The firm also owns 21 gas processing plants that separate propane and ethane from raw natural gas.
Fossett will use a bigger balloon this time, and control its altitude by working a propane ethane burner.
Ethane-to-ethanol would also reduce the feedstock for ethane-to-ethylene that the Petrochemical industry uses.
Propane and ethane, which are emitted by the burning of natural gas and other sources, have not declined as quickly.
Ethylene can be made from crude oil or the heavier gases that come out of natural gas wells (ethane, propane and butane).
Switching feedstock from naphtha, derived from oil, to ethane, derived from gas, has kept petrochemicals cheap even as oil prices have peaked.
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Preventing leaks also cuts back on other air pollutants associated with gas production and use, including such volatile organic compounds as ethane and butane.
Yet, chances are that your car does currently run on ethanol, which is basically ethane with an oxygen atom stuck on. (OH swapped for H).
Now, to use the ethane coming out of the ground it would have to be refined into ethanol and indeed there are refiners who do this.
Though no one admits as much even a mild cynic might suspect that it is illegal because ethane-to-ethanol is cheaper than corn-to-ethanol, and much cheaper as ethane prices collapse.
Consider: The Marcellus Region in the East is best known for shale gas plays and the natural gas liquids that spinoff from those searches, or ethane, propane and butane.
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But today, companies with access to feed stocks that are associated with the production of natural gas, such as propane and ethane, will see a boost in their performance.
Fractionators take a mixed stream of natural gas liquids (the liquid stuff that comes out of the ground along with natural gas) and process it into pure products like ethane, propane and butane.
Then came the shale revolution, and with it a flood of natural gas liquids including ethane, which are considered a sometimes annoying byproduct by gas drillers but a vital feedstock to manufacturers like Georgia Gulf.
Like Chesapeake, Range Resources is reducing its number of rigs in the northeast gas-rich portion of Marcellus next year, from 4 rigs to 1, with a refocus of capital on liquids-rich (ethane and propane) and oil projects.
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