Natural Gas Reserves Research Articles

Wood as resource for chemicals: Modern approach for optimum utilization without hampering its conventional use

Due to the dependence on petroleum to supply energy and chemical needs many countries have experienced problems because of declining reserves, increased demands, and political problems in oil exporting nations, which have also created problems for oil-importing countries. Demand on renewable resources to meets the needs for energy and carbon based chemicals in the wake of eventual depletion of fossil oil and natural gas reserves. Furfural, lignin, vanillin can be synthesized by extraction process from which vanillin and furfural are costlier products, which makes the process economically viable. Material balance was done to understand the material composition of wood. Comparison and costing of various process of are also evaluated which resulting into inexpensive than petroleum. A long-term solution would be to use renewable resources to produce many of the hydrocarbons. So, this work aims at finding feasible ways extracting the valuable chemicals such as furfural, lignin, vanillin, etc. from wood.

Subsea Methane Hydrates: Origin and Monitoring the Impacts of Global Warming

The East Siberian Arctic shelf is the area where the largest natural gas reserves are concentrated. The formation of permafrost of the Arctic shelf during the Ice Age contributed to the emergence of a zone of stable existence of gas hydrates in the sedimentary layer, and subsequent flooding of the shelf led to its gradual degradation, the thawing of gas hydrates and the subsequent emissions of methane into the atmosphere. In the first part of the paper, we use mathematical modeling to study the processes of the formation of subsea permafrost on the Arctic shelf considering changes in the sea levels over the past 200 thousand years. Numerical simulations show the influence of climate warming up to 2200 on the degradation of subsea permafrost and the violation of the conditions for the stable existence of methane hydrates in bottom sediments using the example of the East Siberian shelf. The second part of the paper proposes a method for seismic monitoring of the state of gas hydrates based on a solution of multi-parameter inverse seismic problems. In particular, the degree of attenuation of seismic energy is one of the objective parameters for assessing the consolidation of gas hydrates: the closer they are to the beginning of decomposition, the higher the attenuation and, hence, the lower the quality factor. In this publication, we do not solve a multi-parameter inverse seismic problem for a real geological object. This would be impossible due to the lack of necessary data. Instead, we focus on substantiating the possibility of correct solutions for the problem of the reconstruction of the absorption and velocities for a viscoelastic medium in relation to the problem of monitoring the state of gas hydrate deposits. As noted in a range of publications, the thawing of gas hydrates leads to an increase in the fluid saturation of the geological medium followed by an increase in the absorption of seismic energy—that is, a decrease in the quality factor. Thus, the methods of seismic monitoring of the state of gas hydrates to predict the possibility of developing dangerous scenarios should be based on solving a multi-parameter inverse seismic problem. This publication is devoted to the presentation of this approach.

Strategic planning in energy saving at industrial enterprises of Russia

Our country has been and remains one of the leaders in the world's energy industry. Russia's energy needs are fully met by its own resources. Annual export volume of mineral fuel, oil and petroleum products is about 600700 million tons in conventional terms. Currently, the situation with exports is complicated by sanctions and the geopolitical situation in Russia and in the world. Only taking into account the embargo imposed by the U.S., Britain, Australia and Canada, export losses are more than 40 million tons. In addition, Russia is the world leader in proven reserves of natural gas, its volume more than 50 billion cubic meters. At the same time, it should be noted that such high indicators and sufficient resource potential are present at an extremely low level of energy efficiency. Thus, the volume of energy costs for the production of the average Russian producer is about twice as much as the global average. On this basis, the need to improve the quality of strategic planning and to promote targeted activities in the field of energy conservation in industry in the Russian Federation becomes obvious. Such activities will have not only positive economic, but also social, political, environmental and other types of effects. The most energy-consuming branch of industry in Russia is the processing industry, which is about 30 % of all final energy consumption. Another 70% of the energy saving potential is represented by metallurgy, chemical and oil refining and other industries.

