FOSSIL FUELS

Name: Charry Mae O. Montesclaro (BSIE 1-4)

Date: October 24, 2018
Submitted to: Engr. Ferrie S. Oliva
 If you have ever walked along the bottom of
a cliff, you may have noticed that the rocks form
layers. Different layers may have different colors or
textures. They may be made of bits of other rocks.

Rocks form layers like these over millions

of years. As the layers build up, the pressure on
the bottom layers increases. The pressure on the
rocks causes their temperatures to increase as
Pressure: the action of
well. Sometimes, rock layers form over the remains of force by one object against
plants and animals. Scientists call these remains another object.
organic matter. High pressures and temperatures can
change organic matter into three very important kinds of things: coal, oil, and
natural gas.
Coal, oil, and natural gas are also called fossil fuels. Why do you think this is so?

What are fossil fuels?

Fossils are the remains of creatures that lived long ago. So, fossils include organic
matter buried beneath layers of rocks. A fuel is a source of energy. Without fossil fuels, most
people could not drive their cars. They could not turn on their lights or heat their homes. This
is because most of the energy needed to do these things comes from fossil fuels.

The energy in fossil fuels originally came from the Sun. Plants use the energy in
sunlight to make their own food. The energy in plants passes to the animals that eat the
plants. (You can learn about these processes in the lesson Food Webs.) Some energy
remains in plants and animals that die and become fossil fuels. Burning the fossil fuels
releases the energy for humans to use.

When you think of fossils, you might think of dinosaurs, wooly mammoths,
or other large creatures that lived long ago. However, most of the fossils
that become fossil fuels are the remains of much smaller plants and
animals.
What is sedimentary rock?
To understand how fossil fuels form, it is important to learn more about rocks. Most of the rocks
that form layers at Earth’s surface are sedimentary rocks. A sedimentary rock is made of bits of

Weathering: the breakdown other rocks. Processes such as

of rock into smaller particles weathering break down rocks

from the effects of wind, at Earth’s surface. These bits of
water, and ice. broken rock are called
sediments. Sediments form
layers at the bottoms of valleys and seas.
New layers increase the pressure on older layers. This pressure
compacts the sediments. (During compaction, bits of rock are
pressed tightly together.) Over time, water flows through the
compacted sediments. Most of the water on Earth contains
Compaction happens when
dissolved minerals. Some of these minerals stick to the sediments. sediments are packed
tightly together.
Cementation binds the
Eventually, enough minerals stick to form a kind of cement. sediments together to form
The cement holds together all the bits of rock to form new rock. a rock.

Not all sedimentary rocks form in this way. In other lessons, you will learn more about
the different ways that sedimentary rocks form.

How is sedimentary rock involved in the formation of fossil fuels? How long does this
process take?
The effects of pressure and
temperature can change organic matter into
fossil fuels. This does not happen quickly. The
transformation takes millions of years.

Coal forms from dead plants that sink

to the bottoms of swamps. The organic matter
is buried under sediments and slowly
Dead plants buried at the bottoms of swamps
transformed into peat. If the peat is buried can form peat. Over millions of years, the peat
under more sediment, it can become coal. can become coal.
There are several kinds of coal. Coal that has experienced greater pressure contains more
energy.
 Some people consider coal to be a type of sedimentary rock. The other kinds of fossil
fuels, oil and natural gas, are not rocks. They formed from microscopic animals that lived in
ancient seas. When these tiny creatures died, they were buried beneath layers of sediments.
The sediments became sedimentary rocks. Over millions of years, pressure from the rocks
changed some of the organic matter into oil. (Another word for this kind of oil is petroleum.)
Given enough pressure, organic matter can also become natural gas.

Heat and pressure are the two main forces that transform organic
matter into fossil fuels. Can you think of other examples of heat or
pressure changing one type of thing into something else? For
example, what happens to dough when it is placed in a hot oven?

How are fossil fuels formed?

The Carboniferous Period occurred from about 360 to 286 million years ago. At the
time, the land was covered with swamps filled with huge trees, ferns and other large leafy
plants, similar to the picture below.

As the trees and plants died, they sank to the bottom of the swamps of oceans. They
formed layers of a spongy material called peat. Over many hundreds of years, the peat was
covered by sand and clay and other minerals, which turned into a type of rock called
sedimentary.
 More and more rock piled on top of more rock, and it weighed more and more. It
began to press down on the peat. The peat was squeezed and squeezed until the water
came out of it and eventually, over millions of years, it turned into coal.

