Pintsch gas
Associated gas ( also completely petroleum gas ) is a fossil fuel gas that escapes when the oil production from the oil wells and the oil layer during degassing. Depending on the extraction area is obtained from a ton of oil 25 to 800 cubic meters of gas.
Since the associated gas can be processed or transported only with difficulty, it is often burned or pressed to maintain the pressure back into the reservoir. Add cited by the International Energy Agency official Russian sources m³ oil - associated gas were flared 15 billion m³ per year of the annual production of 56 billion.
Origin and composition
Natural gas in the vicinity of oil reservoirs can be either independent of oil in basement rocks ( " dry " gas ), or dissolved in liquid form in the crude oil are ( " wet " gas).
Regardless of the source is the associated gas (possibly after his separation from crude oil) from diverse ingredients. The main components are gaseous and vaporous hydrocarbons from methane to hexane isomers including C4 - C6. From time to time one encounters hydrogen. Raw natural gas also contains non- hydrocarbon components such as water vapor, hydrogen sulfide, carbon dioxide, nitrogen, helium, argon, and other components. In particular, hydrogen sulfide, the concentration of which can sometimes reach a few percentage points, as caused pollution problems.
The most important characteristic for use in gas engines is the knock resistance of the gas. This is defined by the methane number (MN ). Methane with high knock resistance has Compares a methane number of 100 to butane has a methane number of 10 and hydrogen of 0 Depending on the industrial area and promoting conditions, the MZ of associated gas at 25 to 95
Preparation and use
Due to the above ingredients associated gas can be difficult transported and used without additional purification after recovery in oil demand process. Therefore, many oil drilling companies burn this useless byproduct easy. But because of the environmental situation and the rising demand for energy trying to avoid the combustion in flares now, especially because of legal prohibitions.
From a technical perspective, there are several possibilities for the use of associated gas:
- Re pumping into the earth's crust for subsequent promotion
- Purification and preparation in different forms for use as fuel and for export to pipelines (with Dry gas) or liquefaction (similar LNG ) for transportation in tankers
- Conversion in petrochemical raw materials for industry
- Conversion into other forms of energy, for example, in Heat for the central heating supply
- Electricity either for personal use or for supply to public networks
- Desalination