Modified CARDO-Based Copolyimides with Improved Sour Mixed-Gas Permeation Properties

Chemical modification is an interesting tool to introduce functional groups into polymers’ backbones to tailor their properties in a desired fashion. Polymers used in membrane-based gas separation applications need to possess high gas permeability and selectivity during mixed-gas separation under harsh operational conditions of pressure and temperature. Herein, we report the modification of three copolyimides containing the moiety 9,9-bis(4-aminophenyl)fluorine (CARDO) through Friedel–Crafts alkylation to introduce bulky tert-butyl groups into their backbones. Membranes prepared from the modified polymers were evaluated using pure- and sweet mixed-gas under aggressive feed pressures. Based on the promising results obtained, a selected copolyimide was subjected to sour mixed-gas separation under feed pressures up to 500 psi. Mixed-gas separation studies, especially those containing hydrogen sulfide, are of great interest to develop membranes for use in sour natural gas reserve treatment. For example, the H2S and CO2 permeability coefficients of 6FDA-Durene/6FDA-CARDO(t-Bu) at 500 psi were recorded as 456 and 238 Barrer, respectively, where the H2S/CH4 and CO2/CH4 are 20.4 and 10.6, respectively. The obtained results are very promising and even superior to many glassy polymers reported previously. This work represents an example of the benefit of chemical modification on polymers to tailor their structure–property relationship. Future works will be focused on the fabrication and testing of asymmetric or composite hollow fibers to imitate the membrane modules used industrially.

Optimisation of heat exchanger tubes of Iran's gas pressure reduction station (City gas station of Gorgan): experimental and numerical study

Optimisation of indirect heaters in gas pressure-reducing stations is one of the main goals in countries with high natural gas reserves. This paper mainly aims to optimise the 3D-heat exchanger, considering the tubes with rotating, Elliptical, Half -circular, Square, Rectangular, and Triangular cross sections in three different torsional angles. The simulation is conducted by commercial software with high accuracy with an experimental validation model. The simulation result indicates that the creation of turbulence in the pipe path at torsional cross-sections will increase fluid temperature. After comparing the six designs and selecting the elliptical tube as the best model, the simulation continues for different torsion angles (3600, 7200 and 10800 angles) to further optimise the heat exchanger. Outputs illustrate that 3600 twisted elliptical tube has the highest temperature variations with the lowest pressure drop changes by increasing the path length compared to other torsions.

Dynamic Design Evaluation of Helium Recovery and the Thermodynamics and Economics Utilization of Improved Project Viability from Sales Gas

Abstract: Sales gas generally contains barely 0.05 percent helium, making recovery uneconomical. Currently available commercial helium sources range from 0.3 to 8% helium from natural gas reserves, with 0.3 percent being the economic recovery limit. This article compares the technical and economic viability of manufacturing Grade-A liquefied helium from sales gas with low helium contents utilizing combined NGL/NRU/HRU technology.

Democratic Deliberation and the Resource Curse

AbstractOil and gas discoveries in developing countries are often associated with shortsighted economic policies and, in response, with calls to insulate resource management from populist impulses. The authors report on a randomized experiment that tested methods to overcome this apparent tension between sound resource governance and democratic politics. Soon after Tanzania's discovery of major natural gas reserves, the authors invited a nationally representative sample of voters to take part in an intensive public deliberation of policy options, at an event featuring nationally recognized experts and small-group discussions. Democratic deliberation reinforced the public's strong preference for rapid spending of gas revenues, but also increased support for various prudential and economically orthodox measures, such as the independent oversight of gas revenues, limits on government borrowing, and selling gas abroad rather than subsidizing fuel at home. These effects were driven by deliberation per se, rather than a pure information treatment, and show no evidence of contamination by facilitator effects or peer effects in group deliberations.

Proposed Marketing Strategy to Enter Methanol Market as Diversification for National Gas Company

Methanol is a key material used as feedstock in the chemical industry which is mainly produced from natural gas and coal. Indonesia is well-known for its natural resources including the large reserves of natural gas which become the third largest in the Asia-Pacific. However, Indonesia and even Asia are having gaps between production and demand that need to be fulfilled. Indonesia only has one methanol producer and still importing a large amount of it despite the increasing demand. A national natural gas company is considering the possibility to produce methanol in order to fulfill the gaps as well as diversification to give adding value to natural gas and also commercialize the oversupply of natural gas from the termination of the export contract. The objective of this research is to find the best business strategy for the company considering various challenges and opportunities. The methodology used in this research is qualitative and quantitative methods using secondary data and primary data. The primary data is collected through a qualitative questionnaire that involved companies that confirm the obstacles in sourcing methanol. The collected data is used to conduct external and internal analysis through PESTEL, Porter’s Five Forces, Customer Analysis, and VRIO Framework. The identified opportunities and challenges are then used to generate strategy through TOWS Matrix and 4P Marketing Mix. As a result, it is recommended for the company that will become a methanol supplier to set a competitive product price, choose a strategic place with high access to resources, promote the sustainability impact and multiplier effect to attract stakeholders and shareholders, and utilize the existing customer channel of natural gas to commercialize the new product.

