GASEOUS FUELS

Gaseous fuels are fuels that under ordinary conditions are gases. These fuels are the most
convenient requiring the least amount of handling and simplest and most maintenance
free burner systems. They play a vital part in modern energy demand and dominate all
markets at present because of its abundance and quality.

The importance of gaseous fuel

 Generally, very clean burning. Little soot.

 Easy to burn. No grinding. Excellent mixing
 No problems with erosion or corrosion
 No ash problems
 The gas is easy to clean. E.g. if sulphur is present, it may be easily removed prior
to combustion.
 Simplest combustion plant of all (burners)
 Can be started up and shut down very easily and quickly.

Problems associated with gaseous fuels are distribution and storage, explosion risk, high
volatility, relatively costly to produce.

Classification of Gaseous Fuels

The following is a list of the types of gaseous fuel:

(A) Fuels naturally found in nature:

 Natural gas
 Methane from coal mines

(B) Fuel gases made from solid fuel

 Gases derived from Coal

 Gases derived from waste and Biomass
 From other industrial processes (Blast furnace gas)

(C) Gases made from petroleum

 Liquefied Petroleum gas (LPG)

 Refinery gases
 Gases from oil gasification

(D) Gases from some fermentation process

NB: Classifications B, C and D are together termed as synthetic gas (gases which are
chemically made by some process).

WOBBE INDEX

When deciding whether an alternative gas can be used in an appliance, three factors must
be considered:

 For the same pressure drop is the heat release roughly the same
  For the same air and fuel flows is the flame shape the same
 For the same heat release conditions are pollutants within a specified tolerance

The first criteria is best summarised by consideration of the Wobbe Index. The Wobbe
Index (WI) or Wobbe number is an indicator of the interchangeability of fuel gases. It
is used to compare the combustion energy output of different composition fuel gases in
an appliance (fire, cooker etc.). If two fuels have identical Wobbe Indices, then for given
pressure and valve settings the energy output will also be identical. Typically, variations
of up to 5% are allowed as these would not be noticeable to the consumer.

𝐶𝑉
𝑊𝐼 =
𝑆𝐺 0.5

Where:

CV = the higher or gross calorific value in MJ/m3 or BTU/ft3

SG = the specific gravity

There are three ranges or "families" of fuel gases that have been internationally agreed
based on Wobbe index and wobbe numbers. Family 1 covers manufactured gases, family
2 covers natural gases and family 3 covers liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). Combustion
equipment is typically designed to burn a fuel gas within a particular family: hydrogen-
rich town gas, natural gas or LPG.

The international gas union assign the following gas families:

Family 1 - Wo = 17.8 - 35.8MJ/Sm3 (Coke Oven gas, Low CV gas, Town gas)

Family 2 – Wo = 35.8 - 71.5 (Natural gases)

Family 3 – Wo = 71.5 - 87.2 (Liquefied Petroleum Gas)

NATURAL GAS

Natural gas is a naturally gaseous hydrocarbon mixture that is formed under the earth’s
surface. It is a gaseous fossil fuel that is found in oil fields, natural gas fields, and coal
beds. The primary constituent of NG is methane, it also contains (C2+ hydrocarbons, N2,
CO2, He, H2S and noble gases) according to its origin.

Throughout the 19th century, NG was used locally as a source of light due to lack of safe
structure for long distance gas transport. After World war II NG was extensively used after
construction of pipelines for transportation. Today, NG is widely used for: space heating,
generating electricity, as an industrial fuel source, as a feedstock for petrochemicals, as a
feed stock to make gasoline and other transportation fuels.

In its pure state, NG is odourless, colourless, and shapeless. It is highly combustible and
gives off a significant amount of energy when burned. It is considered to be the cleanest
fossil fuel and a safe source of energy. During NG combustion, the emission of SO2, nitrous
oxide and CO2 are negligible

According to the BP Statistical review of World Energy (2015) the total worldwide proved
reserves of NG were 187.1 trillion cubic metres (tcm) at the end of 2014. NG accounts for
23.7% of primary energy consumption
Dry gas

A mixture of gases that does not contain hydrocarbon species that become condensate or
liquid. Also note that “dry gas” does not mean that there is no liquid or water, it means
that there are no marketable liquid hydrocarbons, there can be a considerable quantity of
water in a “dry gas” field.
Crude oil and natural gas compared

The NG industry differs from the oil industry in a number of important ways. The physical
and chemical differences between oil and gas mean that the storage, handling and
transportation of gas are much more challenging compared to oil. The consequences of
this are a less flexible supply chain and significantly higher infrastructure costs.

