On Natural gas
Characteristics of Gas
Natural gas is a high-heating natural gas without color, flavour and smell with great performance. It is a mix of gas hydrocarbons and incombustible components, especially of nitrogen and carbon dioxide. Its typical characteristic is a high content of methane.
It is extracted from the earth or from the seabed, usually from the depth of several hundreds of metres. Before it is delivered to the distribution system, it has to be processed – dried, despoiled of mechanical impurities, unwanted additions.
The main advantages of natural gas as a fuel:
- natural gas is the only primary fuel that can be delivered directly to the customer without expensive modifications and energy changes;
- the transport and distribution systems are independent from the climatic conditions;
- natural gas is avaliable to the customers without limitations 24 hours a day;
- the customer does not need space for the storage of fuel;
- gas appliances are easily controlled and regulated;
- natural gas is the most enviromentally friendly of all non-renewable resources of energy.
Ecological fuel of the present
Natural gas is a real ecological fuel. The produced combustion products contain neither solid substances, nor sulphur oxides.The content of other toxic substances (e.g. CO) is markedly lower than by other fuels. Energy in natural gas is very easily regulated and therefore also fully utilizable.
What are the reserves of gas on the Earth?
In contrast to oil the reserves of gas are not decreasing, but are growing. Their lifetime on the Earth is at present about 200 years.
Examined reserves of natural gas amount to 164 000 bil. m3. These are reserves that could be produced by the current technical level.
Probable reserves are reserves discovered in beds, that have not been equipped yet. However, they will be most probably used in the future. Their volume is on the level of 347 000 bil. m3.
Potential reserves are so called unconventional sources. It could be e.g. methane hydrates, that are in the earth crust and beneath the ocean floor. The main problem by their utilization is the extraction; there is currently an intensive research in this field. The reserves of natural gas in form of hydrates represent about 21 000 000 bil. m3.