ADVANCES IN NATURAL GAS TECHNOLOGY Edited by Hamid A. Al-Megren Advances in Natural Gas Technology Edited by Hamid A. Al-Megren Published by InTech Janeza Trdine 9, 51000 Rijeka, Croatia Copyright © 2012 InTech All chapters are Open Access distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license, which allows users to download, copy and build upon published articles even for commercial purposes, as long as the author and publisher are properly credited, which ensures maximum dissemination and a wider impact of our publications. After this work has been published by InTech, authors have the right to republish it, in whole or part, in any publication of which they are the author, and to make other personal use of the work. Any republication, referencing or personal use of the work must explicitly identify the original source. As for readers, this license allows users to download, copy and build upon published chapters even for commercial purposes, as long as the author and publisher are properly credited, which ensures maximum dissemination and a wider impact of our publications. Notice Statements and opinions expressed in the chapters are these of the individual contributors and not necessarily those of the editors or publisher. No responsibility is accepted for the accuracy of information contained in the published chapters. The publisher assumes no responsibility for any damage or injury to persons or property arising out of the use of any materials, instructions, methods or ideas contained in the book. Publishing Process Manager Ivana Zec Technical Editor Teodora Smiljanic Cover Designer InTech Design Team First published April, 2012 Printed in Croatia A free online edition of this book is available at www.intechopen.com Additional hard copies can be obtained from [email protected] Advances in Natural Gas Technology, Edited by Hamid A. Al-Megren p. cm. ISBN 978-953-51-0507-7 Contents   Preface IX Part 1 Natural Gas Resources 1 Chapter 1 Shale Gas Development in the United States 3 Daniel J. Soeder Chapter 2 Geochemical Dynamics of the Natural-Gas Hydrate System in the Sea of Marmara, Offshore Turkey 29 Livio Ruffine, Olivia Fandino, Joël Etoubleau, Sandrine Chéron, Jean-Pierre Donval, Yoan Germain, Emmanuel Ponzevera, Vivien Guyader, Bernard Dennielou, Giuseppe Etiope, Luca Gasperini, Bortoluzzi Giovanni, Pierre Henry, Céline Grall, Çagatay M. Namik, Charlou Jean-Luc and Géli Louis Chapter 3 Geopolitics of Gas in South America 57 Ana Lía del Valle Guerrero Chapter 4 Geological and Geochemical Setting of Natural Hydrocarbon Emissions in Italy 79 Giovanni Martinelli, Stefano Cremonini and Eleonora Samonati Part 2 Natural Gas Production 121 Chapter 5 The Expansion of Unconventional Production of Natural Gas (Tight Gas, Gas Shale and Coal Bed Methane) 123 Alejandro Alonso Suárez Chapter 6 Fluid-Solid Coupling Numerical Simulation on Natural Gas Production from Hydrate Reservoirs by Depressurization 147 YuanFang Cheng and LingDong Li VI Contents Chapter 7 Natural Gas Hydrates 193 Mert Atilhan, Santiago Aparicio, Farid Benyahia and Erhan Deniz Chapter 8 Modelling and Simulation of Natural Gas Liquefaction Process 213 Alessandro Trigilio, Alexis Bouza and Sabrina Di Scipio Chapter 9 Natural Gas Purification Technologies – Major Advances for CO Separation and Future Directions 235 2 Biruh Shimekit and Hilmi Mukhtar Chapter 10 An Approach Integrating Chemistry and Toxicity for Monitoring the Offshore Platform Impacts 271 L. Manfra and C. Maggi Chapter 11 Monitoring of Impacts of Offshore Platforms in the Adriatic Sea (Italy) 285 B. Trabucco, C. Maggi, L. Manfra, O. Nonnis, R. Di Mento, M. Mannozzi, C. Virno Lamberti, A. M. Cicero and M. Gabellini Part 3 Natural Gas Marketing and Transportation 301 Chapter 12 Natural Gas Market 303 Joseph Essandoh-Yeddu Chapter 13 The Gas Transportation in a Pipeline Network 339 Jolanta Szoplik Chapter 14 Phase Behavior Prediction and Modeling of LNG Systems with EoSs – What is Easy and What is Difficult? 