessment is used in this study to contrast the various flare gas utilisation options against key decision drivers. In this analysis, three natural gas utilisation processes—liquefied natural gas (LNG), gas to wire (GTW), and gas to methanol (GTM)—are recommended as options for Nigeria because of their economic significance, technological viability (both onshore and offshore), and environmental benefits. All these gas utilisation options have the potential to significantly reduce and prevent routine gas flaring in Nigeria and can be used separately or in combination to create synergies that could lower project costs and product market risk. This article clearly identifies the environmental benefits and the technical and economic viability of infrastructure investments to recover and repurpose flare gasses along with recommendation steps to select and optimise economies of scale for an associated natural gas utilisation option.

With the popularization of natural gas and the requirement of environmental protection, the development and utilization of natural gas are particularly important. The status of natural gas in China’s oil and gas exploration and development is constantly improving, and the country pays more and more attention to the exploitation and utilization of natural gas. The tight sandstone of Upper Paleozoic in Ordos Basin has the characteristics of low porosity, low permeability, and large area of concealed gas reservoirs. With the increasing demand for natural gas in China, systematic analysis and research on the geological conditions and enrichment law of large area gas reservoirs of tight sandstone of Upper Paleozoic in Ordos Basin to guide exploration and production also pose a great challenge to the current level of natural gas exploration and development in China. In order to solve this problem, this paper takes the Upper Paleozoic tight sandstone in Hangjinqi area in the north of Ordos Basin as the research object, summarizes the natural gas accumulation conditions of tight sandstone according to the geological characteristics of Ordos Basin, determines the main control factors of gas accumulation by superposition method in combination with the distribution characteristics of natural gas, simulates the dynamic process of gas accumulation, establishes the gas accumulation model, analyzes the conditions of gas accumulation and enrichment by statistical methods, summarizes the accumulation and enrichment rules of natural gas, and predicts the favorable exploration areas for natural gas. The results show that the relationship between hydrocarbon source rocks, traps, migration and transportation, and other reservoir-forming conditions and the distribution characteristics of natural gas is summarized, and the main controlling factors of reservoir-forming are determined by superposition method. We simulate the evolution process of faults, strata, oil, gas, and water flows in the study area and establish the dynamic reservoir-forming process of natural gas. By combining the reserve data with the reservoir source distance, reservoir facies type, and gas filling times, the reservoir-forming and enrichment conditions are studied by statistical analysis method, and the reservoir-forming and enrichment rules are summarized by combining the main controlling factors. The enrichment of natural gas is controlled by the development degree of source rocks, favorable tight sandstone combination, confluence channel, and local structure. According to the law of accumulation and enrichment, the division standards of favorable areas in different horizons are established, and the favorable exploration areas in the study area are predicted. The results provide theoretical data support for natural gas exploration in the study area.

Domestic utilization of natural gas in Nigeria is being hampered by the poor developments in the natural gas sector over the years, with low level of electricity (generation) consumption per capital, weak legal, commercial and regulatory framework amidst poor infrastructural developments in natural gas as compared to that which exists for oil. Nigeria ranks the second in gas flaring and shows low volumes of domestic gas utilization, consuming only about 11% out of the 8.25 billion cubic feet produced per day in 2014 despite its natural gas resource endowment. This paper examines the determinants of domestic utilization of natural gas in Nigeria from 1990-2013. It investigates its relationship as a function of price of natural gas, price of alternative fuels, foreign direct investment, volumes of gas flared, electricity generated from natural gas sources and per capital real GDP. Going further, it forecasts its likely growth rate for a short-term period, using an econometric methodology of ordinary least squares and an ARIMA model, it estimates the relationship between the variables and uses the historical trend to forecast into the future. The result of the study showed that the determinants jointly explain the pattern of domestic gas utilization in Nigeria by 98%. Individually, per capital real GDP, electricity generated from natural gas sources and changes in the volume of domestic utilization of natural gas was found to have a positive and significant effect on domestic gas utilization. Further, the forecast values show evidence of a slow but gradual increase in utilization pattern in the near future from 2015-2020. A best-case scenario of an increase of 0.15% and a worst-case scenario of a decrease of 0.14% was presented. In conclusion, having identified significant influences on domestic gas utilization patterns in Nigeria it is imperative that the government uses economic instrument to enhance the utilization patterns in Nigeria by improving economic activities and developing the power sector which shows significant influence in domestic natural gas utilization patterns.

