M1: Fossil Fuels
oil fuel sources disadvantages
CO2 emissions, oil spills, especially for coastal ecosystems
Impacts of fracking on faults
Changes volume and mass due to injection or extraction causes changes in stress near faults, increases pore pressure along a fault, causes stress transfer.
Coal advantages
Large resource base, cheap to mine and transport by rail
coal disadvantages
More CO2 production per energy unit than other fossil fuels, SO2 and NO emissions from power plants,
factors that affect crude oil production
geo-politics, regional and global climate, regional and global economies, natural and man-made disasters
Fossil fuel formation conditions
oxygen poor environment, between 7,500 and 15,000 ft, presence of aa caprock, porous source rock.
Peat
partially decayed plant matter found in bogs
anthracite coal
Hard coal. High heat content and low sulfur content. Limited supplies. (90% carbon)
Gas hydrates
Solid mixture of natural gas and water trapped at high pressures and low temperature environments beneath sea floors.
Fossil Fuels
Sources that provide energy using mainly carbon or hydrocarbons. Energy is released through combustion.
Unconventional Oil extraction
Surface mining
Caprock
a top layer of impermeable rock on an oil deposit.
Shale Oil / tight oil
a type of oil found in impermeable shale and limestone rock deposits, requires fracking
Factors that affect demand for different crude oil fractions
climate, time of year.
Alkylation
(Endothermic) Increases molecular weight of a crude oil fraction by adding an alkyl chain to unsaturated hydrocarbons
Catalytic reforming
(Endothermic) the atoms within a molecule are rearranged, usually starting with linear molecules and producing ones with more branches
Hydroprocessing
(endothermic) breaks longer hydrocarbons into short hydrocarbons
US tax on gasoline
40 cents per gallon, 6 times lower than other industrialized countries.
Per capita oil use in the United States
5 barrels (200 gallons) annually
Hydraulic Fracking
Cracks in and below Earth's surface are opened and widened by injecting water, chemicals, and sand at high pressure to extract oil
Lubricants from fossil fuels
Derived from fossil fuels of C16 and higher molecular weights
Natural Gas
Fossil fuel composed of lighter hydrocarbons (methane through pentane)
Gasoline
Fossil fuel consisting of hexane through Dodecane
Reason for natural gas price decrease
Fracking of shale gas starting in 2010
Conventional oil extraction
On or Off shore drilling and pumping
natural gas disadvantages
Requires high pressures or low temperatures to compress for automotive transport, released methane is a potent greenhouse gas, long atmospheric lifetime.
Tar sands
Sand impregnated with viscous tar-like sludge
Top oil 5 oil producing regions
Saudi Arabia, Former USSR, United States, Iran, China
Natural Gas advantages
Well-suited to on-the-spot heat generation, cheap, requires little processing, easily transported, CO2 emission per unit of energy is lower than other fossil fuels, reduces smog
Paris agreement
agreement to reduce CO2 production to hold global warming below 2C
Fluidized Catalytic Cracking
breaks longer hydrocarbons into shorter hydrocarbons by pairing the reaction with a combustion of carbon.
Lignite
brown coal. Low heat content, low sulfur content. (30% carbon)
climate change consequence
food insecurity, water in-availability, coastline erosion.
Oil fuel source advantages
easily transported, clean burning
Major uses for coal in the US
electricity generation (60%), Industry (steel production) (5-15%)
Tar sands disadvantages
low energy density (two tons of sands to create one barrel of oil)
shale oil disadvantages
low reserves, low energy density, produces lots of waste rock, requires 3x the process water as oil, process water must be decontaminated
Distillation Column
separates crude oil into fractions based on boiling point
Bituminous
soft coal. Extensively used as a fuel because of it's high heat content and large supplies. Has aa high sulfur content. (50-70% carbon)
