Chapter 10: Fossil Fuels

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Chapter 10 Fossil Fuels
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Fossil Fuels

• Fossil fuels are composed of partially decayed
  remnants of organisms.
• They are nonrenewable resources.
• We have a finite (limited) amount that is being
  depleted
• Produce pollutants such as CO2, CO, SO2, NO3

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A. How Fossil Fuels Were Formed

• Fossil fuels were formed in vast swamps that were
  filled with plant species that had long been
  extinct.
• They decayed little after death since they were
  covered with water.
• Over time, more and more dead plants built up and
  as a result, layers of sediments accumulated,
  forming layers that covered the plant material
  into a carbon-rich rock called coal.

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Coal

• This substance was formed when partially
  decomposed plants were exposed to large amounts
  of heat and pressure for eons (long periods of
  time).
• Coal produces more CO2 emissions per unit of heat
  than other fossil fuels.

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Coal

• Formed when partially decomposed plants were
  exposed to large amounts of heat and pressure for
  long periods of time.
• Produces more CO2 emissions than any other fossil
  fuel.

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Types of Coal

• Lignite-soft coal that is low in sulfur and
  produces less heat in comparison to other grades
  of coal
• Sub-bituminous-intermediate grade coal between
  lignite and bituminous. Low hear value and
  sulfur content.
• Bituminous- soft coal that is high in sulfur
  and produces lots of heat
• Anthracite- hard coal that is low in sulfur and
  produces the most heat and less pollution

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Coal Reserves

• Coal is present in greater quantities than oil or
  natural gas.
• Present coal reserves could last 200 years at our
  present rate of consumption however the harm to
  the environment would be more substantial.

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Mining of Coal

• Subsurface mining underground coal mining that
  is dangerous and unhealthy. Can cause black lung
  disease.
• Surface mining-disturbs large land areas and is
  expensive to restore the land. Advantages
  include it being healthier , a better extraction
  of coal, and less expensive. On the other hand,
  it disrupts the land more than subsurface mining.

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Mining of Coal

• In Surface mining the use of draglines to remove
  mountain tops is one of the most destructive
  types of surface mining.
• Strip Mining is the worst type of surface mining.
  It creates spoil banks or hills of loose rock.

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Problems with mining coal

• 1) Landslides They occur on hills that were
  unstable due to the lack of vegetation.
• 2)Can cause black lung disease.
• 3) Acid mine drainage This is produced when
  rainwater seeps through iron sulfide minerals
  exposed in mine wastes and carries sulfuric acid
  to nearby lakes and streams.
• 4) Mountaintop removal The dragline takes huge
  chunks out of a mountain to reach the coal
  located below.

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Surface Mining Control Reclamation Act (SMCRA)

• Requires that surface-mined lands be restored to
  make the land usable again.
• Was passed due to carbon dioxide emissions from
  coal, inability to reduce or eliminate CO2 from
  combustions of coal, and there was acid
  deposition from soft coals that contain sulfur.

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Controlling Sulfur

• Fluidized-bed combustion is a cleaner
  coal-burning process that removes sulfur from
  coal combustion (but not CO2).
• Scrubbers can also reduce sulfur escaping from
  coal combustion but not the CO2. These are often
  placed in smokestacks to reduce emissions.

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Cleaner ways to mine coal

• Resource recovery makes scrubbers more desirable

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Oil Natural Gas

• Occur in structural traps such as anticlines, the
  upward folding of rock layers, and salt domes,
  underground columns of salt.
• Will probably be gone by the end of the 21st
  century
• Mostly located in the Middle East

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• Oil was formed when large numbers of microscopic
  aquatic organisms died and settled in the
  sediments.
• Their decomposition depleted the small amount of
  O2 that was present in the sediments.
• The resultant oxygen-deficient environment
  prevented further decomposition and the dead
  remains were covered and buried deeper into the
  sediments.
• The heat and pressure aided in the conversion of
  these remains to hydrocarbons, known as oil.