Crude oil and NG share many characteristics. Both are found in subsurface and originate
from the same organic rocks. Both have variable compositions of hydrocarbons and non-
hydrocarbon components. The physical processes of forming, accumulating and storing
NG and crude oil in sub-surface reservoirs are virtually identical. It is very rare to produce
crude oil without associated gas.

Despite these similarities, the characteristics of oil and gas industries are fundamentally
different with consequent impacts on projects in terms of capital costs, marketing, prices
and revenues, technical and reserves risks and supply chain. The differences between oil
and gas industries are entirely due to the challenges in handling gaseous material
compared to crude oil in a liquid state. Transportation and storage of NG is more difficult
and expensive compared to crude oil.

In comparison to crude oil however, NG contains a greater proportion of lighter

hydrocarbons, mainly from methane to butane. Various terms are used to describe the
different components of NG as seen in table below.

Terms used to describe different components of NG

NG production and reservoirs

A gas reservoir is a naturally occurring storage area; it consists of permeable and porous
rocks surrounded by impermeable materials.

Natural gas origin

NG originates from three major processes: thermogenic, biogenic and abiogenic

processes.

A) Thermogenic process

This process involves relatively slow decomposition of organic material that occurs in
sedimentary basins under the influence of temperature and pressure in association with
increased depth. As a result of this decomposition reaction, NG (also called thermogenic
methane) and petroleum are presumed to be formed.

B) Biogenic process

In this process, methane is formed by the action of living organisms (methanogenic

bacteria) on organic materials during the decomposition of sediments in the early part of
their burial. This anaerobic decomposition is endothermic, slow and smelly. It can take
hundreds or thousands of years for this anaerobic process to come to completion. The
time required is largely a function of energy input into the process.

Aerobic decomposition of organic matter is exothermic and rapid. Aerobic decomposition

converts waste material to CO2 and H2O.

The methanogens are abundant in habitats where electron acceptors such as O 2, NO3- ,
Fe3+ and SO42- are limiting. These habitats include anaerobic digesters, anoxic sediments,
flooded soils and gastrointestinal tracts. Examples: - Cow's stomach. Action of certain
bacteria on biomass in the absence of oxygen breaks down the H/Carbons in organic
compounds at temperatures of around 37C.

For petroleum exploration, the distinction between thermal and bacterial gas is necessary.
In a thermal gas basin, oil must form first, but this is not the case in bacterial gas basin.
Therefore, the exploration techniques must be planned differently.

C) Abiogenic process

In this process, the starting material is the volcanic gas (not the organic matter) Methane
is formed by the reduction of carbon dioxide during magma cooling, commonly in
hydrothermal systems during water-rock interaction.

CLASSIFICATION OF NG

NG can be classified according to its origin and chemical composition.

1. Classification according to origin

 i. Conventional gas: It occurs in deep reservoirs that are either associated with
crude oil (associated gas) or contain little or no crude oil (non-associated gas).

Associated gas (wet gas) coexists in the reservoir rock with an oil reservoir. It may be
present in different forms as solution gas in the oil (dissolved gas) or as gas cap gas, lying
above the oil reservoir (casing head gas). Associated gas is usually leaner in methane and
richer in higher molecular weight paraffinic constituents.

The non-associated gas (dry gas) is produced from a geological formation that typically
does not contain much, if any, crude oil. This gas is usually richer in methane and leaner
in higher molecular weight hydrocarbons

ii. Unconventional gas. Several types of unconventional gas are found such as
shale, coal bed methane, deep aquifer gas and gas hydrates.

Historically, we have thought about hydrocarbons being stored in some sort of void space.
Unconventional gas requires that we rethink this concept.

In coal bed methane (coal mine methane), the preponderance of the gas is adsorbed to
the surface of coal. CBM is formed by the coalification process. Thermogenic CBM is formed
by the action of increasing temperature and pressure in the buried organic matter that is
slowly transformed into methane. Bacterial processes form another type known as
biogenic CBM in thermally immature coals.

Shale gas is found in low permeability shale, impermeable sandstones, siltstones, sandy
carbonates, limestones, dolomite and chalk reservoirs. The methane produced from these
reservoirs is not associated with crude oil.

