CHAPTER 11: Unit 4. Natural Resources: Alkanes and Cycloalkanes

Natural gas consists of approximately 90-95% methane, 5-10% ethane and a mixture of other low-boiling alkanes. Petroleum is a thick, viscous liquid mixtures of thousands of compounds. They are used in fueling automobiles, aircraft, trains. They also have vast applications in industry for the manufacturing synthetic fibers, plastics, detergents, drugs, dyes and other products.
Below is a photo from petroleum fractional distillation tower.
At different temperature, different alkane products are extracted.