CO2 precooled dual phase expander refrigeration cycles for offshore and small-scale LNG production: Energy, exergy, and economic evaluation

Small-scale liquefied natural gas (LNG) processes have gained considerable attention owing to the development of offshore natural gas (NG) reserves. Low energy efficiency and high process costs are the major challenges associated with small-scale LNG processes. In this study, to reduce energy consumption and improve process economics, a dual-phase expander-based process assisted by carbon dioxide (CO2) precooling has been proposed. Three proposed cases were developed using two precooling refrigerants (propane (C3) and CO2) and dual-phase expander-based liquefaction cycles utilizing a mixture of high-boiling (ethane (C2) and propane (C3)) and low-boiling refrigerant (nitrogen (N2)). These processes were optimized with the multivariate Coggins algorithm to exploit the energy-saving opportunities. The results show that proposed case II (using CO2 in precooling and C2/N2 in liquefaction) is the most energy-efficient, with a specific energy consumption of 0.3790 kWh/kgNG. Proposed case II is 1.73% and 16.6% more energy-efficient than proposed cases I and III, respectively. The exergy analysis results show that proposed case II has the lowest exergy destruction, while the economic evaluation shows the lowest capital investment ($44.4 MM) compared to the other proposed cases. These results show the superior performance of case II among the proposed cases.

System Dynamics Modelling Scenarios for The Import Receiving Infrastructures Capacity Plan & Development in anticipating Future Deficits of Natural Gas Supply in Indonesia.

Indonesia is one amongst the biggest natural gas reserves country in south East Asia, with total reserve of about 142,71 TSCF in 2018. Indonesian demand for energy is also increasing over the time in line with its economic and population growth. The improved of global consciousness toward the sustainable environmental issues, has led in to the choice over an affordable source of energy with a less carbon footprint. On the other hand the natural gas supply and domestic production is depleting. At the current rate of consumption and assuming no new reserves discoveries, sooner or later Indonesia will have to face deficit in gas supply. This study, is first aimed to forecast the Indonesia supply and demand situation of natural gas in years to come, and then performing an analysis and assessment toward the availability and adequacy of the required infrastructures especially receiving terminals facilitating for gas import in anticipation of future deficit of gas supply in Indonesia. From which, it will be further analyzed, the geographical distribution of the demand and then potential short of supply in several regions and areas where the demand are most concentrated. Thus few basis System Dynamics scenarios of public policies were simulated for 30 years running simulation. System Dynamics model simulation has been well known as a powerful tool to represent a complex industrial problems such as national energy systems. The result is unveiled the fact that additional import receiving terminals and storage facility is required at certain areas where the deficits most likely exist, and most of them in fact are in Western Zone of Indonesian.

Experimental and mechanistic study of mudstone volumetric swelling at the bottom of salt cavern gas storage

Salt cavern gas storage is one of the vital strategic natural gas reserves and emergency peak shaving facilities all over the world. However, rock salt in China is primarily bedded salt, usually composed of many thin salt layers and interlayers (e.g., anhydrite, mudstone, and glauberite). During the water solution mining process of the cavern, the insoluble mudstones fall to the bottom and account for 1/3 up to 2/3 of the storage capacity. The bulk volume of the insoluble mudstones is almost twice its in-suit volume. It is of great urgency to investigate the swelling mechanisms of the bottom insoluble mudstones. Given this, we first analyzed the mineral composition of salt rock and insoluble mudstones by using XRD and SEM methods. Then, experimental studies were carried out considering both clay swelling and physical packing. At last, the zeta potential tests were conducted to reveal the swelling mechanisms of the bottom mudstones. Results show that the volumetric expansion of mudstones is made up of three parts: clay swelling, particle surface bound water volume, and pore space free water volume increase. Because the content of expansive clay in the bottom mudstones is less than 2%, and the high salinity brine in the cavern has excellent clay stability performance, clay swelling is not the main contributor to the volumetric expansion of the bottom mudstones. Measurement results show that the surface of the mudstones is negatively charged after hydration. Electrostatic repulsion can increase the spacing between small rock particles and creates approximately 47.6% of the pore space, which is the main factor in the volumetric expansion of mudstones. This study provides a theoretical basis for the mining solution and capacity enlargement during the construction of bedded salt cavern gas storage in China.