The natural gas in the Alaskan arctic represents a truly significant resource; a resource which should be exploited in the most appropriate manner. Currently, the proven reserves of natural gas in Alaska are estimated to be 19.7% (36.7 TSCF) of the total U.S. reserves (186.7 TSCF). In addition, the undiscovered recoverable natural gas resources of Alaska are about 89 TSCF compared to 610 TSCF in the lower 48 states. Furthermore, the Alaskan unconventional gas resources are more than 500 TCF. The purpose of this paper is to review the potential of natural gas resources in Alaska and to address various important issues related to utilization of natural gas. The paper provides a brief summary of various gas fields and their geologic settings. The different options for utilization of natural gas in the Alaskan arctic such as; transportation of gas to lower 48 states via gas pipeline, conversion to liquified natural gas and transport, conversion to fuel grade methanol and/or gasoline, natural gas for enhanced oil recovery, gas based petrochemical complex, gas utilization in the form of utilities are critically reviewed with respect to merits and demerits addressing engineering, economic, environmental, supply/demand, market and political aspects. The use of North Slope gas for the enhanced oil recovery on the North Slope fields is considered as the most attractive option. Furthermore, it may be worthwhile to convert part of the natural gas into methanol and transport it through the existing TAPS pipeline; The unavailability of market place does also present opportunities for gas utilization in novel processes.

Multi-criteria evaluation of natural gas resources

With the popularization of natural gas and the requirements for environmental protection, the development and utilization of natural gas is particularly important. The status of natural gas in China’s oil and gas exploration and development is constantly improving, and the country is paying more and more attention to the exploitation and utilization of natural gas. The Upper Paleozoic tight sandstone in the Ordos Basin is characterized by low porosity, low permeability and a large area of concealed gas reservoirs. By injecting carbon dioxide into the formation, the recovery rate of natural gas can be improved, and carbon neutrality can be realized by carbon sequestration. Injecting greenhouse gases into gas reservoirs for storage and improving recovery has also become a hot research issue. In order to improve the recovery efficiency of tight sandstone gas reservoirs, this paper takes the complex tight sandstone of the Upper Paleozoic in the Ordos Basin as the research object; through indoor physical simulation experiments, carried out the influence of displacement rate, fracture dip angle, core permeability, core dryness and wetness on CO2 gas displacement efficiency and storage efficiency; and analyzed the influence of different factors on gas displacement efficiency and storage efficiency to improve the recovery and storage efficiency. The research results show that under different conditions, when the injection pore volume is less than 1 PV, the relationship between the CH4 recovery rate and the CO2 injection pore volume is linear, and the tilt angle is 45°. When the injection pore volume exceeds 1 PV, the CH4 recovery rate increases slightly with the increase in displacement speed, the recovery rate of CO2 displacement CH4 is between 87–97% and the CO2 breakthrough time is 0.7 PV–0.9 PV. In low-permeability and low-speed displacement cores, the diffusion of carbon dioxide molecules is more significant. The lower the displacement speed is, the earlier the breakthrough time is, and the final recovery of CH4 slightly decreases. Gravity has a great impact on carbon sequestration and enhanced recovery. The breakthrough of high injection and low recovery is earlier, and the recovery of CH4 is about 3.3% lower than that of low injection and high recovery. The bound water causes the displacement phase CO2 to be partially dissolved in the formation water, and the breakthrough lags about 0.1 PV. Ultimately, the CH4 recovery factor and CO2 storage rate are higher than those of dry-core displacement. The research results provide theoretical data support for CO2 injection to improve recovery and storage efficiency in complex tight sandstone gas reservoirs.

Basic technical characteristics are presented for developed methane nanosensors. The applicability of these devices for the assurance of explosion and fire safety of entities employed for the recovery, transport, and utilization of natural gas is analyzed. The expediency of use of two types of nanosensors is confirmed.

