Posted: 10/30/2013 6:10:11 AM EDT
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Why isn't ethane used to produce electricity? I gather it burns hotter than methane, and that is a problem for systems designed to burn methane, but why not build ethane fired plants. If it is cheaper than methane and burns hotter, wouldn't it produce more power for less money? Why I am asking |
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Quoted: The guy on the bike probably knows... Petrochems get glutted when production increases yet demand stays the same. But the spice has to flow so some ethane IS burned once suitably diluted with nitrogen to natural gas energy density. |
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The article tells you everything you need to know. Traditionally, natural gas has had some ethane in it. In some cases there isn't too much of it to cause problems due to it's higher temperatures, so it is left in the natural gas distribution where it is burned or otherwise used as part of the natural gas being delivered. In some cases, it is separated out and distributed as ethane. The oil shale being developed now seems to be far away from traditional users of ethane and the ethane content is higher than in other sources. So now they are working on developing a way to deliver the ethane to users that need it. Basically, the northeast doesn't have the chemical industry that is able to utilize the ethane. It will be shipped down to Houston and the rest of the Gulf Coast where we will use it to make chemicals and some decent jobs. |
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Quoted: The article tells you everything you need to know. Traditionally, natural gas has had some ethane in it. In some cases there isn't too much of it to cause problems due to it's higher temperatures, so it is left in the natural gas distribution where it is burned or otherwise used as part of the natural gas being delivered. In some cases, it is separated out and distributed as ethane. The oil shale being developed now seems to be far away from traditional users of ethane and the ethane content is higher than in other sources. So now they are working on developing a way to deliver the ethane to users that need it. Basically, the northeast doesn't have the chemical industry that is able to utilize the ethane. It will be shipped down to Houston and the rest of the Gulf Coast where we will use it to make chemicals and some decent jobs. |
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Ethane prices are heavily influenced by location because of the lack of pipeline transport. Called a glutted market or stranded gas. But outside a petrochemical plant, price can be greater than natural gas which is why it is refined from raw natural gas. Other reasons for natural gas refining include transport pipelining. Raw NG must be treated to remove water, hydrogen sulfide, larger hydrocarbons and the like because these cause damage or condense at transport pressures (greater than a few hundred PSI). Since NG is always transported as a gas (it is a cryogen, it cannot be liquified at room temperature), substances that can become liquid cause pipeline flow issues (slugging) which WILL cause damage. Stranded ethane causes local price to drop but it can be used for electrical power generation, IF the owners can reach a deal with the generators. Or it can be used for nearly any natural gas application once diluted to around 1000 BTU/SCF. |
| Crackers are being built now to remove the ethane from natural gas and make other material and sell the methane for fuel. C3 and heavier needs to removed before going to the cracker, that is no big deal. Two of them are going up out in western PA and NW West Virginia. |
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Ethane is part of the "Wet Hydrocarbon" content of "wet" natural gas coming from the wells in the western portion of the Marcellus Shale formation. Shell built a large facility near Pittsburg to handle the separation of ethane and other chemicals from natural gas just to take advantage of the substances found in that gas. I've read where the ethane coming out of western Marcellus gas is so concentrated it requires no refining prior to use in the petrochemical industry.
Here in eastern PA we have "dry" natural gas and there is little or no, ethane or other "wet hydrocarbons" to be removed from the gas stream. Now underneath the gas shale layers on the other hand, the sandstone and limestone underneath the Marcellus and Utica shale layers are reported to be "dripping wet" with "wet hydrocarbons" or oil. The same applies to New York state as well. Western NY is reported to have "wet gas" in the Marcellus. I haven't seen any reports on the Utica Shale in western NY, but the eastern portions are supposed to have the same sandstone and limestone formations with oil or other wet hydrocarbons as we have here in northeast PA. |