Solar Bicycle Project

This study sought to investigate the making of a sustainable solar-powered electric bicycle. The idea of sustainable development has gained significant traction over the last few decades. As reserves of coal, natural gas, and petroleum deplete, it is becoming ever more imminent to switch to renewable sources of energy. The objective of this study was to determine the reliability and cost efficiency of a solar-powered electric bicycle in daily life. This descriptive study involves a design making phase, a phase where spare parts are procured, a product development phase, and a testing phase.
 The prototype bicycle now has a top speed of 35-40 km/h and can travel up to 40 kilometres in a single charge. The bicycle can be fully charged in 3 hours with the standard lithium ion battery and in about 5.5 hours via the attached solar panel.
 This bicycle can be built at an approximate cost of USD 467 and is quite apt for warm environments such as the Middle East and Mid-Asia, where sunlight is abundantly available; in the United Arab Emirates, considering current electricity tariffs, the driving cost of the bicycle will be around USD 0.035 per every 40 kilometres.

System development and assessment for green hydrogen generation and blending with natural gas

In this study, an integrated system is designed and studied to produce renewable (green) hydrogen and blend it with natural gas potentially available in the Black Sea for countrywide utilization, and a case study is, in this regard, considered for the city of Zonguldak in Turkey. To utilize the natural gas reserves in a more environmentally friendly and efficient manner, blending it with the addition of 20% hydrogen by volume is the prime focus of this study. For this purpose, hydrogen production capacities from renewable sources of energy, namely wind, solar and wave, are calculated and found out as 1432 kg, 174,210 kg, and 1257 kg, respectively. The effects of hydrogen content addition on the blend gas consumption and the lifetime of proven reserves are investigated. With the addition of 20% hydrogen by volume, the annual blend gas consumption increases from 46.55 billion cubic meters (Bm3) to 54.11 Bm3, while the consumption of natural gas decreases from 46.55 Bm3 to 43.29 Bm3. Thus, the life span increases from 11.6 years to 12.5 years, respectively. The CO and CO2 emissions potentially released after the combustion decrease from 0.05 g/day and 32% to 0.02 g/day and 28% when the hydrogen content in the blend increases from 5% to 20%, accordingly. Furthermore, NOx emissions increase from 4.08 g/day to 7.54 g/day in the exhaust gas when the hydrogen addition is changed from 5% to 20% in the blend.

Highly Stable Doped Barium Niobate Based Electrocatalysts for Effective Electrochemical Coupling of Methane to Ethylene

AbstractMethane conversion into value‐added products such as olefins and aromatics is gaining increased attention in the wake of new natural gas reserve discoveries. Electrochemical oxidative coupling of methane (E‐OCM) provides better product selectivity as the product distribution can be controlled by applied potential as well as the oxide ion flux. Here a new catalyst based on Mg and Fe codoped barium niobate perovskites is reported. The prepared perovskites show excellent chemical stability in CH4‐rich environments up to 925 °C while showing methane activation properties from 600 °C. E‐OCM measurements indicate an ethylene production rate of 277 µmol cm−2 h−1 with a faradaic efficiency of 20% at 1 V and durable operation for six continuous days. X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopic measurements indicate significant Nb valency reorganization that can be the reason for its chemical stability. Nevertheless, the surface area of the catalyst is significantly lower and requires improvements in synthesis methodologies to improve catalytic activity further. The exceptional chemical stability of this perovskite material under methane exposure at high temperatures has significant importance as this material can be used as a catalyst and/or support in a wide variety of applications relevant for efficient energy conversion and storage.

