Chapter 893 The start of the natural gas industry
September 1894.
Western Great Lakes Province in East Africa.
"What is such a long steel pipe used for? It looks as thick as an arm, right?" This is a question many people ask.
“I heard it’s a natural gas pipeline, and the gas transported in it is the same kind of gas used in gas lamps.”
What everyone is talking about is East Africa's first industrial-scale long-distance natural gas pipeline, which is the current focus of the East African government or Ernst.
The three giants of conventional energy and minerals, namely coal, oil and natural gas, are not in short supply in East Africa, but oil is a resource with relatively small reserves in East Africa, so Ernst naturally focused on On natural gas.
On the one hand, East Africa is very rich in natural gas resources. In the past, Tanzania, Mozambique and other countries in East Africa now have large amounts of natural gas resources.
On the other hand, the application technology of natural gas has matured, so East Africa urgently needs to popularize the use of natural gas so that it can replace some industrial and domestic fuel applications.
Humanity has a long history of using natural gas, but modern large-scale application of natural gas began in the United Kingdom.
In 1732, Englishman Carlisle Spalding proposed using methane discharged from coal mines to illuminate the streets of Whitehaven.
By 1813, the London and Westminster Gas Lighting and Coke Company in England secured the first ever municipal gas lighting contract.
The second is the United States. The natural gas lighting industry in the United States began in 1816. Baltimore, Maryland, began to use natural gas for street lighting. In 1886, the United States had built the world's first industrial-scale lighting system. long-distance gas pipelines.
So the development and utilization of natural gas in East Africa is relatively late. Even if it invests heavily, it still takes a while to catch up technically, but the effect is significant. For example, the natural gas pipeline in East Africa is only later than the United States. Nine years.
What restricts the construction of natural gas pipelines in East Africa is not that the technology is not up to standard, as the relevant technology has matured a few years ago, but that East Africa is experimenting with natural gas power generation technology.
The primary purpose of the construction of this gas pipeline is to supply energy to East Africa's first natural gas power plant, and then transmit it to Bujumbura, Mbeya and other cities through high-voltage power grids.
As for promoting the use of natural gas to the private sector, safety knowledge needs to be popularized first. Natural gas is flammable and explosive, and natural gas leakage itself can easily lead to suffocation and death. Therefore, considering the safety of the public, only a small amount of experimental materials can be used first. Promotion, this is the same as when electricity was popularized in East Africa, it was accompanied by a lot of safety science popularization.
However, apart from the lack of usage knowledge, other aspects are already complete. Residents’ use of natural gas is nothing more than using gas tanks and special stoves. This is not an insurmountable problem for East African researchers.
In fact, the British invented the gas tank as early as 1760, and later used it to power gas lamps. Therefore, the gas tank has been developed for more than a hundred years, and its safety performance has been very reliable, so it is used The hardware conditions for natural gas as a fuel for residents have matured.
Currently, the main fuels used by residents in East Africa are firewood and coal. In rural areas, firewood is the main fuel. There are also special fuels made from dried manure and coal like in northern pastures. In cities, coal is mainly supplied.
The promotion of natural gas will also greatly change the lifestyle of East African residents. After all, in the 21st century, natural gas is also the most energy-saving, environmentally friendly, and affordable living fuel.
“Please don’t watch nearby. This is a natural gas pipeline. Natural gas is flammable, explosive, and toxic. Our project is currently about to begin testing, so it’s best not to get too close. Nearly." Patrollers dispersed residents watching the installation of natural gas pipelines. Everyone naturally believes what government officials say. After all, this era is developing too fast, and new things are always emerging. Especially in East Africa, earth-shaking changes have occurred in the past thirty years, so everyone's ability to accept it is also Much stronger.
“Isn’t natural gas the gas used in gas lamps? It is indeed dangerous to a certain extent, but it is not accessible to ordinary people. Originally, according to the development of electricity, I thought gas would be eliminated. It’s over!” someone muttered.
The early use of gas was as fuel for lighting fixtures. The emergence of electric lights has greatly reduced the use of gas in this field.
Of course, the United States has begun to promote the use of natural gas as a fuel for residents, and East Africa is doing so at almost the same time as the United States.
The promotion of natural gas in the United States is dominated by private companies, while East Africa is best at using administrative power. However, in this way, as long as production capacity is guaranteed, East Africa can quickly promote large-scale promotion across the country without Private companies like those in the United States work on their own.
So although East Africa started late in this regard, it will be easy to surpass other countries later. After all, no government in the world attaches so much importance to natural gas energy as East Africa does.
"Rohr, why should natural gas pipelines be built directly on the ground instead of buried underground, like sewers? Isn't it too dangerous?" the patrolman asked the technician who was directing the welding of the pipeline. .
Rohr explained: “Many people in East Africa have never seen natural gas, so they don’t know much about its properties. The reason why natural gas pipelines are exposed is that natural gas is lighter than air, and its concentration is only between 5% and 5%. The bright line will only be ignited at 15%. The advantage is that once the pipeline leaks, it will float to high places and diffuse, and no flammable mixture will be formed. If the pipeline leaks through a hidden route, it will accumulate in the pipeline ditch and explode if there is a spark. Therefore, we built this pipeline in the On the ground.”
"Of course, this will also facilitate future maintenance and inspection. This pipeline will eventually lead to the power plant. After the connection is completed, we can inspect along the pipeline to prevent leaks."
As People who have received compulsory education and patrol officers can probably understand it. After all, the quality of gases is different. This should be understood as long as you are a little serious when you go to school.
It’s just that there is no specific description of natural gas in the textbooks in East Africa. After all, the large-scale utilization of natural gas only has a history of more than a hundred years, and it was even blank in East Africa before.
However, concerns about the safety of pipelines are actually unfounded. Although the world's first gas pipeline was constructed relatively late, the world's first oil pipeline was constructed relatively early.
So of course the technology is relatively mature. As long as the production factory no longer cuts corners on materials, there will be no big problems.
"Mr. Rolle, do you know how this gas generates electricity?"
Rohr replied: "In fact, it is the same as using coal to generate electricity. It boils water and then drives it with steam."
In a previous life, in 1940, the world's first natural gas-powered power turbine appeared in a power station in Switzerland, marking the birth of natural gas power generation technology.
East Africa pushed the time forward more than forty years. In the previous life, around the 1920s, natural gas chemical research work began to take off in the United States and Germany. People began to use natural gas to separate and produce formaldehyde, acetic acid, and synthetic Rubber and other chemical products.
East Africa’s early deployment in the natural gas field has only advantages and no disadvantages for the development of East African countries. In the previous life, the United States developed long-term technological advantages in this field because of its early development, and thus controlled the international natural gas market. You must know Unlike oil, natural gas is extremely unevenly distributed, but the United States can monopolize the market, which shows that technological accumulation is very important.
Therefore, research work in the field of natural gas is bound to become one of the focuses in the energy field in East Africa, at the same level as coal and oil.
(End of this chapter)