Deep aquifers gas is formed during gas migration through the aquifers to the reservoir
rocks; the aquifers are then largely saturated with methane. The solubility of methane in
water is low, so the aquifer gas content is influenced greatly by the pressure, salinity and
temperature.

Gas hydrates are crystalline cell of hydrogen bonded water molecules (ice-like water
lattice) in which gas molecules are trapped in their cages. At different conditions of
temperature and pressure, all gases can form hydrates. The hydrate crystals are formed
through the nucleation step followed by crystal growth from the nuclei.

Methane hydrate, which is known as the ice that burns is commonly found in marine
environments (deep sea) and sometimes in deep lake sediments. According to BP
Technology Outlook (2015), methane hydrate recovery may account for 5% or more of
world gas production by 2050.

2. Classification according to chemical composition

 Hydrocarbon content
Natural gas may be classified according to the hydrocarbon content of the produced gas.
Dry gas (unassociated gas) consists of methane as the major constituent with little or no
C2+ component, whereas wet gas (associated gas) contains C2+ constituents higher than
10 vol%.
  Sulfur content
Natural gas can also be classified according to the amount of sulfur content (generally
H2S) in the produced gas. In this classification, the natural gas could be sweet or sour.
Sweet gas contains no or a negligible amount of H2S, whereas sour gas contains
unacceptable quantities of H2S (more than 5 (mg/Nm3))

Natural gas composition

According to the reservoir from which the natural gas is extracted, its composition will
vary. Natural gas may contain different hydrocarbon and non-hydrocarbon constituents;
consequently, the gas composition is never constant. Table 2, above, illustrates the typical
natural gas composition.

A. Hydrocarbon constituents

Methane may associate with paraffinic hydrocarbons such as ethane, propane, the butanes
and a small proportion of C5+ hydrocarbons. It also may contain some aromatics such as
benzene, toluene, and xylenes.

B. Non-hydrocarbon constituents

The non-hydrocarbon constituents of natural gas can be classified as diluents,

contaminants and solid matter. The diluents are non-combustible gases (such as CO2, N2,
He) that reduce the heating value of the gas. They could be used as fillers when it is
necessary to reduce the heat content of the gas.

The contaminants are gases that are detrimental to production and transportation
equipment in addition to being obnoxious pollutants. These contaminants include:

i. Sulfur species: hydrogen sulfide (H2S) can be formed during the reduction of
sulfate ions in sulfates dissolved in water by sulfur reducing bacteria in recent
sediment by a biochemical mechanism.

It can also be formed by thermal degradation of sulfur-rich kerogen at depth.

Different sulfur species may be present in the produced gas, such as carbonyl
sulfide (COS), carbon disulphide (CS2), elemental sulfur, and mercaptans (RSH,
 where R represents an alkane group e.g. mehyl mercaptan CH3SH, ethyl mercaptan
C2H5SH, etc.) if the H2S concentration is greater than 2-3%.

ii. Mercury is thought to be formed through the reduction or thermal decomposition

of mercury sulfide (cinnabar) in contact with hydrocarbons. It was mentioned that
mercury has a high affinity for carbon as well as sulfides. Mercury may be present
in different forms as elemental, organometallic compounds, such as dimethyl
mercury, methyl ethyl mercury, and dimethyl mercury, or inorganic mercury such
as HgCl or HgCl2

iii. Arsenic can be found in oil and gas operations, and it is believed to be as a result
of the formation of geological gas. It has been found in different forms in natural
gas and gas condensate. It not only exists as arsine (H 3As) but also as
trialkylarsines, such as trimethylarsine (Me3As), dimethyl ethyl arsine (Me2EtAs),
methyl diethyl arsine (MeEt2As), triethyl arsine (Et3As), and triphenylarsine
(Ph3As). In sour natural gas systems, arsenic sulfide minerals could be found.

It is reported that arsenic levels can range from parts per billion levels up to high
parts per million. The trialkylarsines are a less reactive group than arsine itself and
are more difficult to remove from natural gas.

iv. Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material (NORM)

In the produced gas, most of the radioactivity in NORM is derived from the decay
of uranium (U-238) and thorium (Th-232) present in the subsurface formations.
Deposition of thin, active lead (Pb-210) and polonium (Po-210) films on the internal
surfaces of production equipment and transport facilities may be present as a result
of Rn-222 decay. In the gas and oil industry, accumulation of NORM may be present
in the form of scale at the wellheads, in the form of sludge at Gas/Oil Separation
Plants, or in the form thin films as the result of radon gas decay in gas plants.

