power resources Flashcards
coal
It is a very old fossil fuel
The better types have taken several hundred million years to form
It is formed by the decomposition of plants, especially equatorial swamp forest
The different types (from anthracite to peat) have diff qualities
Pakistan’s deposits range from bituminous to lignite
Types:
Anthracite: best quality, hardest w highest hydrocarbon content
Bituminous
i) steam coal: hard coal found in highly compressed seams, lower hydrocarbon content than anthracite
ii) coking coal: burnt to produce coke (hard material used in blast furnaces for extraction of iron from iron ore
Lignite: lower quality coal w high ash and moisture content
Peat: represents initial stages of coal formation, low carbon content
transporting coal from mine to end user
Extracted from coal face
Loaded onto trolleys that run on tracks to the surface (in some mines donkeys are used to pull the trolleys)
After it leaves mine, it is graded into different qualities and sold to dealers who supply it to brick kilns and cement factories, etc. where it is used as fuel
Brick kilns have used a large proportion of Pak’s coal production
Environmental agencies + brick kiln owners = introduce more environmentally friendly technology to replace heavily polluting coal-fired kilns
coal as a preferred source of power in the near future
Until late 1990s: coal = least popular energy fuel due to poor quality & dangerous mining conditions
Govt considering use of coal in industrial sector and power generation for:
Pak has 3000M+ tonnes of coal reserves. Balochistan used to be most imp coal mining region, but recently huge reserves have been discovered in Sindh (Thar Desert). Pak’s coal reserves are many times greater than its reserves of natural gas and oil
In view of the uncertainty surrounding the price of oil and huge amounts of foreign exchange involved for importing oil, authorities considered using indigenous coal as an alternative source of fuel. Now coal is used in much of the cement industry bec it is even cheaper than natural gas
Focus of govt’s policies is on aggressive coal-mining & modern usage of coal using latest technologies
Focus of coal policy: power generation thru coal & gasification of coal so that it could be used as a cheap fuel
Thru gasification, fuel companies convert coal into easily transportable coal gas or liquid fuels
Coal is heated in the presence of steam and oxygen to produce coal gas, a mixture of carbon monoxide, hydrogen and methane
Used directly as fuel or refined into cleaner-burning gas to make it less polluting
Coal based vapor fuels are produced thru this process
In order to increase the use of coal in industries (eg sugars, fertilisers, cement etc) coal mining operations require a lot of improvement and modernization
how is coal used in iron and steel industry
Steel industry:
Coal heated and converted into coke (hard substance consisting of nearly pure carbon)
Coke combined with iron ore and limestone
Mixture is heated to extract iron from ore
Gases emitted during the process are used to make fertiliser, pharmaceuticals, solvents, pesticides etc
environmental losses
Not advisable to build coal fired power plants close to river indus
Coal fired power plants = largest source of fly ash, and mercury pollution falls into nearby rivers where it builds up in fish
Ppl who regularly eat this fish can suffer damage to the brain and nervous system, particularly young children
Fly ash = reduced crop yields, respiratory disorders in humans and livestock, and contamination of groundwater w toxic salts and metallic content
economic gains
Pak must develop its indigenous energy resources to satisfy its need for energy
Coalfields have huge lignite reserves that could last for 500 years
General consumers coil get electricity at much cheaper rates than rn
Reliance on indigenous fuel will help save billions of dollars in foreign exchange which are currently being spent on expensive oil imports
mineral oil (petroleum)
Most imp fossil fuel tday
Occurs in porous spaces of sedimentary rocks and is derived mainly from the decomposition of marine animal and vegetable matter over several million years
Can be found many hundreds of metres underground or under seabed
Mainly occurs in dome shaped anticlines bw two layers of non porous rocks. The oil is trapped in the anticline with gas above and water below
oil prospecting and drilling
Oil is normally trapped deep underground
Known to leak up to the surface which is how people first discovered it
Now, wells are drilled to pump this liquid fuel out of the ground
Modern oil prospecting = technical job & requires modern scientific equipment
Once the drilling site has been selected, a derrick or drilling rig is set up, which is a steel structure that holds the drilling pipes and other equipment
oil refining
Crude oil can not be used in raw state and has to be processed and refined into products such as petrol for cars & aeroplanes, heating oil, kerosene etc
Are located either:
In or near the oilfields (eg Attock Oil Refinery on Potwar Plateau at Morga)
At the port of import (eg Pak refinery & international refinery located in Karachi).
It is cheaper to import crude oil and refine it locally for domestic and industrial use than to import refined products.
Market or demand factor is also important in the location of oil refineries. If industries are close to urban centres with high population density, transportation and distribution of refiner oil are convenient and cost effective
When a large proportion of Pakistan’s import bill is spent on petroleum products, it places a great burden on Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves.
