ABSTRACT
The components in natural gas, methane, ethane, propane, n-and isobutanes, and pentanes, are all useful in their own right. Higher parafns are particularly valuable for a wealth of chemicals and polymers such as acetic acid, formaldehyde, olens, polyethylene, polypropylene, acrylonitrile, and ethylene glycol, as well as portable premium fuels such as, Calor Gas (propane). As discussed in Chapter 6, methane can also be converted to syngas by gas reforming. Syngas can then be converted to methanol, ammonia, syncrude, lubricant, or some precursors for chemical manufacturing, for example, dimethyl ether (DME) and urea. The technologies to manufacture some of these products directly from methane are also being developed and these will require more research into novel catalytic processes and their large-scale developments.
