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282 Gas Turbine Handbook: Principles and Practices
requirements. Computer (microcomputer or programmable logic
controller) control systems must be designed to interface and control
these various processes during steady-state and transient operation.
Though the supply of natural gas and oil, globally [proven gas
reserves of 6.34x10 15 cubic feet (179.5x10 12 cubic meters) and proven
oil reserves of 1.19x10 12 barrels] 2 , will satisfy consumption needs
for many years to come, a major effort is being made to produce gas
turbines capable of burning all types of fossil fuel, biomass and waste
products 3,4 .
Researchers are intensifying their efforts to supply hydrogen,
processed from fossil and non-fossil resources, for use in petroleumbased
equipment. The objective is to produce recoverable, cost effective,
and environmentally benign energy. One technique being studied at
Purdue University’s College of Science requires only water, a catalyst
based on the metal rhenium, and the organic liquid organosilane. (The
study team estimates that about 7 gallons of water and organosilane
could combine to produce 6.5 pounds of hydrogen, which could power a
car for approximately 240 miles.) 5
Along these lines efforts are underway to obtain methane from
coal. Coal-bed methane accounts for one-twelfth the natural gas
production in the US. For example, one estimate puts the total coal
resource in the Powder River Basin (in Wyoming & Montana) at 800
billion tons. More than 300 million tons are mined annually. A volume
of coal can contain 6-7 times as much methane as the same volume
in a conventional sandstone reservoir. The Powder River Basin’s coal
seams hold nearly 40 trillion cubic feet of technically recoverable
gas, or about 20% of the total gas reserves in the US. Coalbed
methane gas production has soared from just 100 billion cubic feet
in 1989 to more than 1,600 billion cubic feet in 2003. The US Energy
Information Agency reported that there was fewer than 4 trillion
cubic feet of proven reserves in 1989, that figure increased to 19
trillion cubic feet in 2003. Scientists at Luca Technologies in Denver
have reported evidence that natural gas found in these coal seams
may be generated by microbes digesting the coal. These microscopic
creatures, called Archaea, have been shown to produce 900 cubic feet
of natural gas per ton of coal in only 5 months. 6 Note the current
global coal reserve is approximately 90.9x10 10 tons 2 (over 8.18 x 10 14
cubic feet of methane).
Transportation is one of the main sources of energy demand—20%