359 Blanca E. García-Flores, Daimler N. Justo-García, Roumiana P. Stateva and Fernando García-Sánchez Part 4 Natural Gas Utilization 385 Chapter 15 Natural Gas Dual Reforming Catalyst and Process 387 Hamid Al-Megeren and Tiancun Xiao Chapter 16 Use of Meso-Scale Catalysts for Bulk-Scale Processing of Natural Gas – A Case Study of Steam Reforming of Methane 407 Pankaj Mathure, Anand V. Patwardhan and Ranajit K. Saha Contents VII Chapter 17 Innovative Technologies for Natural Gas Utilization in Power Generation 429 Victor M. Maslennikov, Vyacheslav M. Batenin, Yury A. Vyskubenko and Victor Ja. Shterenberg Part 5 Natural Gas Combustion 451 Chapter 18 Application of Natural Gas for Internal Combustion Engines 453 Rosli Abu Bakar, K. Kadirgama, M.M. Rahman, K.V. Sharma and Semin Chapter 19 The Influence of Modified Atmosphere on Natural Gas Combustion 479 Małgorzata Wilkand Aneta Magdziarz Chapter 20 Modelling a SOFC Power Unit Using Natural Gas Fed Directly 497 Nguyen Duc Tuyen and Goro Fujita Chapter 21 Defining a Gas Turbine Performance Reference Database Model Based on Acceptance Test Results 525 Norberto Pérez Rodríguez, Erik Rosado Tamariz, Alfonso Campos Amezcua and Rafael García Illescas Preface   Natural gas is a vital component of the world's supply of energy and an important source of many bulk chemicals and speciality chemicals. It is one of the cleanest, safest, and most useful of all energy sources, and helps to meet the world’s rising demand for cleaner energy into the future. However, exploring, producing and bringing gas to the user or converting gas into desired chemicals is a systematical engineering project, and every step requires thorough understanding of gas and the surrounding environment. Any advances in the process link could make a step change in gas industry. There have been increasing efforts in gas industry in recent years. With state-of-the-art contributions by leading experts in the field, this book addressed the technology advances in natural gas industry. It consists of 21 chapters divided into five sections which cover Natural Gas Resources, Production, Marketing & Transportation, Utilization, and Combustion. Section 1 consists of four chapters dealing with gas properties and reserves. It discusses the geological and geochemical setting in natural hydrocarbon emissions, and dynamics of natural gas hydrate system and shale gas development, in addition to geopolitics. Section 2 consists of seven chapters on the topic of technology of gas production. This section deals with fluid-solid coupling numerical simulation on natural gas production from hydrate. Also, it presents a review of state-of-the-art and recent developments of unconventional gas production and technology. It provides an overview on basic shale gas technology; assessment was addressed on the fundamental technologies that are widely used for natural gas purification processes. Section 3 has three chapters dealing with natural gas marketing and transportation. This section outlines the recoverable reserves, demand, supply, transportation of natural gas, and gas pricing and supply contracts. It also describes market options for developing countries. In addition, the section discuses the elements of gas pipeline network system, the variety of gas demand in a year, and mathematical model for gas network. Section 4 summarizes the latest catalysis technology and gas utilization in three chapters. This section focuses on the development of novel channel monolithic X Preface reactors with meso-scale dimensions which can be coated with suitable metal oxide and used for steam reforming of methane to produce syngas and hydrogen. This section also describes the upgrading of existing and creation of new power production technologies, which increase the efficiency of natural gas utilization and decrease the harmful emissions to the environment. In addition, this section discusses the utilization of nature gas in reforming processes using both methane and carbon dioxide. Section 5 describes the biggest consumption of gas - combustion for heating and powder generation or driving motors. This section deals with the application of natural gas in combustion engines and development of multi point injection system of natural gas engine. In addition, it describes the influence of modified atmosphere on natural gas combustion while defining the performance of gas turbine based on database model. I hope one will be able to find the latest information for his / her needs in this book. Due to the constraint on time and very broad range of topics, there may be some improper descriptions or errors in the book. The editors would be grateful to anyone bringing them to their attention.   Dr. Hamid A. Al-Megren Director of Petrochemical Research Institute, Coordinator of Materials and Nanotechnology Sector, King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology, Riyadh Kingdom of Saudi Arabia