Natural gas is the cleanest fossil fuels among the available fossil fuels. It is used as a feedstock in the manufacture of fertilizers, plastics and other commercially important organic chemicals as well as used as a fuel for electricity generation, heating purpose in industrial and commercial units.
One of the biggest use of Natural Gas is in cooking in domestic households through pipeline, most commonly known as Piped Natural Gas (PNG).
India is the Asia’s second biggest energy consumer since 2008 and is set to grow faster than that of all major economies in the world. Even, natural gas consumption will grow faster than either oil or coal, expanding at 1.6% a year.
As per the data of Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG), in India, the total consumption of Natural Gas is 148.02 MMSCMD (Million Metric Standard Cubic Meter per Day).
At present, India is the 14th largest importer of Natural Gas at 20,530,000,000 (cubic meters) in the world. With the development trajectory of India the demand is expected to rise and so is the import of the Natural Gas.
Of the total demand of 148.02 MMSCMD, 14.36 MMSCMD is distributed through City Gas Distribution (CGD) like Indraprastha Gas Limited (IGL) and Mahanagar Gas Limited (MGL), for cooking in domestic households.
At present there are approximately 55 Lakh household consumers in India with 8 lakhs new users being added annually, who are mainly concentrated in the regions of Delhi/NCR and Mumbai. But this consumption demography is expected to rise exponentially with the implementation of Government projects such as Pradhan Mantri Urja Ganga (PMUG). Under this project the PNG line is intended to be expanded to Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Odisha by laying 3,384 km Natural Gas pipeline.
Issues involved in PNG
In spite of such huge customer base there are many problems associated with the piped domestic households use of the natural gas such as:
1) Until recently, there were no standard on Gas stoves for use with Piped Natural Gas. All the customers were given the retrofitted LPG stoves which are compliant to Indian Standard (IS) 4246 after increasing the injector jet diameter, as the delivery pressure of Piped natural Gas is less when compared to LPG. However recently Bureau of Indian Standard (BIS) has developed a dedicated standard of Gas stoves for use with PNG i.e. IS 17153.
2) As there were no Indian Standard many sub-standard quality of Gas stoves were imported from different countries, which resulted in low efficiency as well as safety issues to the consumers.
3) The retrofitting of the Gas stoves resulted in the decrease of efficiency (less than 40%) which in turn resulted in loss of huge amount of foreign exchange of the
country. The standard IS 17153 has made atleast 50% efficiency (each burner) a mandatory requirement. However, efforts are being taken by Bureau of Indian Standards to make the efficiency at par with that of LPG stoves i.e. 68%.
4) The delivery pressure of PNG gas varies with location. Hence, arbitrarily changing the dimension of the injector jet can lead to leakage of Gas, a serious safety issue. This issue has also been adequately addressed by the BIS standard IS 17153 in which it is clearly mentioned “The size of the Jet in liters per hour of flow of PNG at STP conditions shall be impressed upon it”.
5) These retrofitted/substandard burners poses safety risks due to flame flashback or incomplete fuel combustion.
6) Also once changed, the burners cannot be reused for LPG stoves until and unless the injector is changed.
Apart from the national interest, problems gets compounded as the operating consumers are housewives/maids/servants who have comparatively less amount of awareness on the issue.
Benefit of PNG
As it can be seen from the above explanation, with such a rampant misuse of LPG stove, it is however experienced that there has been no major accidents. It is because of Natural Gas catches fire only when it forms a 5-15% Mini-Domestic Gas water heaters for use with Piped Natural Gas, IS 17150. Until now there was no standard on PNG water heaters. One and only standard on water heaters is for LPG water heaters i.e. IS 15558.
Future of PNG
Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), the national standards body (NSB) of India, has made the two PNG standards on priority keeping in view of the national cause and national benefits. All these standards are developed by the respective committees of the bureau upon taking the detailed consultations with all the stakeholders.
For the proper implementation of the standards, it is thus proposed that the ministry may bring these standards (IS 17150 & IS 17153) under its Quality Control Order, which will enable the proper enforcement of the standard and maintain a quality product in the country. This will also stop the import of sub-standard quality of PNG stoves and Gas water heaters being imported in the country.
Through these standard a quality product can be manufactured which will benefit the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) and rural sector. It will also help in creating a brand India which will inturn encourage manufacturing and boost the economy of India and “Make in India as well”
The more efficient stove will decrease the dependency of imported Gas which is mainly from conflict ridden West Asia’s OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) countries. Any disturbance in these countries create a supply problem or price problem. mixture with air whereas LPG catches fire when it forms 2% or above mixture with air.
Also the molar mas of dry air is 28.97g/mol and molar mass of Natural Gas which is mainly methane is 16.04g/mol, Due to this less weight of the natural gas it disperses in the air as soon as it comes out from the pipe.
The benefits of Piped Natural Gas can be made much more beneficial by taking following steps:
1) The connection charges as well as security money being paid by the customer may be reduced to a minimum level and may be completely abolished for poor citizen based on the Socio-Economic Caste Census-2011.
2) Government may launch schemes for PNG similar to Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana in which the gas may be supplied at subsidized rate.
3) PNG can also be integrated with other government schemes such as Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) urban and rural, wherein an already PNG connected house may be provided to the awardees.
4) Use of PNG which is mainly methane (CH4) upon burning does not create unwanted household pollution (HAP), even less than LPG. Hence, the consumer base of PNG may be increased.
5) Use of PNG have many other benefits such as it is safer (not prone to explosion), easy to handle and takes no or very less space.
On the similar lines and cause, the Bureau of Indian Standards has developed standard on Mini-Domestic Gas water heaters for use with Piped Natural Gas, IS 17150. Until now there was no standard on PNG water heaters. One and only standard on water heaters is for LPG water heaters i.e. IS 15558.
Future of PNG
Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), the national standards body (NSB) of India, has made the two PNG standards on priority keeping in view of the national cause and national benefits. All these standards are developed by the respective committees of the bureau upon taking the detailed consultations with all the stakeholders.
For the proper implementation of the standards, it is thus proposed that the ministry may bring these standards (IS 17150 & IS 17153) under its Quality Control Order, which will enable the proper enforcement of the standard and maintain a quality product in the country. This will also stop the import of sub-standard quality of PNG stoves and Gas water heaters being imported in the country.
Through these standard a quality product can be manufactured which will benefit the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) and rural sector. It will also help in creating a brand India which will inturn encourage manufacturing and boost the economy of India and “Make in India as well”
The more efficient stove will decrease the dependency of imported Gas which is mainly from conflict ridden West Asia’s OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) countries. Any disturbance in these countries create a supply problem or price problem.
The BIS standards can play a small role in mitigating these perpetual problems of the country.
With this the Piped Natural Gas (PNG) can be thought of as the “Future Gas Energy of India”.
─ The views expressed are personal.
Mr. Rajneesh Khosla
Scientist – F & Head (MED)
Mr. Sandeep Keshav
Scientist- C (MED)