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Methane, ethane, propane, and butane, as shown by the above table, are gases under ordinary atmospheric conditions. Pentane, hexane, and heptane are liquids and are the chief constituents of ordinary refinery gasoline. Of the four gases mentioned, methane is the most difficult to liquefy. At any temperature below -160° C. it becomes liquid when its pressure is 1 atmosphere. The boiling point of the liquid is 160° C. Above 160° C. greater pressures are necessary to liquefy methane, until at a temperature of 95.5° C. a pressure of 735 pounds per square inch is required. These two values are the critical temperature and the critical pressure, respectively, for methane. No matter what the pressure applied to the gas methane, it can not be liquefied at a temperature higher than - 95.5° C. The above general statement holds true for all gases. They can be liquefied at atmospheric pressure if the temperature is lowered sufficiently, but great pressure will not accomplish the liquefaction until the critical temperature is reached. Ethane (critical temperature, 35° C.; critical pressure, 664 pounds per square inch), it will be observed, is more easily liquefied and in the liquid condition has a higher boiling point (-93° C.) than methane.

Propane (critical temperature, 97° C.; critical pressure, 647 pounds per square inch) is more easily liquefied than methane or ethane.

Butane, the critical constants of which have not been determined, must be still more easily liquefied than the three already mentioned, because in the liquid condition it boils at 1° C.

OCCURRENCE OF GASOLINE IN CASING-HEAD GAS.

When a gas bubbles through or comes in contact with a liquid, it takes up and carries along vapor or minute particles from that liquid. The proportion of vapor increases as the temperature rises, and is quite independent of the nature of the gas as long as no chemical action takes place. When a natural gas in the earth comes in contact with petroleum, those fractions of the petroleum having the lower boiling points are principally taken up, inasmuch as their vapor pressures are much higher than those of the other fractions. If the well is under reduced pressure, products with higher boiling points will also be removed in the gas. The vapors are carried with the gases mentioned, in the same manner that water vapor exists in air.

At any particular temperature a fixed quantity of water vapor will be found in the atmosphere if the latter has reached complete saturation, a condition that seldom prevails. Usually a limited supply of water has been encountered by the air, and the atmosphere is spoken of as having a certain relative humidity, meaning that the saturation is incomplete at the existing temperature, or that more water vapor could exist in the air were a source of moisture available. In a similar manner gases in an oil well mix with heavy

hydrocarbon vapors. The amount of vapor carried will depend on the temperature and pressure existing in the earth, on the readiness with which the vapors can be obtained, and on the gasoline content of the crude oil in the well. A certain maximum quantity of the heavy vapors will issue with the gases from a well under given conditions of temperature and pressure. The intimateness of contact between the oil and the gas is an important factor. The maximum content, or condition of complete saturation, is probably by no means generally prevalent. The porosity or closeness of the strata, the depth of the well, and the rapid expansion of the gas from the casing head cause variations in the temperature of the gas. The pronounced temperature effects, of course, appreciably change the capacity of the gas to hold gasoline vapor. Such rapid expansion of gas from a casing head may occur as to cause a heavy condensation of vapor at the casing head, owing to a lowering of the temperature of the gas.

At some operations, wells have been under reduced pressure for a long time, so long, in fact, that only small quantities of the four permanent gases already mentioned are left in the strata. Under such conditions the mixture that comes from the well may consist almost wholly of vapors of the liquid hydrocarbons, unless air has been drawn into the strata, owing to the reduced pressure.

RELATION OF CHARACTER OF OILS IN THE SAND.

The yield of gasoline from natural gas is largely determined by the proportion of the vapor of the liquid paraffins in the gas mixture. Therefore the character of the oils in a sand is of importance.

Crude oil (petroleum) is a mixture of closely related complex hydrocarbons and of various other organic substances. There are many different compounds (isomers) corresponding to a particular molecular weight, and the boiling points of these isomers lie so closely together that their separation by fractional distillation is impossible. The liquid hydrocarbons that mainly concern the gasoline industry are the petanes, hexanes, and heptanes. However, small quantities of even higher homologues are undoubtedly obtained.

Some information as to the gasoline content of a natural gas can be gained by determining the proportion of light constituents in the oil with which the gas is associated.

Many investigations have shown that the gasoline constituents for many oils range from zero to 30 or more per cent of the total volume of the oil. Consequently, many oils are so heavy and their vapor pressures so low at existing earth temperatures that the proportion of vapors to be derived from them is too small to warrant the installation of a plant.

The table following shows the vapor pressures of the liquid paraffin hydrocarbons at various temperatures.

Vapor pressures and boiling points of the liquid paraffin hydrocarbons.

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From the table it may be inferred that the chief liquid constituents of gasoline made from natural gas are the pentanes and the hexanes as their vapor pressures at any temperature are far greater than those of the other liquid hydrocarbons.

EFFECT OF PRESSURE AND TEMPERATURE ON GASES IN THE

STRATA.

Natural gases in the oil fields of the United States are principally mixtures of methane, ethane, propane, and butane. Methane is always present in a well in the gaseous condition. Ethane becomes a liquid at a temperature of 35° C. under a pressure of 664 pounds to the square inch. Hence if a natural gas consisted of ethane only and was subjected to a pressure in the earth greater than 664 pounds, it would be in the liquid condition.

