What is the main component of natural gas?

The main component of natural gas is methane.

Methane is the simplest alkane, with the chemical formula CH₄: one carbon atom bonded to four hydrogen atoms. It is the principal hydrocarbon in natural gas and commonly makes up about 87% of natural gas by volume, although the exact composition varies by geological source and processing. Smaller amounts of ethane, propane, butane, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, and sometimes helium may also be present.

Methane is valuable because it burns readily, producing heat that is used for cooking, heating, electricity generation, and industrial processes. In pipelines it is transported as a gas; when cooled to about −162 °C, it becomes liquefied natural gas, allowing shipment by specialized carriers.

A common mix-up is treating natural gas as a single pure substance. It is actually a naturally occurring mixture, with methane dominant. Methane is also produced when microorganisms break down organic matter without oxygen, such as in wetlands, landfills, and the digestive systems of some animals. That same chemistry makes methane an important greenhouse gas when released into the atmosphere.