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Energy Consumption in Highly Developed and
Developing Countries
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Oil Natural GasEnergy Policy Conservation
Act in 1975 as a result of problems with Oil
dependency. The Strategic Petroleum Reserve was
created which contains up to one billion barrels
of oil stored in Salt mines along the Gulf of
Mexico.      
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Environmental problems related to Oil Natural
Gas

• 1989 Exxon Valdez was the largest spill in U.S.
  history
• 1991 Persian Gulf War spill (20x larger than
  the Exxon Valdez spill)
• CO2 from Oil and natural gas combustion releases
  copious amounts of CO2.
• Nitrogen Oxides and sulfur oxides are also
  released from the combustion of Oil and Natural
  Gas. (acid rain)

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Exxon Valdez Oil Spill

• The Exxon Valdez spilled 260,000 barrels of crude
  oil into the Prince William Sound along the coast
  of Alaska. This led to a decline in bird
  populations, sea otter populations, and the
  salmon migration was disrupted. To clean up,
  they mechanized stream cleaning and rinsing,
  which killed shoreline organisms. They left the
  area with contaminated shorelines.

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Exxon Valdez Picture
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Exxon Valdez
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Exxon Valdez Picture
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Persian Gulf Oil Spill

• In the Persian Gulf oil spills, crude oil was
  dumped into the Persian Gulf. Many oil wells
  were set on fire, and lakes of oil spilled into
  the desert around the burning oil wells. Cleanup
  efforts along the coastline and the desert were
  hampered by the war.

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Law because these spills

• The Oil Pollution Act of 1990-This legislation is
  liable for damages to natural resources resulting
  from a catastrophic oil spill, including a trust
  fund that pays to clean up spills when the
  responsible party in unable to.
• This act also requires double hulls on all oil
  tankers that enter the U.S. waters by 2015.

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Case in Point The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
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Alternatives      Synthetic fuels like tar
sands (oil sands), oil shales, gas hydrates,
liquid coal, and coal gas.      Coal
gasification Converts solid coal into Methane by
heating and mixing with steam.      C H2O ?
CH4 CO2       Coal liquefaction process
that produces a liquid fuel that burns cleaner
than solid coal.      These can have some of
the same undesirable effects that fossil fuels
have.
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Move towards conservation (Car pooling,
insulation in homes, efficient automobiles, light
bulbs, appliances. 
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55mph speed limit designed to reduce pollution
and use of fossil fuels as well as safety ?
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Energy Efficiency

• SUVs (Sport Utility Vehicles) use large amounts
  of gasoline and other petroleum products.

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Review

• 1) The worlds largest oil spill was the Persian
  Gulf
• 2) Oily rocks that can be crushed and heated to
  produce oil is oil shale.
• The most common type of coal is bituminous coal.
• Most of the oil reserves is in the Middle East
• The most abundant fossil fuel is coal
• Anthracite coal burns the hottest and produces
  the least pollution.

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Review

• Increasing the average global temp. due to
  increasing amounts of CO2 in the atmosphere is
  global warming.
• Petrochemicals can be used to produce a variety
  of everyday products.
• Technology used to remove sulfur oxides from
  smoke stack emissions are scrubbers.
• Oil produces few sulfur oxides, but lots of
  nitrogen oxides
• Nitrogen oxide emissions are produced mainly by
  automobiles
• Acid precipitation is linked to the worldwide
  forest decline.

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• Matching

a. burns a coal-1imestone mixture reduces
pollution b. a synfuel abundant in Venezuela and
Alberta, Canada c. using natural gas to produce
electricity and generate steam for water and
space heating d. cliffs of excavated rock at a
surface mine e. desulphurization systems reduce
coal's sulfur emissions f. a liquid composed of
many hydrocarbon compounds g. used for home
lighting and heating until replaced by oil and
natural gas h. molecules that make up oil i.
underground, ice-encrusted natural gas j. rock
strata, folded upward, that may trap oil or
natural gas k. creates a marketable product from
industrial waste 1. used mainly for heating and
cooking in rural areas m. an underground column
of salt that may trap oil or natural gas n. a
synfuel that is not yet cost-efficient to utilize
1. hydrocarbons 2. highwalls 3. scrubbers 4.
resource recovery 5. fluidized-bed combustion
6. petroleum 7. liquefied petroleum gas 8.
cogeneration 9. anticline 10. salt dome 11. tar
sands 12. oil shales 13. gas hydrates 14. coal
gas