Page 92 - Environmental Control in Petroleum Engineering

The Impact of Drilling and Production Operations 7§

The simplest family consists of the alkanes. These molecules contain
only carbon and hydrogen and are distinguished by the single bond
between each carbon atom. All other bond sites are occupied by
hydrogen. The chemical formula has the general form C nH 2n+r This
family is also called paraffins or saturated hydrocarbons, because it
contains the maximum possible amount of hydrogen. The chemical
structure of some common alkanes is shown in Figure 3-1. Although

H H H
i
H-C —H LJ C-H
I I
H H H

Methane Ethane

H H H H H H H
i i i i 1 1
P.
C H H-c--c -- C -C-H
I I 1 1 1 1
H H H H H H H

Propane n-Butane

H

H-C -H

H H
I I
H- C -C—C— H
I ! i
H H H

Isobutane
Figure 3-1. Structure of some common alkanes.