In a global context of an irreversible trend of decarbonization of the economy, natural gas plays a prominent role in the global commitment to reduce carbon indices, and its exploration will contribute to the transition of the world's electric and energy matrix. Brazil has enormous potential when it comes to natural gas, particularly in the pre-salt province, which is considered to be the largest oil discovery in the Southern Hemisphere in the last thirty years. If on the one hand, the pre-salt has a great potential for natural gas production, on the other, there are enormous technological and logistical challenges to enable the commercial use and monetization of this gas produced. In this context, the present work proposes to present a contribution to the study of the use of Gas to Wire (GTW) as a technological alternative for the use and monetization of the natural gas from pre-salt province. For that, a review of the specialized literature, including specific periodic data in O&G, and an economic evaluation of the use of GTW in the pre-salt province were carried out, comparing it with the concept of a GTW plant in an onshore environment. In an optimistic production scenario, and even with the expected expansion of the pre-salt gas flow line routes, the difference between the natural gas produced and the injected, burnt gas, used in the offshore site and outflow facilities, will be positive at 15 MMm3/day and will cause operators to seek alternatives for valuation of this resource, since if commercial use is not viable, operators will simply have to paralyze the development and production of their fields, whereas pre-salt natural gas is generally associated with oil. The GTW emerges an alternative technology for the utilization and monetization of natural gas across the inflexibility of gas production not associated with the pre-salt fields. The economic costs for deploying an offshore GTW system and the level of energy cost aiming the use of pre-salt natural gas were competitive accounting for 84% to 91% of the costs of generating a GTW plant in an onshore environment. The case study demonstrates that the concept of GTW can be economically viable, with limitations, such as technological alternative for the utilization and monetization of natural gas across the inflexibility of gas production not associated with the pre-salt fields.

Throughout the history of national development, petroleum and natural gas have played a vital and strategic role, serving as essential energy sources for various economic activities. The petroleum and gas sector also contributes significantly to state revenue through the management of these resources. The author aims to discuss the appropriate utilization of petroleum and natural gas and its potential to enhance economic income in Indonesia. Petroleum and natural gas, as valuable resources, exist in liquid and solid forms within the earth's reservoirs. Indonesia possesses vast reserves of petroleum and gas, with numerous untapped fields remaining. Utilizing these resources effectively can lead to increased state revenue. Given their significance as essential commodities in the national economy, managing petroleum and natural gas is crucial for optimizing prosperity and welfare for the population.

Different options exist for the utilization of natural gas either as fuel or as natural gas conversion into value‐added products. Even though natural gas is the cleanest fossil fuel, its use generates CO2 emissions. This challenges the industry to achieve carbon emission reduction targets without compromising profitability. Herein, an optimization approach is presented to simultaneously consider natural gas distribution to plants together with carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) options, while also taking into account energy integration options to achieve synergies across alternative CO2‐integrated natural gas utilization paths. The approach combines natural gas with a CCUS network synthesis model. It incorporates a utility system model, which is optimized to identify the most profitable natural gas use in an industrial cluster that meets a given overall emissions constraint for the cluster. The approach aims to benefit engineers charged with the holistic planning of future profitable, low‐emission industrial clusters. The approach is illustrated with an example that considers an industrial cluster with typical natural gas conversion industrial plants, common infrastructure, and CCUS options.

Effective utilization of using natural gas injection in the production of pig iron

East Java is one of the provinces in Indonesia which has total natural gas reserves of 4.66 trillion standard cubic feet (TSCF) spread across several locations. Natural gas in this province is used by a variety of consumers, such as petrochemical industries, power plants, industrial fuel, transportation and household needs. However, there are obstacles in the utilization of natural gas due to differences in operating time and differences capacity between suppliers and consumers. Therefore, to optimize the utilization of natural gas in East Java, a natural gas network design is required which is considering the operating time and the capacity of suppliers (source point) and consumers (sinks point). In this study, a natural gas network design of East Java area was developed by modelling superstructure methods which consider the operating time and capacity. The superstructure natural gas network model developed in this study was optimized using GAMS software. From 5 source points and 6 sink points, an optimum natural gas network design has been obtained with a total gas distribution of 4832.8 billon standard cubic feet (BSCF) in a period of 30 years. Due to mismatch of operating time, it is also known that the amount of excess gas supply from this area (export gas) is 1364.1 BSCF and the demand for gas supply from other areas (import gas) is 1105.7 BSCF. With this superstructure method, it is possible to know the optimum network configuration and the natural gas balance in an area which has different operating time, flowrate and capacity between sources and sinks.