Unlike coal, oil and gas were formed in seas and oceans instead of swamps. These
bodies of water abounded with organisms such as plankton. When these organisms died they
settled on the bottom in large quantities. Over a long period of time, this organic matter,
mixed with mud, got buried under heavy layers of sediment. The resulting high levels of heat
and pressure caused the organic matter to chemically alter. First into a waxy material known
as kerogen, which is found in oil shales, and then with more heat into liquid petroleum and,
with even more heat, into natural gas.

History of fossil fuels

The use of coal as a fuel predates recorded
history. Coal was used to run furnaces for the
melting of metal ore. Commercial exploitation of
petroleum, largely as a replacement for oils from
animal sources (notably whale oil), for use in oil
lamps began in the 19th century. Prior to the latter
half of the 18th century, windmills and watermills
provided the energy needed for industry such as
milling flour, sawing wood, or pumping water, and burning wood or peat provided domestic heat.

The wide scale use of fossil fuels, coal at first and petroleum later, to fire steam engines
enabled the Industrial Revolution. At the same time, gas lights using natural gas or coal gas
were coming into wide use. The invention of the internal combustion engine and its use in
automobiles and trucks greatly increased the demand for gasoline and diesel oil, both made
from fossil fuels. Other forms of transportation, railways and aircraft, also required fossil fuels.
The other major use for fossil fuels is in generating electricity and as feedstock for the
petrochemical industry. Tar, a leftover of petroleum extraction, is used in construction of roads.

Why do we use fossil fuels?

Fossil fuels are of great importance because they can be burnt, producing significant
amounts of energy. We all know that we need fossil fuels to generate electricity and as fuel for
cars, trains and airplanes. We also use it to heat our homes and to cook our food. Tar is used in
road construction. Petroleum is also used in the production of plastics, textile fibers and
synthetic rubber, and it is widely used in the pharmaceutical industry. Petrochemicals have had
a dramatic impact on our food, clothing, shelter and leisure. Some synthetics, tailored for
particular uses, actually perform better than products made by nature because of their unique
properties.

At present coal provides around 31% of our energy, and oil provides 32%. Natural
gas provides around 24% of the world’s consumption of energy. This amounts to an 87% share
for fossil fuels in primary energy consumption in the world. Non-fossil sources in 2012 include
hydroelectric 6.5%, nuclear 5%, and others (geothermal, solar, tide, wind, wood, waste)
amounting to 1.5 percent. According to BP’s Statistical Review of World Energy for 2011 global
energy consumption growth was 5.6%, the highest rate since 1973.

Advantages of fossil fuels

A fossil-fuelled power station can be built almost anywhere, so long as you can get large
quantities of fuel to it. This is not a problem since transporting oil and gas to the power stations
through pipes is easy. Gas power stations are very efficient and produce comparatively little
pollution while using coal allows us to generate very large amounts of electricity fairly cheaply.

How do fossil fuels work?

Coal is crushed to a fine dust and burnt, while oil and gas can be burnt directly.

The steam that has passed through the power station’s turbines has to be cooled, to
condense it back into water before it can be pumped round again. This is what happens in the
huge ‘cooling towers’ seen at power stations. Some power stations are built on the coast, so
they can use sea water to cool the steam instead. However, this warms the sea and can affect
the environment, although the fish seem to like it.
What are fossil fuel reserves?
Fossil fuel reserve is the amount of fossil fuel still in the ground which can be extracted
in such a way that companies can make a profit from it. Over time we have already extracted a
lot of coal, oil and gas. Other fossil fuels are being investigated, such as bituminous sands
and oil shale.

The difficulty is that they need expensive

processing before we can use them; however
Canada has large reserves of ‘tar sands’ , which
makes it economic for them to produce a great deal
of energy this way.

As far as we know, there is still a lot of oil in the ground. But although oil wells are easy
to tap when they’re almost full, it’s much more difficult to get the oil up later on when there’s less
oil down there. That’s one reason why we’re increasingly looking at these other fossil fuels.

World coal and gas proven reserve estimates vary widely from 118 to 417 years for coal,
and from 60 to 167 years for natural gas. Most experts seems to agree that proven oil
reserves will only last another 43 years, but some seem confident there may be enough oil for
another 100 years once we develop new extraction techniques.

‘Proven reserves’ refer to reservoirs of oil, coal seams, and natural gas deposits that
companies are sure they can make a profit from, if they could bring them up using current
extraction technologies and if today’s production of oil wouldn’t change. In fact
production does change. In the last 45 years the annual growth rate of oil production has
swayed between 10% and -5.8%.

