2. Fossil Fuels
Formed in the Earth's crust over hundreds of millions of years
Formed over the Carboniferous Period (360-286 million years ago)
Part of the Paleozic Era
Algae, or millions of very small plants sank to the bottom of swamps of
oceans and formed layers of spongy material known as peat.
The peat covered with sand, clay and other minerals formed
sedimentary rock.
Over millions of years, these remains turned into coal, oil, petroleum, or
natural gas.
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formation_1.jpg
3. Types of Fossil Fuels
Coal
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Oil
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Natural Gas
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4. Coal
Coal is a hard, black colored rock-like substance that is made
up of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and varying amounts
of sulphur.
The three main types of coal are anthracite, bituminous, and
lignite.
The earliest use of coal was in the Fu-shun mine in
northeastern China.
Coal is mined out of the ground or in strip mines where huge
steam shovels strip away the top layers of the coal. Layers are
restored after removal.
Coal is ground up and mixed with water to make slurry and
pumped through pipelines.
5. How is coal formed?
Coal is formed from the remains of vegetation that grew over
400 million years ago.
As plants and trees died, their remains sank to the bottom of
the swampy areas, accumulating layer upon layer and
eventually forming a soggy, dense material called peat.
Over long periods of time,deposits of sand, clay, and other
mineral matter accumulated and buried the peat.
Sandstone and other sedimentary rocks formed and pressure
caused by their weight squeezed water from the peat.
Over time with compression and heat, the material changed to
coal.
6. Stages of Coal Formation
Peat: forms when plant material decays and decomposes; it is the
earliest stage in the formation of coal
Lignite: softest, brownish-black, low in carbon, high in hydrogen,
oxygen content; alteration of vegetable matter has proceeded further
than in peat but not as far as in bituminous coal; also called brown coal
Bituminous: most abundant form of coal, also called soft coal,
intermediate in rank between subbituminous coal and anthracite;
divided into high-volatile, medium-volatile, and low-volatile; organic
sedimentary rock formed by diagenetic and sub metamorphic
compression of peat bog material
Anthracite: most highly metamorphosed form of coal, hardest, more
carbon, higher energy content
7. How Coal Is Used
94% of coal used in the United States is for generating
electricity.
The rest of coal is used as a basic energy source in many
industries including steel, cement, and paper.
Major uses of coal: electric power, industry
Coal is baked in hot furnaces to make coke, which is used to
smelt iron ore into iron needed for making steel.
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acks.jpg
8. Oil
Oil has been used for over 6000 years.
The demand for oil increased as the Industrial Revolution
occurred.
Oil is found under ground between folds of rock and in areas of
rock that are pourous and contain the oils within the rock itself.
The folds of rock were formed as the earth shifted and moved.
Companies drilled through the earth to deposits below the
surface.
Oil is pumped from below ground by oil rigs and travel through
pipeline or ship.
More than 50% of all the oil the United States use comes from
outside the country, most from the Middle East.
Petroleum or crude oil must be changed or refined into other
products before it can be used.
9. How Oil Is Formed
Oil is a liquid hydrocarbon derived primarily from simple marine
plants and animals.
Diatoms, remains of plants and animals, die and fall to the sea
floor.
They are buried under sediment and other rocks.
The rock squeezed diatoms and energy in their bodies could
not
escape.
Carbon turned into oil under great pressure and heat.
Earth changed, moved and folded.
Pockets where oil and natural gas can be found were formed.
Once the oil is formed, continued pressure from overlying rock
strata forces the oil to migrate through permeable rock layers
until it is trapped in reservoirs of porous sedimentary rocks.
10. How Oil Is Used As A Fossil Fuel
Transportation: gas for cars, tractors, trains, trucks
Consumer Goods: plastic in computer, detergent, ink, crayons,
deodorant, eyeglasses, CDs,DVDs, tires, ammonia, heart
valves
Industry: power manufacturing plants
Commercial Goods: feedstock
Heating and Cooling
Electrical Devices
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11. Natural Gas
Natural gas is lighter than air and is mostly made up of
methane.
Methane is made up of carbon and hydrogen atoms and is
highly flammable.
Natural gas is found near petroleum underground.
It is pumped from below ground and travels in pipelines.
It has no odor and is invisible.
Prior to travel in pipelines, it is mixed with a chemical that gives
off a strong odor.
12. How Natural Gas Is Formed
Thermogenic Methane - formation of natural gas made in a
similar fashion to oil
Natural gas can only be created under high pressure under the
Earth's crust.
