lpg how is it formed (1 Viewer)

[vwalan]

my neighbour just asked me a question i cant answer .we have propane gas ,butane ,etc .we know they are all liquid petroleom gas .lpg but how do they get the different gases .
we suppose even the now natural gas is a kind of lpg.
we know town gas was got by burning coal and storing the gas in the big tanks you used to see years ago. also they were kept with a water seal under the gas to keep it
maybe scotjim knows the answer ,we think they all are formed naturally under the ground, not as a by product of refining.
we realise the different density of each must play apart of it.
anyone know the answer ?
please let us know its one of those over the hedge questions.
cheers alan..

 

[Larrynwin]

I thought lpg was a by product of oil refining , now you got me guessing.

 

[jhorsf]

fill ya boots
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquefied_petroleum_gas

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[pappajohn]

i think it may be similar to oil Alan.
some oil is suitable for petrol refining, some is only suitable for lube oil and some is only suitable for industrial use....making plastic etc.
there will be different grades of gas in the same way, probably graded by density and calorific value.

allegedly, the oil fields discovered in the north sea (in the 70's i think ?) and sold abroad by Mrs T's government wasnt any good for refining into road fuel and was sold as a low grade oil for the industrial use....whether thats true or not, i dont know.

 

[vwalan]

i have just googled lpg gas and got lots of facts .never thought to do it first. appears lpg was found in 1912 . cant cut paste or what ever you lot do to help others i,m computer illiterate but there is lots to read . will go back now and study. cheers alan,.

 

[scotjimland]

my neighbour just asked me a question i cant answer .we have propane gas ,butane ,etc .we know they are all liquid petroleom gas .lpg but how do they get the different gases .


,we think they all are formed naturally under the ground, not as a by product of refining.


cheers alan..

Hi Alan, I'm not a petro chemical engineer, but did work off shore with Amoco and at Shell refining as a maintenance technician.. ..so what I know is only from observation ..

LPG is a product of crude oil, the main gasses produced are Propane, Butane and Methane, other products are, Kerosene, Diesel, Petrol, Bitumen, Sulphur, Wax, Hydrogen and a host of other gases and chemicals..

I won't try to explain how a refinery works, it's beyond my scope of knowledge ..

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[scotjimland]

i think it may be similar to oil Alan.
some oil is suitable for petrol refining, some is only suitable for lube oil and some is only suitable for industrial use....making plastic etc.
there will be different grades of gas in the same way, probably graded by density and calorific value.

allegedly, the oil fields discovered in the north sea (in the 70's i think ?) and sold abroad by Mrs T's government wasnt any good for refining into road fuel and was sold as a low grade oil for the industrial use....whether thats true or not, i dont know.

Hi John

On the contrary, North Sea Crude, called Bren Crude is a high grade crude and is actually too good to waste on road fuels..

It is light in colour, almost like Diesel, so good in fact, if we were shut down and ran out of kerosene and diesel we could use it straight from the well, only going though a basic filter to fire our RB211 RR jet engine generators ..

Arabian Crude is cheaper, black thick heavy stuff , lower quality than Brent crude and better suited to producing road fuels

 

[Wintonian]

Well done Alan for discovering Google - the first port of call for most of us when we need to quench a thirst for knowledge.

One way to think of the oil refining process is to think of how whisky is made - by distillation. Basically crude oil is processed by distillation (and "catalytic cracking" or conversion) to produce myriad gases and liquids of different characteristics. Uses are from fuel oil, lubricating oil and feed-stock for the chemical industries to make plastics and fertilisers etc.

And the government that sold off the North Sea fields was our government, voted in by the electorate, not Mrs Thatcher's. Share ownership knows no national boundaries. At least she didn't sell off our gold reserves. That was the Scottish fool who thought he understood economics!

 

[vwalan]

well having googled lpg found the wikkyy site and there was all the answers i wanted .cant say its taken into my brain .but i will have to keep looking back and study abit at a time. thanks to the others who also tried to help. i posted the first bit then thought why not google .good question though do you agree. cheers alan.

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[jhorsf]

when we stop learning we are dead

 

[rainbow chasers]

Its actually a waste product of crude oil drilling as already stated. It is quite expensive to transport and bulk in its' own right when you consider the volumes of the stuff produced - which is why the burn it off (Flame on top of the rigs)

If we all used LPG to run our cars - that would be environmenatlly friendly!

 

[vwalan]

my mate next door did for awhile build engines to run off methane in sewage works to power gennies to put back into the grid . there is a few in cornwall and i dare say nationally quite alot.

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[lebesset]

burn off lpg at the well head ?
those days are long gone , only the smallest amount possible will be burnt off because not enough hydrocarbon gasses are produced naturally , and at least a third of production has to be produced by cracking at the refinery !

no doubt burning off still occurs in the middle east due to transport cost , but with the price of gas being what it is , that will decrease no doubt !

ps I ran on lpg for 25 years !

 

[Ralph-Dot]

I know, but it would take too long to explain