Therefore there are a few problems with proven reserves calculations :

These numbers are based on proved reserve estimates assuming that these fuels could be
produced at a constant level for that number of years and that all of the proved reserves could
produced at a constant level for that number of years and
that all of the proved reserves could be recovered.

In reality, the production curve is much more akin

to a bell curve. At some point in time, the production of
each resource within an area, country, or globally will reach a maximum value, after which, the
production will decline until it reaches a point where is no longer economically feasible or
physically possible to produce. Therefore the actual reserves may be much smaller than
estimated.

On the downside:

 These numbers are based on current energy use assuming that energy use will remain at
the same level. In reality energy use has steadily increased over the past years and
continues to increase. Therefore actual reserves will last fewer years than estimated.
On the upside:

1. Since these numbers are based on proved reserve estimates they may last a whole lot
longer if we manage to develop the necessary technology to tap into hitherto unknown
reserves.
2. Note also that proved reserve estimates do not include strategic reserves, which (globally)
amount to 4.1 billion more barrels.
Fossil fuels are not a renewable energy resource because they take millions of years to form,
and reserves are being depleted much faster than new ones are being made. Once we’ve burnt
them all, there isn’t any more, and our consumption of fossil fuels has nearly doubled every 20
years since 1900. We may be able to develop the necessary technology to replace fossil fuels
by renewable energy but it will be very hard to replace oil for the production of plastics and for
the pharmaceutical industry. Therefore it might be wise to already stop using oil for the
production of fuel and electricity right now in order to save it for the production of these other
products. The production and use of fossil fuels raise environmental concerns. A global
movement toward the generation of renewable energy is therefore under way to help meet
increased energy needs.

Four Types of Fossil Fuels

Fossil fuels have been serving man’s energy needs since ancient times. As the name
suggests, fossil fuels are formed from the organic remains of prehistoric plants and animals.
These remains, which are millions of years old, were converted by heat and pressure in the
Earth's crust into carbon-containing fuels.
 Our energy needs have increased since the Industrial Revolution. Fossil fuels are
capable of producing tremendous amount of energy to meet this need. Fossil fuels include
petroleum, coal and natural gas. Orimulsion recently has been recognized as the fourth fossil
fuel.

Petroleum
Petroleum, or crude oil, is the most extensively used fossil fuel. Due to its value to
mankind, it is also known as "black gold." The word petroleum comes from the Latin words
"petro" (meaning rock) and "leum" (meaning oil).
Petroleum mainly is used to fuel jets and automobiles. It also is used to generate
electricity, and its derivatives are utilized in the medicine and plastic industries. As demand
for oil is still increasing, the average worldwide rate of oil field depletion is believed to be
around 2.5 percent per year, according to Richard Heinberg, an eminent ecology writer. The
widespread use of petroleum also has contributed to air and water pollution.

Coal
Coal is the most abundant fossil fuel resource. It provides about one-quarter of the
total energy the world uses, and 40 percent of the electricity generated worldwide is powered
by coal. The steel industry also is greatly dependent upon this fossil fuel. Like other depleting
sources of global energy, coal reserves are also on a steep decline. Moreover, coal is a
greenhouse gas nightmare.

Natural Gas
Natural gas is comprised mostly of methane, although it also contains ethane,
propane and butane. It is a convenient and efficient energy source. The major consumers of
natural gas are the residential, commercial and industrial sectors. It is also used to generate
electricity. Unlike other fossil fuels, natural gas is cleaner and causes less pollution. Like
other fossil fuels, this resource is depleting rapidly.

Orimulsion
Orimulsion became the “fourth fossil fuel” in the mid-1980s. It is derived from the
bitumen that occurs naturally in large reserves in the Orinoco oil belt in Venezuela. It is
estimated that there are more than 1.2 trillion barrels of bitumen available in reserves, an
amount greater than 50 percent of the world's estimated oil reserves.
 Orimulsion has achieved growing recognition as an economically viable fuel for power
generation. In countries such as Canada, Denmark, Japan, Italy, Lithuania and China, it is
used as a commercial boiler fuel in power plants. Orimulsion is the cost-effective choice when
compared to other fossil fuels used to generate electricity.

Future of Fossil Fuels

Fossil fuels are non-renewable sources of energy. As we are excessively dependent
on these, alternative forms of energy need to be developed in order to deal with the imminent
energy scarcity. These alternate sources of energy also need to be more eco-friendly.