Solid matter may be present in the form of fine silica (sand) and black powder resulting
from the scaling in the pipe. The black powder mainly consists of iron oxides and iron
sulfides. However, it may also contain metallic lead, lead oxides, lead sulfide, zinc sulfide,
barium sulfate, calcium carbonate, as well as polonium (Po-210) deposits.

COAL BED METHANE (CBM)

Coal is a heterogeneous, combustible, sedimentary rock consisting of organic compounds

formed by a complex process of conversion of fossilized biomass into solid material. It is
a black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or
veins called coal beds.

Uses of coal

From the beginning of the eighteenth to the mid-twentieth century, coal was the dominant
fuel in industrialized societies. Coal can be used as fuel for heating, steam generation, or
power generation (in coal fired power plants) and as feedstock for various industries.

Gas in coal
For as long as coal has been mined in the subsurface, the presence of gas in coal seams
has been known. This gas created problems in the mines when it would accumulate
threatening both asphyxia and explosive ignition. Eventually, boreholes were drilled into
the coal seams to vent off the gas ahead of the mining operations to reduce the chance of
this happening. In time, this gas was being collected and used locally instead of being
vented, giving rise to the concept of CBM.

CBM is still a significant source of natural gas in the United States, as well as Australia,
Canada, and China and is being developed in other coal-rich countries. CBM is considered
a clean fuel because its combustion releases no toxins, produces no ash and emits less
carbon dioxide per unit of energy than the combustion of coal, oil or even wood. Extraction
of CBM, in addition to providing economic value, also reduces the hazard of gas explosions
in coal mines.

Properties and origin of CBM

CBM is actually a misnomer. The gas recovered from coal seams is essentially natural gas.
While it does consist mainly of methane, it typically contains other hydrocarbon gases, like
ethane and propane and the nonhydrocarbon gases nitrogen and carbon dioxide). CBM is
also known as coalbed gas (CBG), coalbed natural gas, and coal seam gas.

Coal beds for the most part are self-sourcing reservoirs.

The coal generates gas and heavier hydrocarbons in place from the organic material
present in coal as it matures in a similar fashion to source rocks and hold these
hydrocarbons mainly by adsorption. Because of the high adsorptive capacity of coals, they
can also trap biogenic methane early in their history or capture migrating thermogenic
hydrocarbons from other sources. If the coal is uplifted to a shallow enough depth and
meteoric water percolates down to it, microbial activity biodegrading the coal’s bitumen
can contribute secondary biogenic gas to the CBG.

With regard to origin, CBM can be either biogenic, thermogenic or mixed.

Biogenic coal bed gas is generated by the breakdown of coal organic matter by
methanogenic consortia of microorganisms at low temperature usually <56°C (or 150°F);
low-rank coals are especially favoured as the starting material for microbial generation. In
contrast to microbial gas,

thermogenic coal bed gas is produced from the organic matter in coal by chemical
degradation and thermal cracking, mainly at temperatures higher than 100°C, where
microbial methanogenic activity becomes biochemically improbable. Higher rank coal is
expected to generate more thermogenic CBM than relatively lower rank coal, which would
translate into a higher CBM content if the gas has not escaped.

Note: According to the so-called coal rank there are four categories of coals: lignite,
subbituminous, bituminous, and anthracite. Coal rank expresses the geological maturity
of coal as a mineral. In underground deposits, coal transforms over time, starting with
peat, then proceeding to lignite and up to anthracite. Peat, the precursor of coals—
represents partially decayed vegetation of hemic, fibric, or sapric type that accumulates
in wet soils under the absence of oxygen.

With respect to being a reservoir, the porosity of coals is typically less than 10%, making
it less than desirable as a conventional reservoir. Instead, the vast majority of the gas is
stored adsorbed on the surface of the organic matter in the coal matrix. Only small
amounts of gas are stored as free gas in porosity and natural fractures (cleats) or as
solution gas in water in the cleats and pores. The adsorption capacity of coal increases
with its rank.
Extraction of CBM
Two basic drilling and completion technologies are used in CBM basins:
1.Open hole with cavity
2.Cased hole with hydraulic fracture stimulation.

