What is the main hydrocarbon component of natural gas?

1 Answer
Aug 21, 2016

#"Methane, "CH_4(g)#

Explanation:

When a gas well is tapped, there may be some concentrations of other gases, for instance, #H_2S#, or #N_2#, #H_2O#, #CO_2# or even inert gases, and some lower alkanes. But the main constituent is natural gas.

For gas wells that recover petroleum, methane is often just burnt off as it reaches the air (a bit of a waste of drilling IMO, but clearly this is an economic practice), and you have probably seen this from a distance.