The authors have no evidence that ethane occurs in anywhere near the pure condition in the earth. As the proportion of ethane in a mixture decreases, there is required a proportionally greater pressure than 664 pounds to liquefy it. If a sample contained 50 per cent ethane and 50 per cent methane, there would be required a pressure of at least twice 664 pounds, or 1,328 pounds, to liquefy the ethane at 35° C., and to liquefy the methane a pressure of at least twice 735 pounds, or 1,470 pounds, at 95.5° C. Moreover, a temperature of - 95.5° C. is far below that prevailing in oil and gas sands. A pressure of 1,328 pounds per square inch is probably unknown in the gas fields, but pressures as high as 800 to 1,000 pounds have been measured. Propane and butane are each more easily liquefied than ethane.

The critical temperature of propane is 97° C., and its critical pressure is 647 pounds per square inch. According to analyses made by the authors the amount of propane in most natural gases is less than that of ethane, so pressures sufficient for its liquefaction do not exist in the sands penetrated by wells.

The natural gas of Pittsburgh, according to liquefaction experiments made by the authors, contains about 84.7 per cent methane, 9.4 per cent ethane, 3.0 per cent propane, 1.3 per cent butane, (chiefly),

and 1.6 per cent nitrogen. To liquefy the methane in this mixture at a temperature of — 95.5° C. would require a pressure of at least (107) 735, or 868 pounds. To liquefy the ethane at 35° C. there would be

84.7

required a pressure of (1.4) 664, or 7,064 pounds, and to liquefy the

propane at 22° C. there would be required a pressure of

(100) 132.3,

3.0

or 4,410 pounds. It will be noted that the critical temperature of methane is so low that under no condition could one conceive of its being liquefied in the earth. The critical temperature of ethane is a temperature that prevails in some rock strata, but the amount of ethane present in natural gas is invariably so small that pressures much higher than those found in rock strata would be required to liquefy the ethane.

As the temperature of a gas is lowered from its critical temperature, less pressure is required to liquefy it until finally at a certain temperature it becomes liquid at ordinary pressures. Propane has a critical temperature of 97° C. This temperature is higher than that ordinarily found in the sands of oil or gas fields, where a thermal gradient of 1° C. for each 60 or 70 feet of depth may be assumed. The temperature has to be -45° C. at ordinary pressures, however, for liquefaction to occur. Such a temperature is much lower than rock-strata temperatures. At 22° C. there is required a pressure of 4,410 pounds.

It follows that temperatures found in rock strata are not low enough, that rock pressures are not high enough, and that the amount of propane in natural gases is too small to allow the existence of liquid propane in the sands penetrated by wells.

Butane gas becomes liquid at 1° C. at a pressure of 1 atmosphere. Its critical constants have not been determined, so far as the authors are aware. Its liquefaction point at ordinary pressures (15 pounds per square inch) is much closer to normal temperature than the liquefaction points of the three paraffin hydrocarbon gases already mentioned. Hence, if it constituted the whole of a natural gas, one could easily conceive that it would occur in the earth in the liquid condition. But in many natural-gas mixtures it appears to be present in even less amount than the other three gases. In Pittsburgh natural gas it is present in a proportion equal to about 1.3 per cent. With this quantity present, it would require a pressure of 1,077 pounds per square inch at 1° C. for liquefaction. At the higher temperatures of gas sands greater pressures would be required. If present to the extent of 20 per cent there would be required a pressure of 75 pounds at 1° C., and if it constituted 50 per cent of a gas a pressure of 30 pounds would be required. Gases that are used for

57858°-Bull. 88-15- 3

the condensation of gasoline usually issue from the earth either under reduced pressure, atmospheric pressure, or just above atmospheric pressure. In exceptional instances the pressure may be 50 or even 100 pounds, but at most plants the gas used issues from the wells under reduced pressure. In those gases that are used for gasoline condensation, butane, and also propane and ethane, are found to be present in greater proportions than in the so-called "dry" gases that issue under much pressure and are so largely used for heating and lighting towns. The authors believe that butane may be present in the "wet" gases to the extent of 10 per cent. Hence one can conceive that the amount of butane may be high enough, also the rock pressures high enough and the earth temperature low enough, so that in some sands butane may be present in the liquid condition. But if reduced pressures prevail in wells, as in most wells used for gasoline condensation, the rock pressures are usually too low, even if the partial pressure of the butane in the gas mixture is high, to permit liquefaction to take place.

In summarizing, one may say that at those wells from which gas is drawn for gasoline condensation, the three gases, methane, ethane, and propane, invariably occur in the earth in the gaseous condition. Butane probably occurs as a gas in some places, but in others it is present as a liquid.

The question has been raised frequently as to whether natural gases are not accumulated as liquids in the underground reservoirs. If such were the case it would be possible for a single, comparatively small subterranean reservoir to yield for many years much larger quantities of gas than such reservoirs do yield.

As regards Pittsburgh natural gas and other similar gases that issue under considerable pressure from strata, none of the gaseous constituents present is liquid in the earth. However, where gases are associated with petroleum in the same strata, under heavy pressures, there is considerable solution of the gases in the oil. The natural gas used in Pittsburgh is not associated with oil in the earth.

TESTING NATURAL GASES FOR GASOLINE CONTENT.

Before plants are erected for the purpose of extracting gasoline from natural gas the yield and quality of the gas should be thoroughly investigated. Also of much importance is the marketing of the gasoline.

CLASSIFICATION OF KINDS OF NATURAL GAS.

As stated before, as regards the making of gasoline, natural gas is popularly classified in two divisions-"wet" gas and "dry" gas. This classification has come largely into general use with the development of the gasoline industry. Between the two classes there is no sharp line of demarcation.

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