Natural Gas Geochemistry of Jurassic Shaximiao Formation in the Western Sichuan Basin, China: Fault-Controlled Differentiation in Accumulation Process

The Jurassic Shaximiao Formation in western Sichuan has made significant contributions to the natural gas reserves and production of China, with many gas fields successively discovered. The accumulation evolution progress and discrepant gathering law are continuously improved with the constantly deepened exploration and development. In order to find evidence for the difference in gas accumulation and the method to reshape the migration and accumulation of natural gas and their dynamic processes based on time and space, this study analyzes the dynamic accumulation process of the Middle Jurassic Shaximiao reservoir in the Zhongjiang gas field using the geochemical parameters, including the conventional composition of natural gas, light hydrocarbon components, carbon isotope, and formation water, of more than 160 natural gas samples from 155 wells. The results show that the natural gas-filling period, migration patterns, and phase state, etc., of the Shaximiao Formation are closely related to the distance between the hydrocarbon source faults. The geochemistry tracer parameters of natural gas and formation water reveal abundant information about the accumulation process. The Sha-3 gas reservoir, featuring a two-period hydrocarbon supply, has two migration patterns, i.e., seepage and diffusion, dominated by the water-soluble phase. Similarly, the Sha-2 gas reservoir, featuring a late single hydrocarbon supply, has the same migration patterns, dominated by the miscible phase of the water-soluble phase and free phase. The main migration pattern of the Sha-1 reservoir, which features a late single hydrocarbon supply, is seepage, dominated by the free phase. From the lower part of the Sand-3 gas reservoir to the upper part of the Sha-1 gas reservoir, the natural gas exhibits a trend where the early–late continuous filling turns into the late single filling, the lateral migration distance of oil and gas becomes shorter gradually, and the gas-rich range of the gas reservoir decreases gradually. The results of this study can provide a valuable reference for gas reservoirs controlled by faults and river sand bodies.

Optimization of shrinkage agents and study of their shrinking mechanism for mudstones in the salt cavern gas storage

Salt cavern gas storage takes up a high proportion of gas storage, which allows a large amount of gas production in one day and flexible market response. It has become one of the world's important strategic natural gas reserves and emergency peak-shaving facilities. However, salt cavern gas storage in China is mainly built in the layered salt formation, which is characteristic of thin salt layers with high contents of insoluble mudstone interlayers. During the construction of this type of gas storage, these insoluble interlayers can be left at the bottom of the storage and reduce the storage by 30%–70%. It is urgent to study how to effectively control the volumetric expansion of insoluble mudstones and enlarge the storage capacity. In view of this, we first characterize and quantify the rock salt, interlayer mudstones, and clay minerals by XRD. Then, 12 kinds of organic and inorganic shrinkage agents were compared in the shrinkage experiments. Five factors affecting the shrinkage are considered, including the concentration and diffusion distance of shrinkage agents, the mass ratio and particle sizes of mudstones, and the temperature. The optimal recipe and concentration of chemical agents suitable for mudstone shrinkage in salt cavern reservoir are obtained. Finally, based on the shrinking performance of mudstones, SEM scanning, EDS analysis and Zeta potential test, the shrinking mechanism of insoluble mudstones at the bottom of the cavern was proposed. The results show that: The content of swelling clay in the target gas storage is low and the clay swelling is not the main reason for the volumetric expansion of mudstones. High valence cationic salts or polymers can shrink. Among which, the order of shrinking effectiveness is: inorganic polymers > Inorganic salts > Organic polymers. When the dosage of PAC-30 is 0.7 g/L, the volumetric shrinkage effect of mudstones is more than 40%. It has a great potential to expand the storage capacity of the salt cavern. The study shows that there is an optimum dosage of the shrinkage agent. The increasing temperature and the small particle sizes of mudstones are beneficial to shrinkage. The shrinking process is a diffusion control process, and the shrinkage agents are easy to form a dense layer on the mudstone surface, which hinders the further diffusion of the shrinkage agents. Mechanism studies show that: After the addition of cationic polymer, the Zeta potential on the mudstone grain surface decreased significantly. The electrostatic repulsion between rock particles was decreased, and flocculation, agglomeration, and compaction occurred, which is the main mechanism of mudstone shrinkage in the gas storage cavern. This study provides a theoretical and practical basis for the volumetric shrinking of mudstones at bottom of bedded salt cavern gas storage.

