Natural gasoline is a liquid

hydrocarbon In organic chemistry, a hydrocarbon is an organic compound consisting entirely of hydrogen and carbon. Hydrocarbons are examples of group 14 hydrides. Hydrocarbons are generally colourless and hydrophobic, and their odors are usually weak or ...

mixture condensed from natural gas, similar to common

gasoline Gasoline (; ) or petrol (; ) (see ) is a transparent, petroleum-derived flammable liquid that is used primarily as a fuel in most spark-ignited internal combustion engines (also known as petrol engines). It consists mostly of organic co ...

(petrol) derived from

petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crud ...

. The chemical composition of natural gasoline is mostly five- and six-carbon alkanes ( pentanes and

hexane Hexane () is an organic compound, a straight-chain alkane with six carbon atoms and has the molecular formula C6H14. It is a colorless liquid, odorless when pure, and with boiling points approximately . It is widely used as a cheap, relatively ...

s) with smaller amounts of alkanes with longer chains.Sheng Wang, Ying Zhang, Mao-Gang He, Xiong Zheng, and Li-Bin Chen (2014): "Thermal Diffusivity and Speed of Sound of Saturated Pentane from Light Scattering". ''International Journal of Thermophysics'', volume 35, pages 1450–1464. . Quote: "ethane 2.4% w/w, butane 1.3%, pentane 67.1%, hexane 22.0%, heptane 5.7%, and octane 1.5 %". It contains significant amounts of

isopentane Isopentane, also called methylbutane or 2-methylbutane, is a branched-chain saturated hydrocarbon (an alkane) with five carbon atoms, with formula or . Isopentane is an extremely volatile and extremely flammable liquid at room temperature and ...

(methyl butane) , which is rare in the petroleum product.Ivan F. Avery, L. V. Harvey (1958):
Natural-gasoline and Cycling Plants in the United States
', Information circular, U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines. 12 pages. Its boiling point is within the standard range for gasoline, and its

vapor pressure Vapor pressure (or vapour pressure in English-speaking countries other than the US; see spelling differences) or equilibrium vapor pressure is defined as the pressure exerted by a vapor in thermodynamic equilibrium with its condensed phas ...

is intermediate between those of

natural gas condensate Natural-gas condensate, also called natural gas liquids, is a low-density mixture of hydrocarbon liquids that are present as gaseous components in the raw natural gas produced from many natural gas fields. Some gas species within the raw natur ...

(drip gas) and liquefied petroleum gas. Its typical

gravity In physics, gravity () is a fundamental interaction which causes mutual attraction between all things with mass or energy. Gravity is, by far, the weakest of the four fundamental interactions, approximately 1038 times weaker than the stro ...

is around 80

API An application programming interface (API) is a way for two or more computer programs to communicate with each other. It is a type of software interface, offering a service to other pieces of software. A document or standard that describes how ...

. Natural gasoline is rather volatile and unstable, and has a low octane rating, but can be blended with other hydrocarbons to produce commercial gasoline.Targray Corp (2020):
Natural Gasoline
. Product webpage, accessed on 2020-04-07. It is also used as a solvent to extract oil from

oil shale Oil shale is an organic-rich fine-grained sedimentary rock containing kerogen (a solid mixture of organic chemical compounds) from which liquid hydrocarbons can be produced. In addition to kerogen, general composition of oil shales constitut ...

. Its properties are standardized by

GPA Midstream Grading in education is the process of applying standardized measurements for varying levels of achievements in a course. Grades can be assigned as letters (usually A through F), as a range (for example, 1 to 6), as a percentage, or as a numbe ...

(formerly Gas Processors Association).GPA Midstream
website. Accessed on 2020-04-07.

Uses

Natural gasoline is often used as a denaturant for fuel-grade

ethanol Ethanol (abbr. EtOH; also called ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol, drinking alcohol, or simply alcohol) is an organic compound. It is an alcohol with the chemical formula . Its formula can be also written as or (an ethyl group linked to a ...

, where it is commonly added volumetrically between 2.0% and 2.5% to make denatured fuel ethanol (DFE), or E98. This process renders the fuel-grade ethanol undrinkable. It is then transferred to a blender, which will add this E98 to conventional gasoline to make common 87 octane fuels (E10). It can also be added to ethanol in higher volumetric concentrations to produce high-level blends of ethanol, such as

E85 E85 is an abbreviation typically referring to an ethanol fuel blend of 85% ethanol fuel and 15% gasoline or other hydrocarbon by volume. In the United States, the exact ratio of fuel ethanol to hydrocarbon may vary according to ASTM 5798 that ...

. Natural gasoline has a lower

octane Octane is a hydrocarbon and an alkane with the chemical formula , and the condensed structural formula . Octane has many structural isomers that differ by the amount and location of branching in the carbon chain. One of these isomers, 2,2,4-Tri ...

content (RON roughly equal to 70) than conventional commercial distilled gasoline, so it cannot normally be used by itself for fuel for modern automobiles. However, when mixed with higher concentrations of ethanol (RON roughly equal to 113) to produce products such as E85, the octane level of the natural gasoline and ethanol mixture is now within the usable range for flex-fuel vehicles.

Sources

It may be sourced from production of natural-gas wells (see "

drip gas Natural-gas condensate, also called natural gas liquids, is a low-density mixture of hydrocarbon liquids that are present as gaseous components in the raw natural gas produced from many natural gas fields. Some gas species within the raw natur ...

") or produced by extraction processeshttp://calteches.library.caltech.edu/106/1/Bowman.pdf. in the field, as opposed to refinery cracking of conventional gasoline.

References

Fuels Natural gas {{chemistry-stub