Bob Jent is the CEO of Western Pipeline Corporation. Western Pipeline Corp specializes in identifying, acquiring and developing existing, producing reserves on behalf of its individual clients.
Natural gas is a mixture of gases that formed from the fossil remains of ancient plants and animals buried deep in the earth. The main ingredient in natural gas is methane. Methane is odorless and colorless. So, why does natural gas smell? The gas company adds a chemical called mercaptan, which gives natural gas that funny sulfur-like or rotten egg odor. This odor is added for safety reasons so that people will know when they have a leak.
Natural gas gives off a lot of heat and light when it burns, but doesn’t produce smoke. That makes it a good fuel for use in the home. Today, more than half the homes in the U.S. are heated by natural gas. Natural gas is also reliable because its pipes are buried safely underground reducing loss of service related to storms.
Natural gas molecules are found deep beneath the earth’s surface in gas traps. It’s composed of methane, carbon dioxide, butane, ethane, propane, pentane, nitrogen, hexane, heptates, and water vapor. Oil companies, like Western Pipeline Corporation, drill wells to extract the natural gas molecules from these traps. It is then pumped through a pipeline to a processing plant. The impurities are removed; the water vapor, carbon dioxide and other molecules; in a treatment process called “sweetening” the gas.
The sweetened gas is pumped into a network of steel transmission pipes that range in size from 20 to 42 inches in diameter. About every 50 to 60 miles the gas passes through a compressor station. Compressor stations pressurize the gas to make it flow faster. It reduces the volume so more gas can flow through the pipes.
The pipeline eventually splits off to storage tanks for future use or to a natural gas utility company who delivers natural gas to your home. The pressure is reduced at the utility and mercaptan is added. Natural gas up to this point is odorless.
The natural gas travels through small pipes called distribution mains which are between 2 and 24 inches in diameter and run below the streets. The distribution mains split off into smaller service line pipes which go directly to your home. The pipes go through a gas pressure regulator where the pressurization is reduced and then into the gas meter which measures the amount of gas you use.
The natural gas exists in the gas pipes of your home available to be used by your gas furnace or stove on demand. When demanded a valve opens which lets gas flow to the burner where a pilot light ignites the gas.
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