Johnson Matthey Technol. Rev., 2016, 60, (3), 177

doi:10.1595/205651316x692158

Shale gas has received much attention in recent years particularly in the USA and in Europe. It is a useful fuel source but also comes with the attendant risks and challenges associated with maximising the useful extraction of fuel, minimising costs and also protecting the environment. Its constituent component is essentially methane, the same as any other source of natural gas and it is this which makes itself useful in a variety of ways as a fuel and feedstock.

The extraction of unconventional gas as well as unconventional oil requires new technologies, with one of the challenges being to develop the most economical extraction process, given the large investments required. Tracerco, a Johnson Matthey company, provides solutions to this problem with its tracer technologies and an article outlining a case study of their application is included in this issue (1).

Methane, the major component of both shale gas and conventionally derived natural gas, also occurs in a number of other applications and it is not always welcome.

Extracting Methane

One such example is methane found during coal mining activities. While some forms of methane are able to be extracted in useful form (coal bed methane and to some extent coal mine methane also) there is a third type, ventilation air methane, present at concentrations of less than 1% and which is not currently economical to extract for use. At the same time this low level methane constitutes the largest amount, in tonnage terms, of the methane emissions from coal mining. To mitigate this Johnson Matthey Davy Technologies Ltd (JM Davy) has developed the technology known as COMETTM which is discussed in another of the articles in the present issue, by Ian Mitchell et al. (2). A UK-based development and process engineering company, JM Davy licenses its proprietary process technologies worldwide for the oil, gas and chemicals industries. It also has a research and development (R&D) centre located in the Tees Valley, UK, where it undertakes development, demonstration and process engineering to support its portfolio of processes, technologies and catalysts. It licenses processes and their individual core technologies to clients who wish to build a new plant or make a new product.

Emissions Abatement

Natural gas can be used as a fuel in various sorts of engines both mobile (typically vehicle combustion engines in the form of compressed natural gas (CNG) fuel) and stationary engines. Although today’s engines are increasingly efficient there is a small amount of escape into the vehicle exhaust and this must be mitigated with an emissions control solution. A forthcoming article in this journal will look at ways in which these emissions can be eliminated when used in various engine types.

Collaborative Programmes