Special Section on Energy: Natural Gas

This supplement builds on the August 2012 CEP Energy Supplement, which discussed the supply chain of natural gas — from getting it out of the ground to transporting it via road, rail, and sea for use — as well as the environmental and regulatory implications. Instead of supply, the 2015 Energy Supplement discusses how this supply can be most effectively used and what roadblocks are standing in the way. The supplement is broken up into separate articles on each of the likely applications for natural gas.

• Introduction
  Recent technological advances have led to abundant new sources of oil and natural gas from shale formations. The rapid growth in unconventional natural gas production is providing new opportunities — high-impact applications to take advantage of this high supply.
• Natural Gas Outlook
  This article discusses the outlook for natural gas and puts it in context with the entire energy/feedstock portfolio, which includes coal and conventional oil. It highlights demand for natural gas in each of the three main applications: transportation, electricity generation, and chemical synthesis. The article is based on ExxonMobil’s annual report, The Outlook for Energy, which is a long-range forecast of supply and demand based on internal analysis
• Stationary Energy Generation
  Stationary power — gas turbines and fuel cells — will likely be the largest consumer of natural gas. This article discusses the use of natural gas in gas turbines and solid-oxide fuel cells for the generation of electricity.
• Transportation/Nat Gas Storage
  This article discusses the use of natural gas as a transportation fuel, with particular focus on onboard storage. A major problem with using natural gas as a transportation fuel is its low volumetric energy density, which means it takes up much more space than traditional vehicle fuels. While compressed natural gas (CNG) has a higher volumetric energy density, storing CNG onboard vehicles is not ideal. CNG must be stored in cylindrical tanks because of the high pressures involved. In addition, compressing natural gas requires expensive compressors that consume energy. And, even with compression, natural gas still has a much lower energy density than gasoline. This is where adsorbents such as metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) enter the scene. A tank filled with MOFs can store natural gas at a lower pressure, which eliminates the need for a cylindrical storage tank. MOFs have extremely high surface areas and therefore can adsorb large amounts of natural gas.
• Chemical Synthesis
  The return of cheap natural gas has fueled increased demand and lead to a resurgence of the U.S. chemical industry, which relies on natural gas both as a feedstock and as a fuel for manufacturing a range of important commodity chemicals. This has renewed interest in expanding the use of natural gas as a feedstock for the production of other chemical intermediates, as it may provide more stable process economics as compared to current petroleum-based feeds. Furthermore, the development of alternative pathways for the conversion of the methane in natural gas to traditional petrochemicals may be of strategic importance in a future where greenhouse gas emissions are curtailed, but the demand for a wide range of hydrocarbon-based products is still growing.
  This article discusses the current use of natural gas for chemical manufacturing, as well as potential opportunities to expand the use of methane to produce a wider range of petrochemicals in the future.