Chapter 893 The Natural Gas Industry Begins

September 1894.

Western Great Lakes Province, East Africa.

"What is such a long steel pipe used for? It looks as thick as an arm, right?" This is the question of many people.

"I heard it is a natural gas pipeline, and the gas transported in it is the same gas used in gas lamps."

What everyone is talking about is the first industrial-scale long-distance natural gas pipeline in East Africa, which is the current East African government or Ernst's focus.

The three giants of conventional energy and minerals, namely coal, oil and natural gas, are not lacking in East Africa, but oil is a resource with relatively small reserves in East Africa, so Ernst naturally focused on natural gas.

On the one hand, East Africa has abundant natural gas resources. In the past, Tanzania, Mozambique and other regions in East Africa now have a large amount 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 to replace some industrial and living fuel applications.

Humans have a long history of using natural gas, but the large-scale application of modern natural gas started in the UK.

In 1732, Calisher Spalding of the United Kingdom proposed to use methane discharged from coal mines to provide lighting for the streets of Whitehaven.

By 1813, the London and Westminster Gas Lighting and Coke Company of the United Kingdom obtained the first municipal gas lighting contract in history.

The second is the United States. The natural gas lighting industry in the United States began in 1816. Baltirmore in Maryland began to use natural gas for street lighting. In 1886, the United States had built the world's first industrial-scale long-distance gas pipeline.

Therefore, East Africa's development and utilization of natural gas is relatively late. Even with great investment, it still took some time to catch up in technology, but the effect is significant. For example, this natural gas pipeline in East Africa is only nine years later than that in the United States.

What restricts the construction of the natural gas pipeline in East Africa is not the lack of technology. The relevant technology has been mature a few years ago, but East Africa's experiment with natural gas power generation technology.

The primary purpose of the construction of this gas pipeline is to supply energy to the first natural gas power plant in East Africa, and then transmit it to cities such as Bujumbura and Mbeya through the high-voltage power grid.

As for promoting the use of natural gas to the public, it is necessary to popularize safety knowledge 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, it can only be promoted experimentally in small quantities first. This is the same as the popularization of electricity in East Africa, which is accompanied by a lot of safety science popularization.

However, except for the lack of knowledge in use, other aspects are already complete. Residents use natural gas, which is nothing more than using gas cylinders and special stoves. This is not a difficult problem for East African researchers.

In fact, as early as 1760, the British had invented gas cylinders, and later used them to power gas lamps. Therefore, gas cylinders have been developed for more than 100 years, and their safety performance is very reliable. Therefore, the hardware conditions for using natural gas as a fuel for residents are mature.

At present, the fuel for residents in East Africa is mainly firewood and coal. Firewood is the main fuel in rural areas. There are also special fuels made of dried feces and coal like the northern pastures, while cities mainly supply coal.

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 economical fuel for life.

"Please don't stand around, this is a natural gas pipeline. Natural gas is flammable, explosive, and toxic. We are about to start testing this project, so it's best not to get too close." The patrol officers dispersed the residents who were watching the installation of the natural gas pipeline.

Everyone naturally believed what the government officials said. After all, this era is developing too fast, and there are always new things emerging. Especially in East Africa over the past 30 years, there have been earth-shaking changes, so everyone's acceptance is much stronger.

"Isn't natural gas the gas used in gas lamps! That thing is indeed dangerous, but ordinary people can't touch it. According to the development of electricity, I thought gas would be eliminated!" Someone muttered.

The early use of gas was to use it as a fuel for lighting fixtures, and 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 residential fuel, and East Africa is almost doing it at the same time as the United States.

In the United States, natural gas promotion is mainly carried out by private companies, while East Africa is best at using administrative power. However, in this way, as long as the production capacity is guaranteed, East Africa can quickly promote it on a large scale across the country, instead of fighting alone like private companies in the United States.

So although East Africa started late in this regard, it will be easy for it to surpass other countries later. After all, no government in the world attaches so much importance to natural gas energy as East Africa does.

"Luo Er, why should the natural gas pipeline be built directly on the ground instead of buried underground like a sewer? Isn't this too dangerous?" The patrolman asked the technician who was directing the pipeline welding.

Roll 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 laid out in open lines is that natural gas is lighter than air and will only ignite when the concentration is between 5% and 15%. The advantage of open lines is that once the pipeline leaks, it will float to a higher place and diffuse away, and will not form a combustible mixture. If it is a hidden line, it will accumulate in the pipeline ditch when it leaks, and it will explode once there is a spark, so we built this pipeline on the ground."

"Of course, this will also facilitate future maintenance and repairs. This pipeline will eventually lead to the power plant. After the connection is completed, we can check along the pipeline to prevent leaks."

As people who have received compulsory education, patrol officers can probably understand a lot of it. After all, the quality of gas is different, which should be understood as long as they are a little serious in school.

It's just that there is no specific description of natural gas in East African textbooks. After all, the large-scale use of natural gas has only a history of more than 100 years, and it was blank in East Africa before.

However, the safety of the pipeline is actually unfounded. Although the world's first gas pipeline was built relatively late, the world's first oil pipeline was built relatively early.

So of course the technology is relatively mature. As long as the production factory does not cut corners on materials, there will be no major problems.

"Mr. Roll, do you know how this gas is used to generate electricity?"

Roll replied: "In fact, it is the same as using coal to generate electricity. It is all boiled water and then driven by steam."

In 1940, a power station in Switzerland had the world's first natural gas-powered turbine, which marked the birth of natural gas power generation technology.

East Africa pushed the time forward by more than 40 years. In the 1920s of the previous life, natural gas chemical research in the United States and Germany began to rise, and people began to use natural gas separation to produce chemical products such as formaldehyde, acetic acid, and synthetic rubber.

East Africa's early layout in the field of natural gas has only benefits and no disadvantages for the development of East African countries. In the past, the United States developed early in this field and formed a long-term technological advantage, thus controlling the international natural gas market. It should be noted that natural gas is not like oil, and its distribution is extremely uneven, but the United States can monopolize the market, which shows that technological accumulation is very important.

Therefore, research in the field of natural gas is bound to become one of the focuses of East Africa's energy field, at the same level as coal and oil.