Nitrogen Removal and Raw Helium Recovery in Natural Gas Processing Plants

Abstract

The proven world-wide natural gas reserves at the end of 1973 have been estimated to be about 2150 trillion scf. This quantity corresponds to approximately 50 billion tons of crude oil or 60% of the world crude reserves. Due to rapid technological progress and the obvious advantages of natural gas utilization to consumers, especially with respect to air pollution, the share of natural gas in world primary energy consumption increased rapidly to approximately 20% in 1973. This share is, of course, very different in various countries, and depends on the availability of gas. In 1973,32% of the primary energy consumption in the USA was delivered in the form of natural gas. In the USSR natural gas accounted for 23%; in West Germany it was equal to 10%, and in Canada it amounted to about 26%. The majority of natural gas consumption is concentrated in the industrialized countries. North America and Western Europe are in the most serious position, i.e., their primary energy consumption will continually increase. If no additional discoveries are made, these countries will in the future need to depend more and more on imports.