Articles of Significant Interest in This Issue

Lim et al. (e00290-22) recovered metagenomes from the gut contents and body fragments of methane ice worms, the only macrofaunal species known to inhabit methane hydrates. The metagenomes predicted high metabolic versatility but the dominance of an uncultured Sulfurospirillum suggests a critical role for sulfur-cycling symbionts in the adaptation of the worms to environments that represent some of the largest reserves of natural gas globally.

Performance Analysis of Diesel Engine Simulation Into CNG Engine

<pre><em>The fundamental problem in meeting fuel consumption for the operation of diesel engines is in terms of costs and ensuring the availability of the fuel. So that the idea of using alternative fuels other than diesel fuel arises. And the recommendation is gas fuel (compressed natural gas) for several reasons including cheaper prices and Indonesia has abundant natural gas reserves. Because the properties of CNG and diesel oil are different, it is necessary to modify the diesel engine before being able to use alternative gas fuels. And in this journal, what is analyzed is the performance of diesel engines and diesel engines that have been modified into CNG engines connected to RPM. The analyzed performance includes brake power, brake torque, fuel consumption, and volumetric efficiency. The analysis process is carried out through a simulation using the GT-Power software. From the simulation, it is known that the use of CNG as a fuel reduces exhaust emissions even though it reduces engine performance in terms of power, torque, BMEP. And tends to increase fuel consumption.</em><em></em></pre>

The potential of offshore Nile Delta Basin natural gas reserves: a case study of Messinian reservoir in Baltim field

The offshore part of the Nile Delta Basin (NDB) is a prolific provenance for gas exploration. The present study aims to perform a geophysical evaluation for the Messinian Abu Madi sandstones along the Messinian paleo-valley in Baltim field as a case study. The seismic interpretation step exposed that the Abu Madi incised valley displays NNW-SSE trend with width ranges from 5 to 8 km and a length of 32 km. The petrophysical appraisal for five drilled wells (BE-2, BE-3, BE-5, BN-1 and BN-2) in Baltim Field has been performed. The findings of this assessment revealed that the most promising intervals in the studied wells have gross-thicknesses vary between 25 and 49 m; net pay thicknesses range within 15 m and 38.5 m; net/gross ratio of 0.54–0.90; effective porosity of 15–40%; shale volume is less than 20; and water saturation ranges between 25 and 50%. Such notably talented and converging values of these parameters across the examined zones reflects the relative homogeneity and lateral continuity of the Abu Madi reservoir across the inspected paleo-valley. The results of this study can help for a better understanding of the petrophysical characteristics for the Messinian reservoir over the offshore NDB. Therefore, the Messinian sandstones could exhibit possible targets for future gas exploration over the offshore NDB together with the Pliocene sandy levels, which represent the main and the recent discoveries of gas accumulations.

A regional study of the fugitive methane emissions from the gas distribution system in Iran by direct measurement

Global warming is a major concern of today's world that mostly stems from greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions among which methane (CH4) has the second highest potential to cause such a problem. Among various types of discharging CH4 into atmosphere, fugitive emission from the natural gas (NG) supply chain has a significant contribution. In this study, methane emission from the pressure reduction station, distribution pipeline and end user regulating systems (EURSs) was experimentally investigated by a gas detector and a Hi-Flow sampler device. The research was conducted in Mashhad, the second metropolis of Iran; Iran plays a key role in NG reserves and consumptions. The results revealed that the fugitive methane emission from the EURSs is the main source of the GHG emission from the gas distribution network. This source was, then, investigated in detail through the being classified into six components including regulator, union fitting, coupling, locking valve, tee fitting, and elbow fitting. According to the obtained outcomes, the regulator is responsible for the highest emission factor (EF = 754 m3/year) along with the largest contribution (66.62%) in total fugitive methane emission of EURSs. Conversely, the elbow fitting demonstrates the lowest EF (= 134 m3/year) as well as the lowest contribution (0.39%). Additionally, the effect of EURSs lifespan on their EF was studied. The results indicate that the ratio of EF of EURSs with lifespans more than 20 years to mean EF is almost 1.4 while this value is approximately 0.8 for EURSs with lifespans less than 20 years. The results also show that the ratio of EF in different seasons to mean EF decreases as the temperature decreases (colder seasons). At the end, the findings of this research could give useful information about the methane emission from EURSs leading to designing and developing proper mitigation strategies.