6.3: Fossil fuel types and uses Flashcards
What do developing nations use subsistence fuels for?
Home heating and cooking fuel
Common fuel sources in developing nations
Wood and charcoal
How is charcoal made?
Wood is heated under low oxygen conditions for a long time
What is peat?
Partially decomposed organic matter (often ferns or other plants) found in wet, acidic ecosystems like bogs and moors which can be dried and used as biomass fuel source
What are the three types of coal?
lignite, bituminous, anthracite
Deeper coal reserves
There’s more pressure from rock layers above and they are more energy dense which means a hotter, longer fire
Order of energy density and quality
Heat, pressure, depth
Lignite > Bituminous > Anthracite
What makes up most of natural gas?
Methane
What is natural gas?
Decaying remains of plants and animals (mostly marine life) that is buried under layers of rock and converted by pressure into oil (petroleum) and natural gas over time; It is found on top of trapped petroleum deposits
How is natural gas formed?
Oil is trapped in pororus, sedimentary rock underneath an impermable rock layer that doesn’t let the gas escape
Cleanliness of natural gas
Natural gas is the cleanest fossil fuel as it produces the fewest air pollutants
* least carbon dioxide (1/2 as much as coal when burned to generate electricity) when burned
* produces virtually no PM and less sulfur and nitric oxides than coal and oil
* no mercury
What are tar sands?
Combo of Clay, sand, water, bitumen
How is crude oil extracted?
Drilling through overlying rock layers to reach the underground deposit and then pumping liquid oil out under pressure; it can also be recovered from tar sands
What is bitumen?
A thick, sticky, semi-solid form of petroleum (not liquid)
Extraction from tar sands and water consumption
Water is needed to melt the bitumen into a liquid that can flow up a pipe for extraction and to separate the oil from impurities (sand, clay) at the refinery