Biogenic Methane - microorganisms break down organic matter
and produce methane in the process
Decomposed plants and animals buried in ocean floor and later
covered with silt and sand in ocean floor.
Over million of years, remains buried deeper. Heat and
pressure turned these decomposed remains into oil and gas.
13. How Natural Gas Is Used
Electric Power 24%
Industrial 38%
Residential 22%
Commercial 13%
Transportation 3%
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gas/TDR/images/Fig6_ConsumptionSect.JPG
14. Refineries
Industrial process plant where crude oil is processed and
refined into more useful petroleum products such as gas, diesel
fuel, asphalt base, heating oil, kerosene, and liquified
petroleum gas.
Hundreds of hyrodrocarbon molecules in crude oil are
separated in a refinery into components which can be used as
fuels, lubricants, and as feedstock in petrochemical processes
in order to manufacture products like plastics, detergents,
solvents, elastomers and fibers such as nylon and polyesters.
Refineries go through three steps: separation, conversion, and
treatment
15. Importance of Refineries
Refineries take crude oil, separate it into components, crack
and reform it, and treat it to remove contamination (such as
sulfur).
Refineries are expanding with high energy processing units to
refine dirtier crude oil (more hydrogen plants, more cracking,
coking, etc.)
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16. Downside of Refineries
Major pollution sources from fossil fuel evaporation and burning
vast quantities of fossil fuel energy to make gasoline, diesel,
and jet fuel.
Dirty crude oil is increasing local, regional, and global pollution.
Sulfur content in crude oil (a contaminant that turns into
hazardous hydrogen sulfide and sulfur oxides during refining) is
increasing.
Air pollution from refineries have caused: increased levels of
carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulfide (deadly at high levels),
asthma, leukemia, smog, acid rain, climate change, global
warming, cancer, and a host of other health issues.
17. Exxon Valdez
On March 24, 1989, the tanker Exxon Valdez was bound for
Long Beach, California, encountered icebergs and struck
Prince William Sound's Bligh Reef and spilled up to 750,000
barrels (32 million gallons) of Prodhoe Bay crude oil.
Prince William Sound is a habitat for salmon, sea otters, seals,
and seabirds.
Spring tidal fluctuations were 18 feet at the time; this tended to
deposit oil onto shorelines above normal zone of wave action.
The spill impacted 1,100 miles of non-continuous coastline in
Alaska.
19. Clean Up of Exxon Valdez
Coreexit 9580 and BP1100X, dispersants, were used, but was
toxic to workers and wildlife.
It broke the oil down, but created underwater plume.
The oil turned into mousse. The dispersants could not dissipate
oil in the form of mousse.
Use of a dispersant, a surfactant and solvent mixture did not
generate enough wave action to mix with oil in water, so use of
dispersant was discontinued.
Burning of Oil: reduced 113,400 litres of oil; 1,134 litres of
removeable residue
Booms and skimmers - displaced rocky cores where oil
collected with high pressure hot water; destroyed, displaced
microbial populations on shoreline.
20. Clean Up of Exxon Valdez
3M Fire Boom: in-situ oil burned for 75 minutes; was not
effective because of change in oil's state after the storm.
Containment Booms were deployed over 100 miles to protect
fish hatcheries and salmon streams.
Skimmers were less effective once oil had spread, emulsified
and mixed with debris.
Once oil became viscous, sorbent part of skimmer was
removed; conveyor belt was sufficient to pull oil up ramp.
Skimmers were placed on self-propelled barges with a shallow
draft.
Sorbent booms were used to collect sheen between primary
and secondary layers of offshore boom; collected sheen was
released from beach during tidal flooding.
21. Effect of Exxon Valdez
Subsurface oil can remain dormant for many years before
being dispersed and is more liquid and toxic.
Oiling of fur or feathers for animals causes loss of insulating
capacity, can lead to death by hypothermia, smothering,
drowning and ingestion of toxic hydrocarbons.
Mass mortality: 2800 sea otters, 302 harbor seals, 250,000 per
day seabird deaths, macroalgae and benthic invertebrates.
Physical displacement from habitat by pressurized water-wash
applied after spill.