The greatest use of oil is as a motor fuel. It drives nearly all the motor vehicles and aircraft around the world, as well as a large proportion of trains and ships
If oil reserves were exhausted, our modern world would simply crumble
Oil: used as lubricant to reduce friction in machines
Imp source of power
By-products of oil refining have many domestic and industrial uses
transportation of imported and local petroleum
Transportation at sea:
Pak’s imported petroleum, both crude and refined, are transported by sea from oil producing countries, esp ksa and uae.
It is transported in special ships called oil tankers
At Keamari port or port Qasim, tankers are berthed at the designated oil pier
Through the pier, the ship is connected to the oil handling system and the oil products are pumped from the tanker ship to the oil-marketing companies’/refineries’ storage tanks.
Products may be further transported up country
Transportation on land:
By pipeline
By road tanker
By rail tanker
Transportation by road and rail:
Relatively costly, time consuming & inefficient compared to transmission by pipeline
Transportation of these products by road is dangerous for traffic and the weight of road tankers and damage road surface and be a danger to human lives
Pipeline transportation:
Most efficient, convenient & cheapest mode of transportation besides being environmentally friendly
crude oil
Is pumped thru pipes from tankers at the oil terminals on the coast to the refineries nearby
The Pak Arab Refinery Company (PARCO) plays an imp role in the inland transportation of crude oil from Karachi
A pipeline has been constructed to transport crude oil from Karachi’s port to PARCO’s refinery at Mahmood Kot
After refining, the oil is supplied to other parts of the country
refined oil
Refined petroleum products: transported from Karachi up country by road and rail tankers to be supplied to petrol stations and other customers
Within karachi, oil is transported through pipelines to the storage tanks of oil companies.
Consumers buy petroleum products directly from the petrol pumps of these companies.
PARCO’s project for transportation of oil
2002: white oil pipeline project (WOPP) which will carry refined oil from Karachi to the north
After conversion of PARCO’s existing pipeline network for crude oil transportation, the white oil pipeline will be used to transport refined petroleum products to the central and northern regions of Pak.
These areas account for almost 60% of the country’s total petroleum consumption
Bin Qasim port will be the initiation point of the WOPP, where refiner products will be unloaded from ships into the pipeline for onward transportation to the northern and central regions
The new underground pipeline costing $480M will also carry refined oil from the Pak oil refinery at port Qasim to Mahmood Kot in Muzzaffargarh district, covering a distance of 817 km.
Demand for petroleum product is rising at a rate of 10% per annum up country
Project = employment opportunities in many areas and contribute to economic welfare of the ppl and country
production of oil
Pak = deficient in mineral oil resources
According to some geologists, favourable structural traps exist in large areas of Pak
Since 1947, major discoveries have been made in Sindh & Punjab and drilling activities were enhanced in the 1980s & 1990s, yet oil is still Pak’s biggest import
Drilling started in 1966
Until 1978 Potwar plateau was the most productive region
Lower Sindh emerged as an oil region in 1981
Union Texas pakistan made its first discovery in lower sindh
The southern oil fields produced more oil in 1997-8 than northern oil fields
Many potential oil fields in the country are still unexplored due to lack of technology and weak institutional framework
role of public and priv sectors in oil exploration and drilling
Govt had carried out exploration and development in collaboration w many foreign companies
In the public sector, oil & gas development corporation, established in 1961, is involved in several exploration and extraction projects
natural gas
Imp fuel found above the oil in oil bearing rocks. These rocks have millions of tiny holes. They act like a sponge and soak up the gas as it is formed.
Above the rock is a layer of non-porous rock which traps the gas underground and prevents it from escaping to the surface
Natural gas is made up of many gases (esp methane, ethane, propane & butanes)
Discovered in 1952 at Sui Balochistan by Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) while looking for oil
This gasfield is considered to be one of the largest in the world
Son after this, a pipeline was completed to provide cheap fuel to karachi
Pipeline to Multan 1958 to supply gas to the thermal power station and fertiliser plant.
This pipeline has been extended to Faisalabad, where there is another gas fired power station
Gas pipelines to Lahore , Rawalpindi, Islamabad and Peshawar
Pipeline to Quetta from Sui
nuclear energy
Power that is released from atoms
Most powerful source of energy; energy that powers the sun
In atomic fission. Energy is released when atoms are fused together; at present, nuclear power is based on atomic fission
Nuclear power stations produce energy in much the same way as those using fossil fuels; both use heat to make steam, which turns turbines which makes electricity
Pak is utilising nuclear energy for electricity generation
Karachi Nuclear Power Plant was commissioned in 1971 as Pak’s first nuclear power station, with an installed capacity of 137 MW
Since then 4 more nuclear power stations have been built in Pak and more are planned
Nuclear power stations are expensive to build but relatively cheap to run.
Produce low emissions of carbon dioxide
thermal electricity
Electricity is a flexible form of energy that can easily be converted to heat, light or sound energy
Electricity generated by non renewable resources like coal, oil, gas or nuclear fuel is called thermal electricity
Fossil fuels and nuclear power stations produce heat energy, which is used to turn water into steam which is used to turn turbines