In the open-hole cavity technique, a hole typically 22.2 cm in diameter is drilled to the top
of the targeted coal using a conventional drilling rig, drilling fluid and standard drilling
operations. Subsequently, the well is cased and cemented, and the conventional drilling
rig is removed from the well. A custom-designed drilling/completion rig is then put into
the well to drill through the coal and create a cavity. This rig is equipped with air
compressors that are able to inject large volumes of air into the wellbore at high pressure
up to 10.3 MPa (1500 pounds per square inch). After the hole in the coal has been created
and the casing is pulled back, the open-hole interval is ready for cavitation. The purpose
of this completion technique is to create a large cavity in the coal seam and remove any
drilling-caused formation damage so that the final cavity is stable. The final wellbore
diameter in the coal can reach up to 3 m. The wellbore is then completed with uncemented
pre-perforated liner or left-open hole. This open-hole drilling/completion technique is
especially successful in high permeability coal or over pressured areas.

In the technique using cased holes with hydraulic fracture stimulation, typically a hole of
20 cm in diameter is drilled with the drilling fluid through the coal and located some
distance (≈30 to 60 m) below the coal to provide space for coal fines and a sump for a
dewatering pump.

Removing the water from the formation is necessary to reduce the pressure, transform
adsorbed gas into free gas and allow free gas to flow to the wellbore. The well is cased
with the casing cemented across the coal seam interval. The coal seam is then selectively
perforated and fracture stimulated. Various fracture stimulation techniques have been
developed for coals, including various fluid types, pressures, etc.

Both the open-hole cavity and the fracture stimulation techniques have been successfully
used in US basins, such as the San Juan, Black Warrior and Powder River Basins. In most
cases, CBM wells require some stimulation because gas and water flows from coal naturally
are very low.

Environmental Issues of CBM Extraction

As is the case with any new reservoir development, there are some environmental issues
and challenges that CBM operators must face. The main environmental issues of CBM
extraction are related to: -

1.disposal of co-produced water;

2.underground water table drawdown

3.methane contamination.

Other concerns are related to noise (caused by compressors and pumps), air pollution
(with some gases related to drilling and extraction operations) and surface disturbances.

PRODUCER GAS
Producer gas is mixture of flammable gases (principally carbon monoxide and hydrogen)
and non-flammable gases (mainly nitrogen and carbon dioxide) made by the partial
combustion of carbonaceous substances, usually coal, in an atmosphere of air and steam.

Producer gas has lower heating value than other gaseous fuels (4.5 to 6 MJ/m 3 depending
upon the quantity of its constituents), but it can be manufactured with relatively simple
equipment. Not suitable for distribution. Can be used on site.
It is used mainly as a fuel in large industrial furnaces (iron and steel manufacturing, such
as firing coke ovens and blast furnaces, cement and ceramic kilns, or for mechanical power
through gas engines.

Air is blown through a burning bed of coal. It should be enough air to maintain the bed
temperature and not enough air to complete the combustion reaction. The reaction
is exothermic and proceeds as follows:

2C + O2 + 3.73 N2 → 2CO+ 3.73 N2

WATER GAS

Water gas is a gaseous fuel generated in the similar way as producer gas, by gasifying a
burning bed of solid fuel with superheated steam. The gas is mainly composed of an equal
proportion mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen. The gas emits blue flame when
ignited due to high content of carbon monoxide, hence, it is named as blue water gas.

The reactions involved when steam is passed through the burning bed of coal or coke
above 10000C are,

This reaction is strongly endothermic and temperature falls below 1000 0C gradually with
the progress of the reaction. At lower temperature steam starts to react with carbon to
form carbon dioxide, according to the following reaction,

As carbon dioxide does not contribute to the calorific value of water gas, the above reaction
is undesirable. To prevent the formation of carbon dioxide and to lower the cost of the
process by not supplying heat from outside to the fuel bed, the whole process of water
gas generation is divided into two stages.

a) Blasting period, when fuel bed is heated up by passing air through it by the
exothermic reaction,

Carbon dioxide formed in this reaction is converted into carbon monoxide by the reaction
with the carbon of the solid fuel as the temperature of the fuel bed rises.
b) Run or gas-making period, when blue water gas is produced by passing steam
through the incandescent bed of coal.

At this period, along with the reactions 1) and 2), other reactions such as water gas shift
reaction and methanation reaction also occur. The objective of the blast period is to
accomplish only reaction 1) to produce maximum possible heat by this exothermic reaction
and the objective of run period is to produce carbon monoxide as much quantity as possible
by utilizing maximum amount of steam.