Everyday Life: What is gasoline?

Petroleum is a mix of chemicals. By breaking apart these chemicals, people can turn
petroleum into a wide range of products. (This process is called refining. Before it has been
refined, petroleum is sometimes called crude oil.) One such product is gasoline. When
gasoline is burned, it expands very quickly. This expansion releases lots of energy in the form
of explosions. A gasoline engine allows people to create and control these explosions. The
energy can then be used to propel a car forward. Americans use hundreds of millions of
gallons of gasoline each day. Nearly one-fifth of all the energy used in the United States
comes from gasoline.

Looking to the Future: Can we run out of fossil fuels?

It is very important for people to use less coal, oil, and natural gas. Removing fossil
fuels from the ground pollutes the environment. So does burning them. But there is an even
simpler reason for people to find other sources of energy. Fossil fuels are nonrenewable
resources. This means that we use them much more quickly than nature makes them.
Remember: coal, oil, and natural gas take millions of years to form. Yet Americans use
billions of barrels of oil each year. Even if people could remove every drop of oil from the
ground, eventually all the oil would be gone. You can learn about possible solutions to this
problem in the lesson Alternative Energy.
How Fossil Fuels Create Pollution

Fossil fuels are fuels created from organic materials. Fossil fuels include oil, natural gas and
coal. When these fossil fuels are burned, they release carbon dioxide, methane and nitrogen
into the atmosphere. These upset the natural balance of nitrogen and carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere, which leads to smog, acid rain and a greenhouse effect. The greenhouse effect
refers to the rising temperatures caused by the sun’s energy being trapped in our atmosphere
by these extra gases. This raises the earth’s temperature.

Pollution Caused by Fossil Fuels

Airborne nitrogen pollution affects not only the quality of the air we breathe, but also the
land and the water. Nitrogen is the most abundant element in the air and is essential to plant
and animal life. Sources of nitrogen from human activities, such as electric power generation,
industry, transportation and agriculture, can upset the natural balance of nitrogen in the
environment.

When fossil fuels are burned, they release nitrogen oxides into the atmosphere, which
contribute to the formation of smog and acid rain. The most common nitrogen-related
compounds emitted into the air by human activities are collectively referred to as nitrogen
oxides. Ammonia is another nitrogen compound emitted to the air, primarily from agricultural
activities, but also from fossil fuels. Most of the nitrogen oxides released in the U.S. due to
human activity are from the burning of fossil fuels associated with transportation and industry.

Cars and trucks release nitrogen into the atmosphere, which contributes to nutrient pollution
in our air and water.
 Major sources of nitrogen oxide emissions include:

 Cars and trucks

 Coal-fired power plants
 Large industrial operations
 Ships and airplanes

The presence of excess nitrogen in the atmosphere in the form of nitrogen oxides or ammonia is
deposited back onto land, where it washes into nearby water bodies. These excess nutrients
contribute to pollution, harmful algal blooms and oxygen-deprived aquatic zones. Excess
ammonia and low pH in these areas are toxic to aquatic organisms and affect their survival.

When fossil fuels are burned, they release nitrogen oxides into the atmosphere, which
contribute to the formation of smog and acid rain.

Effects of Fossil Fuel to the Environment

Mining coal can be difficult and dangerous as can drilling for petroleum and gas, but the
main drawback of fossil fuels is pollution.

For example: the electricity sector is the largest uncontrolled industrial source of mercury
emissions in Canada. In addition, the sector has significant impacts on water and habitat and
species. In particular, hydro dams and transmission lines have significant effects on water and
biodiversity. Burning fossil fuels generates sulfuric, carbonic, and nitric acids, which contribute
to smog, the formation of fine particulate matter and which fall to Earth as acid rain. These acids
dissolve the calcium carbonate in monuments, sculptures and buildings made from marble and
limestone. They also change the acidity in the ground which has an adverse effect on the
natural environment.

Although it is possible to clean up these acids before releasing the waste gases into the
atmosphere, this method uses a lot of limestone. Fortunately it also produces gypsum for the
building industry as a by-product.

Offshore oil drilling poses a hazard to aquatic organisms as does the transportation of oil
with tanker ships, while leaking pipelines are a hazard for the natural environment in general. Oil
refineries also have negative environmental impacts, including air and water pollution.

