T he main component of natural gas is methane. Apart from
these the hydrocarbons - ethane, propane, butane also will be
present in small volumes. Methane is the simplest form of
hydrocarbon. Since the percentage of carbon in methane is least,
the emission of carbon will be less compared to other
hydrocarbons.
Petroleum is formed as result of the long-term (millions of
years) bacterial activities. Petroleum is the mixture of
hydrocarbons. We receive natural gases from petroleum mines.
There are mines were mainly natural gases is the only resource.
Many gas fields are identified during the expeditions for natural
gases.
As we said, methane is formed by the decomposing of
organic substances. Methane is formed by the
decomposition of plants and animal residues combined
by the bacterial activities over a long period in marsh
lands. Hence methane is referred as “marsh gas” as
well.
Methane gas is found in large volumes in coal mines as well.
Apart from the natural gas, the shale gas obtained from “shale
rocks” layers also is a large source for methane gas. Large scale
shale gases mining is happening in many countries, including
America. We are still to find a way to extract the methane gas
trapped inside hard rocks. The methane gas trapped inside the
coal layers in coal mines are called coal bed methane. Though
methane gas is the reason for accidents inside coal mines, we
need to evolve faultless technics to remove these gases on an
industrial basis.
Friends of Scientifica,
October
2016