1941: Gases, Natural and Manufactured

Sales of natural gas in the United States in 1940 rose 8 per cent over 1939, to 2,672,000,000,000 cubic feet, of which 700,000,000,000 was used in the producing fields for light, fuel and power, 442,000,000,000 as domestic fuel, 132,000,000,000 in commercial heating and lighting, 369,000,000,000 in the production of carbon black, 183,000,000,000 in electric power and public utility plants, and 100,000,000,000 in petroleum refineries; except for 5,000,000,000 exported, mostly to Mexico, the remainder was consumed in a number of industrial uses not classified. Of the total, 17 per cent for domestic, 5 per cent for commercial, and 78 per cent for industrial uses. Total production is usually about a third greater than the marketed output, losses and wastage running 20.25 per cent of the total output, while some of the excess, usually about 5 per cent, may be pumped back into the ground either for storage or for the repressuring of the field.

Liquefied Natural Gas.

A large scale plant for the liquefying of natural gas was constructed in Cleveland in 1940, in order to provide a maximum amount of storage at the point of consumption, using a minimum of storage capacity. At times of low demand the surplus gas delivered by the lines is liquefied and put in storage, and at time of peak demand, can be quickly regasified and fed into the distribution lines, thus avoiding the necessity of increasing the delivery capacity of the transmission lines to equal the peak demand load. As a supplementary feature, the storage and transportation of the liquid gas is being studied, with a view of enlarging its field of use.

Natural Gasoline.

At the present time nearly 90 per cent of the natural gas output of the United States, before being delivered to the transmission lines, is treated for the recovery of the small amount of gasoline vapor mixed with the gas. In 1940 this treatment resulted in the recovery of 2,320,000,000 gallons of natural gasoline, most of which is blended with the gasoline output of the petroleum refineries.

Liquid Petroleum Gases.

The byproduct gases produced in petroleum refining, formerly used as fuel in the plant, are now being liquefied in increasing amounts and distributed in tank cars or in cylinders as 'bottled gas' for both domestic and industrial use. Since 1931 the sales of these gases have increased from 20,000,000 gallons, to 313,000,000 in 1940, of which 43 per cent was used as domestic fuel, 22 per cent as industrial fuel, 17 per cent as internal combustion engine fuel, 11 per cent in chemical manufacture, and 7 per cent in gas manufacture.

Coke Oven Gas.

The only type of manufactured gas on which data are available is byproduct coke oven gas, of which there was produced in the United States in 1940 a total of 834,000,000,000 cubic feet, of which 298,000,000,000 was used by the producer in heating the coke ovens, 524,000,000,000 was sold, and 13,000,000,000 lost or wasted. Of the sales, 36,000,000,000 was for boiler fuel and 306,000,000,000 was used in steel furnaces or other operations affiliated with the producer, while 152,000,000,000 was distributed through city gas mains, and 30,000,000,000 was sold for industrial uses.