Natural Gas is also a fossil energy fuel but is a much cleaner burning fuel than the more generally known fuels such as Coal, Diesel, Petrol, Paraffin, HFO (Heavy Fuel Oil) and LPG (Liquid Petroleum Gas).
Natural Gas is “mined” as methane rich gas, that is non-toxic, colorless and odorless, that needs no, or minimal, refining to be used by end consumers. The composition of natural gas is primarily methane, with small amounts of larger hydrocarbon molecules such as ethane (C2H6), propane (C3H8) and butane (C4H10). Small amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitrogen (N) are often also present.
Natural Gas is found deep underground and is extracted through wells drilled to the Natural Gas deposits. Natural Gas can be transported in a gas form through pipelines, in a compressed form known as CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) in high pressure cylinders or in a liquid form at -163 degrees Celsius known as LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) in cryogenic tanks.
Under normal temperatures natural gas only burns when ignited by an external source and when mixed with a gas air mixture of between 5% and 15%.