22. Effect of Exxon Valdez
Collapse of local marine population (clams, herring, seals, sea
otters, orcas, killer whales)
Reduction in bird population (seabirds, Bald Eagles)
Destruction of billions of salmon and herring eggs
Stunted growth in pink salmon population
High death rates in following years for sea otters and duck;
ingested prey from contaminated soil and oil residues
Loss of recreational sports along the shore
Loss of fishing industry for designated time
Reduced tourism because of reduced "existence value" of
pristine Prince William Sound
20 acres of shoreline in Prince William Sound is still
contaminated with oil
24. Deep Water Horizon
On April 22, 2010, The Deep Water Horizon was drilling at
35,050 feet vertical depth an exploratory well at
Macondo. Tiberfield, the deepest oil well in the world, is located
in Keathley Canyon.
A geyser of seawater erupted with mud, methane gas, water
explosion, and firestorm.
The rig exploded because of a blowout.
4.9 million barrels of crude oil leaked, 53,000 barrels per day
were escaping before being capped.
11 crewmen were killed; 17 were injured
The oil spill continued until July 15.
This was the "worst environmental disaster the United States
has faced" and was twenty times greater than the Exxon
Valdez oil spill.
25. Clean Up of Deep Water Horizon
Corexit EC 9500 A, EC 9527 A, chemical dispersants,
facilitated digestion of oil by microbes; contain propylene glycol,
2 Butoxethanol, dioctyl sodium sulfuscinate
Dispersit SPC 1000, dispersant; 23,500 gallons per day used;
total of 1,800,000 gallons of dispersant used
Containment Boom - purpose to either corral the oil or to block
it from a marsh, mangrove, shrimp, crab, oyster ranch or other
ecologically sensitive areas
"Situ Burning" - burn off oil in controlled environments on
surface of ocean to try and limit enviromental damages on
ocean and shorelines
26. Clean Up of Deep Water Horizon
Strategies:
Contain oil spill on surface
Dilute and disperse it into less sensitive areas
Remove from water
Also tried:
Burning oil
Filtering off-shore
Collecting for later processing
Cement pumped to permanently plug leak
Asphalt used because it emulsified well; no longer evaporates
as quickly as regular oil; does not rinse off as easily, cannot be
eaten by microbes
27. Effect Of Deep Water Horizon
Extensive damage to marine and wildlife habitat
Loss of revenue for Golf's fishing and tourism industries
Oil plumes in deep waters of Gulf of Mexico
Dispersants used can cause genetic mutations and cancer;
toxic effect on bacteria and photoplankton (microscopic plants
which make up basis of Gulf's food web
Up to 75% of oil from BP's Gulf oil disaster still remains in Gulf
environment.
No alternative nesting sites suitable for many critically
endangered species.
Missing oil has been found in form of large oil plumes the size
of Manhattan; oil does not appear to be biodegrading very fast.
Health issues for Gulf Coast residents: outbreak of skin rash,
dizziness, and headaches.
28. Effect of Deep Water Horizon
Vigorous deepwater bacterial bloom respired nearly all the
released within 4 months and left behind a residual microbial
community containing methanotrophic bacteria. Methane was
the most abundant hydrocarbon released during the spill.
Corexit dispersant results in petroleum toxicity and oxygen
depletion.
8 US national parks threatened
Animals at risk: Kemp's Ridley turtle, Green turtle, Loggerhead
turtle, Hawksbill Turtle, Leatherback Turtle, 34,000 birds, gulls,
pelicans, roseate spoonbills, egrets, ferns, and blue heron
Drunken dolphins have been spotted blowing oil through blow
holes
Prey can be negatively affected
29. Effect of Deep Water Horizon
Coral reefs smothered
Microbes used to consume oil would reduce oxygen levels in
water.
Methane could potentially suffocate marine life and create dead
zones where oxygen is depleted.
Natural gas dissolving below the surface has potential to
reduce Gulf oxygen levels and emit benzene and other toxic
compounds.
Use of dispersants has broken up the oil in droplets small
enough they can easily enter the food chain.
Poly-aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) contain toxic compounds
that are carcinogenic, mutagenic, and teratogenic.
Dead baby dolphins have been washing up along Mississippi
and Alabama shorelines.
30. Effect of Deep Water Horizon
The number of aborted animals has increased at ten times the
normal aborting rate.
Lost of livelihood for Gulf Coast fishermen.
Anthracene, a toxic hydrocarbon by-product of petroleum, was
found at twice the levels the FDA finds acceptable in Gulf
shrimp.
Toxic compounds released from spill became airborne;
significant quantities brought onshore by precipitation; exposed
coastal population to chemical poisoning.
