HYDROCARBONS
CHAPTER 15

• Energy Basics:
• Energy can not be created or destroyed.
• Energy can change from one form to another (Ex: light to heat).
Ex:
Sun’s energy
(heat/light) is converted by grass
(photosynthesis) to chemical energy
Cows eat the grass and convert grass to chemical (body functions) and mechanical (body movement) energy

• Fuel – any substance from which energy can be obtained.
• Electricity is the only form of energy that is not naturally occurring
(lightning is the exception)
• Energy changing from one form to another is not
100% efficient – some energy is always lost as either heat or light

• Carbon-based (C)
• Most fuels are
Hydrocarbons
(composed of Carbon and Hydrogen – CH)
• Simplest:
•
Methane CH
4
Ethane C
2
H
6
Octane C
8
H18

• Numbers on gas pumps
(87, 90) are based on the energy available in that gasoline formula.
• Hydrocarbons also contain other compounds
(impurities) like sulfur, lead.
• Fossil-fuels from remains of long-dead organisms include: coal, oil and natural gas

• Organic material like prehistoric plants died, were covered with many layers of dirt, compressed into a liquid (oil) and then a solid (coal).
• Four stages of coal formation: peat, lignite, bituminous, anthracite coal.

• Brittle, brown, compacted plant material with high water content and low carbon content
• First stage in coal formation
• Found close to surface of Earth
• Burns quickly, gives off lots of smoke

• Soft , brown coal that has 40% carbon content
• Second stage of coal formation
• Burns quickly but give off very little smoke
• Found below the
Earth’s surface and must be mined

• Soft coal located deep within the Earth’s crust.
• Formed over time from lignite with increased heat and pressure
• Deep inside the
Earth’s crust
• Most common coal mined in the United
States

• Bituminous coal, subject to increased pressure over time turns into metamorphic rock coal
• Shiny black color
• Located deepest in the
Earth’s crust
• Lowest water content
– highest carbon
Burns hottest and cleanest
Hardest to reach
Most expensive

•
AKA crude oil, a fossil fuel
• Its 2/3 of the world’s energy
•
Supplies are limited
•
Millions of Uses

• COMES FROM THE
LATIN, petra = rock and oleum = oil.
• Three basic forms liquid – crude oil solid – bitumen gas – natural gas
• Developed by intense heat and pressure of ancient plants and animals
• Liquid sinks through layers of rock to form under-ground reservoirs of oil

• 2000 BC –
Chinese refined crude oil for lamps
• 1859 –
Edwin Drake drilled the first US oil well, Titusville, PA
• 1890’s –
Invention of automobile increases demand for gasoline
• 1960’s –
OPEC was formed by
Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela
• 1973 –
Arab Oil Embargo caused oil crisis in US and Holland
• 1993 –
First time US imports more oil than it produces

•
10 United Arab Emirates
2.8 million barrels per day
•
9 Venezuela
2.9 million barrels per day
• 8 Canada
3.1 million barrels per day
• 7 Norway
3.2 million barrels per day
•
6 China
3.6 million barrels per day
•
5 Mexico
3.8 million barrels per day
• 4 Iran
4 million barrels per day
• 3 United States
8.7 million barrels per day
•
2 Russia
9.3 million barrels per day
•
#1 Saudi Arabia
10.4 million barrels per day

•
10 Mexico + France
2 million barrels per day
•
9 South Korea
2.1 million barrels per day
•
8 Brazil
2.2 million barrels per day
•
7 Canada
2.3 million barrels per day
•
6 India
2.3 million barrels per day
•
5 Russia
2.6 million barrels per day
•
4 Germany
2.6 million barrels per day
• 3 Japan
5.4 million barrels per day
• 2 China
6.5 million barrels per day
• 1 United States
• 20.7 million barrels per day

Uses include:
• Gasoline (46%)
• Heating oil (27%)
• Jet fuel (7%)
• Blacktop (4%)
• Kerosene (2%
• Inks, crayons, bubble gum, detergents, furniture polish, deodorant, medicine, packaging, fertilizers, insecticides, plastics (10%)

• More than 5,000 oil/gas drilling companies in the world
• Major oil fields are on:
North America, South
America, Europe,
Africa and Asia

Major Oil-shale Deposits in the U.S.

• Plants and animal •
Trapped by nonporous remains in shallow rock
• Not a renewable seas from millions of years ago resource
• Often has natural gas
• Under intense trapped in the same pressure formed layers as the oil syrupy liquid
• Liquid seeped through sedimentary rock

• Mixture of gases:
Methane, ethane, propane, hydrogen sulfide, carbon dioxide, nitrogen and helium
• Forms the same way as oil and is often found in the same area as oil

Two Problems with fossil fuels:
1. Availability:
Nonrenewable
Easiest to reach already used
2. Pollution:
Exploration causes environmental damage, mining accidents
Burning fuels causes acid rain, increased CO2 in the atmosphere

• Biomass fuel; formed from living organisms
• PLUS - Trees are a renewable resource.
• MINUS – getting wood can damage forests, burning wood releases high amounts of CO2

Garbage made in most homes is mostly organic.
The organic parts of household waste can be used as organic fuel.
Many towns and cities burn garbage to produce electricity
PLUS – readily available supply.
MINUS - smell, expensive to build conversion plants,
NIMBY