Nonrenewable Fossil Fuels are
FINITE!!
• Include:
– Coal
– Oil
– Natural Gas
What are they?
Hydrocarbons! CHx’s (C-H chains):
How did oil and natural gas form?
Black
Gold
• Plants/animal that lived up to 300 million yrs. ago
died and decomposed…
–Mostly phyto/zooplankton
• Pressure/heat/time broke down this organic
matter into simpler hydrocarbons
Oil extraction: Drilling
• Petroleum or crude oil: thick/gooey
– Hundreds of CHx’s and impurities
– Needs to be Refined through Distillation
(separated by different boiling points)
• “Cracking”
• The oil industry is the world’s
largest business… What
country has the largest proven
crude oil reserves???
Saudi Arabia
OPEC
• Organization of Petroleum
Exporting Countries
–Algeria
–Angola
–Ecuador
–Iran
–Iraq
- Kuwait
- UAE
- Libya
- Venezuela
- Nigeria
- Qatar
- Saudi Arabia
ANWR
• Should the U.S. Drill for more???
Other oil resources…
• Shale Oil: kerogen
Oil/Tar sands
• Bitumen
However…
• $$$$$$ (oil shale)
• Need a LOT of water
• MINING ruins more land than
drilling
• Pollution
• LOW net energy
• Net Energy:
–Total amount of energy
available from the resource
(ex: shale oil) minus the
energy needed to find,
extract, process, and get it to
consumers.
Natural gas extraction: Drilling
• Mostly Methane but also
– Ethane
– Propane
– Butane
– Hydrogen sulfide
Liquified Natural Gas (LNG)
LNG
• Natural gas is cooled to -162°C (260°F)
• Lowered net energy
• Shipped as a flammable liquid
How did coal form?
• Decomposed plant matter:
– Sedimentary rock formed by coalification
Steps in COAL formation:
• Peat – Lignite – Bituminous – Anthracite
•
•
•
•
Peat: low heat
Lignite: low heat, low sulfur
Bituminous: high heat, high sulfur
Anthracite: high heat, low sulfur
Coal extraction: Mining
• What country has the
biggest coal reserves???
• The United States!
–Followed by:
•Russia and China
How do they provide ENERGY?
• Combustion!! (Burning a CHx) releases
ENEGY!!!!
– Example: coal
C137H97O9NS + O2
CO2 + H2O + SO2 + NO
• 20C137H97O9NS + 2680O2
2740CO2 + 97H2O + 20SO2 + 20NO
No… you don’t need to memorize this one…
• Example: gasoline
• Examples: methane and ethane
How does that do work?
• Energy for cars: Burn Gasoline
– Internal Combustion Engine
Intake-- Intake valve opens allowing fuel/air mixture into the cylinder
· Compression-- The piston rises, reducing volume and increasing pressure
· Expansion (power stroke)-- Spark plug ignites, fuel expands pushing piston
· Exhaust-- Exhaust valve opens expelling spent fuel from cylinder
• Burn natural gas for heat (which can also
be used for electricity)
• Burn coal for heat to produce electricity!!
Electricity From a COAL FIRED
power plant:
• MINE for coal
• PULVERIZE the coal
• BURN the coal (in the boiler)
• The heat boils water:
–Liquid to steam
• Steam turns a turbine – which
is connected to a copper wire
in the GENERATOR
• Spinning copper wire is in a
magnetic field
• ELECTRONS FLOW!
A simpler version…
This power plant burns 25 TONS of
coal each MINUTE
• 3000 MW of electric power…
START…
END!