Natural-gas processing is a complex industrial process designed to clean raw natural gas by separating impurities and various non-methane hydrocarbons and fluids to produce what is known as pipeline quality dry natural gas.
Most natural gas extracted from the Earth contains, to varying degrees, low molecular weight hydrocarbon compounds; examples include methane (CH4), ethane (C2H6), propane (C3H8) and butane (C4H10). The natural gas extracted from coal reservoirs and mines (coalbed methane) is the primary exception, being essentially a mix of mostly methane and about 10 percent carbon dioxide (CO2).
Natural-gas processing plants purify raw natural gas from underground gas fields and from well heads with associated gas by removing common contaminates such as water, carbon dioxide (CO2) and hydrogen sulfide (H2S). Some of the substances which contaminate natural gas have economic value and are further processed or sold. The more efficient and effective your separations technology, the more a plant can benefit financially.
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