Both these objectives keeping in consideration, a fuel bed with moderate thickness is used,
with enough contact time of steam with the bed. In practice, the rate of decomposition of
steam and the formation of water gas are controlled by alternate blast and run period.

As soon as temperature falls below 10000C, steam blast i.e, run period is stopped and air
blast period is started to raise the temperature of the fuel up to 1400 0C. When this
temperature is attained, the air blast is stopped and steam blast is again resumed. In this
way, the process alternated. After the air blast period is over, the bed is purged with steam
for 2 seconds to remove the carbon dioxide formed in the blast period and this way CO 2 is
prevented to mix with the blue gas. This steam is called purge steam.

On the other hand, after the run period, a second air purging is done to remove last trace
of water gas present in the generator, before the blast period is started. The period for
which air is passed through the fuel bed is called hot blow. The run period is carried out
for 3 min and this period is also called cold blow. The hot blow is done for about 1 min. In
the modern period, it is aimed to decrease hot blow period and to increase the run period.

CARBURETED WATER GAS (CWG)

Water gas is a low calorific value fuel gas and is still not of sufficient quality for distribution.
To increase its calorific value, water gas is carbureted by adding gaseous hydrocarbons
obtained by cracking petroleum oils. In addition to the gas generator, a carburetor, a super
heater with purifiers, scrubbers and condensers are used to produce carbureted water gas.
Carburetor and super heaters are the two big steel vessels, lined with refractory checker
bricks to provide intensive heat transfer surface.

The gas produced at the air blast period contains large amount of heat which is passed
through these vessels to heat the top and side walls and then escape through a chimney
to waste heat boiler for raising steam. Water gas produced during the run period in the
gas generator is passed to the carburetor at the top and hydrocarbon oil is sprayed through
atomizer into the red hot fire brick.

The sprayed oil in the carburetor is cracked. The products of cracking and the water gas
pass down the carburetor and enter the super heater at its bottom. The gas mixture rises
up through the super heater and the cracking process is completed at this stage. Some
tar produced during cracking is separated in a separator.

The gas then passed through a series of pipes cooled by water spray. After cooling, the
gases are led to the purifiers and finally to the gas holders. In purifiers, hydrated ferric
oxide and lime impregnated wood sharing are placed which remove hydrogen sulfide as
iron sulfide.

This is now suitable for distribution and is known as town gas. It is of higher heating value
than water gas. The cost of production is relatively high because oil must be used as well
as coal.
The composition of carbureted water gas is as follows: H2: 34-38%, CO: 23-28%,
saturated hydrocarbons: 17-21%, unsaturated hydrocarbons: 13-16%, CO2: 0.2-2.2%
and N2: 2.5-5%. Water gas is used as a source of industrial hydrogen in the manufacture
of methyl alcohol and carbureted water gas is used for welding purpose, and illuminating
purposes.

REFINERY GAS

When crude oil undergoes the refining process in an oil refinery in which the higher chain
hydrocarbons are broken down into simpler hydrocarbon chains (various petroleum
products), there are flue gases (exhaust gases) that are generated in every process. These
gases are collected by a refinery and used as feedstock fuel for operating all the refinery
processes. These gases are known as refinery gases.

Using all these flue gases is an act of recycling. Refinery gases have common components
such as hydrogen, methane, ethane, butane, propane and ethylene which when burnt
produce enough energy to run all the refinery processes. Many a times, refineries along
with petroleum products, package the leftover refinery gases that can be sold to other
refineries that would like to indulge in the refinery gas trade.

The flue gases can be treated for pollutants such as sour gases. These acid gas removal
processes used in the refinery are required either to purify a gas stream for further use
in a process or for environmental reasons.

LIQUEFIED PETROLEUM GAS

Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG or LP gas), also referred to as simply propane or butane,
are flammable mixtures of hydrocarbon gases used as fuel in heating appliances, cooking
equipment, and vehicles. It is increasingly used as an aerosol propellant and a refrigerant.
LPG is produced during oil refining or is extracted during the natural gas production
process. If you release LPG, gas is emitted. In order to transport it, LPG needs to be placed
under modest pressure to form a liquid. It can then be stored and transported in LPG
cylinders or by pipeline and by specially built seagoing tankers. Transportation by truck,
rail, and barge has also developed.

Propane and butane products separated from the fractionation plant contain some
impurities as residual water, H2S, carbon disulfide, and sulfur compounds. These impurities
should be removed in order to meet the desired product specifications.