On 13 Jun 2015 01:08:44 -0300, Mike Spencer
wrote:


John B. writes:

Hydro-carbon gas is a many slandered substance, but when you talk
about "pipe line" gas it is usually mostly Ethane and Methane. In
Indonesia they use "gas" to make fertilizer but I'm not sure whether
they are using strictly ethane-methane of something richer.

Since neither of those (nor other natural has) contains significant
amounts of nitrogen, phosphorus or potassium, there must be more to
the story than that one sentence reveals.
From Wkipedia-

All nitrogen fertilizers are made from ammonia (NH3), which is
sometimes injected into the ground directly. The ammonia is produced
by the Haber-Bosch process.[5] In this energy-intensive process,
natural gas (CH4) supplies the hydrogen and the nitrogen (N2) is
derived from the air. This ammonia is used as a feedstock for all
other nitrogen fertilizers, such as anhydrous ammonium nitrate
(NH4NO3) and urea (CO(NH2)2). Deposits of sodium nitrate (NaNO3)
(Chilean saltpeter) are also found in the Atacama desert in Chile and
was one of the original (1830) nitrogen-rich fertilizers used.[11] It
is still mined for fertilizer.[12]

In the USA in 2004, 317 billion cubic feet of natural gas were
consumed in the industrial production of ammonia, less than 1.5% of
total U.S. annual consumption of natural gas.[76] A 2002 report
suggested that the production of ammonia consumes about 5% of global
natural gas consumption, which is somewhat under 2% of world energy
production.[77]

Ammonia is produced from natural gas and air.[78] The cost of natural
gas makes up about 90% of the cost of producing ammonia.[79] The
increase in price of natural gases over the past decade, along with
other factors such as increasing demand, have contributed to an
increase in fertilizer price.[80]