Coal seems to be the worst fossil fuel in terms of pollution:

1. Mountaintop removal and strip mining

destroy large areas of the landscape,
causing negative environmental impacts.
2. Coal fired power plants need huge amounts
of fuel, which means train-loads of coal
almost constantly which requires the
combustion of additional fossil fuels.
3. In order to cope with changing demands for
power, the station needs reserves. This
means covering a large area of country next
to the power station with piles of coal.
4. Fossil fuels contain radioactive materials, mainly uranium and thorium, which are released
into the atmosphere. In 2000, about 12,000 tons of thorium and 5,000 tons of uranium
were released worldwide from burning coal. However, this radioactivity from coal burning
is minuscule at each source and has not shown to have any adverse effect on human
physiology.
5. Burning coal also generates large amounts of bottom ash and fly ash. Fortunately these
materials are used in a wide variety of applications. For example, about 43% of U.S.
produced fly ash is recycled and used among others, as a supplement in concrete
production. Bottom ash may be used as an aggregate in road construction and concrete.
6. And last but not least: Burning coal produces more carbon dioxide than burning oil or gas.
 Carbon dioxide (CO2) is one of
the greenhouse gases that contribute
to global warming. The burning of fossil fuels
produces billions of tons of CO2 per year. It
is estimated that natural processes can only
absorb about half of the CO2 we produce
globally every year, so there is a net increase
of nearly 11 billion tons of atmospheric
carbon dioxide per year. Scientists know with
virtual certainty, meaning 99% sure, that:

1. Human activities are changing the composition of Earth’s atmosphere. Increasing levels
of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere since pre-industrial
times are well-documented and understood.
2. The atmospheric buildup of CO2 and other greenhouse gases is largely the result of
human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels.
3. An “unequivocal” warming trend of about 1.0 to 1.7°F occurred from 1906-2005. Warming
occurred in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, and over the oceans (IPCC,
2007).
4. The major greenhouse gases emitted by human activities remain in the atmosphere for
periods ranging from decades to centuries. It is therefore virtually certain that atmospheric
concentrations of greenhouse gases will continue to rise over the next few decades.
5. Increasing greenhouse gas concentrations tend to warm the planet.
It is therefore very likely, greater than 90% chance, that rising levels of greenhouse gases in the
atmosphere are contributing to climate change. In the coming decades, scientists anticipate that
as atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases continue to rise, average global
temperatures and sea levels will continue to rise as a result and precipitation patterns will
change.

Many climate scientists predict that this will cause major adverse effects such as a large
increase in floods, typhoons, cyclones, desertification and other natural disasters. More
research on the subject is being done.
 Although CO2 is also released into the air through natural events such as volcanic eruptions,
greenhouse gas emissions from volcanoes comprise less than one percent of those generated
by today’s human endeavors. According to the Energy Information Administration in its
December 2009 report ‘Emissions of Greenhouse Gases’ in the United States, 81.3 percent of
greenhouse gas emissions in the United States in 2008 came from energy-related carbon
dioxide.

What can be done to improve the way we use fossil fuels?

Environmental regulations can be implemented by various governments to limit
greenhouse gas and other emissions, such as command-and-control (which mandates the
amount of pollution or the technology used). An example of such regulation in the USA is the
implementation of policies to reduce airborne mercury emissions.

Under regulations issued in 2005, coal-fired power plants will need to reduce their
emissions by 70 percent by 2018. Other ways to control emissions are economic incentives, or
voluntary programs. In economic terms, pollution from fossil fuels is regarded as a negative
externality. Taxation is considered one way cover the cost of pollution. This aims to make fossil
fuels more expensive, thereby reducing their use and the amount of pollution associated with
them, along with raising the funds necessary to counteract the cost of pollution.

Businesses:
There are many ways that businesses can reduce nutrient pollution, including:

 Manage and Reduce Emissions

Leading businesses are taking steps to understand and manage their greenhouse gas
emissions by preparing annual greenhouse gas inventories and setting long-term targets to
reduce emissions.
 Increase Energy Efficiency
Improving energy efficiency not only reduces greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere, it
is good for a corporation's bottom line. Developing and implementing an effective corporate
energy management program allows companies to manage energy with the same expertise
used to manage other aspects of their business.
 Buy Renewable Energy
Your organization's purchased electricity use can be a significant source of air pollution and
 greenhouse gas emissions. Buying renewable energy, can help reduce your organization's
environmental impact while also providing a number of other valuable benefits

Individuals:

 Conserve Energy
Air pollution from energy production leads to acid rain, excess greenhouse gases, and health
risks. One important step you can take to minimize airborne nutrient pollution is to conserve
energy. You can do this by:
 Turning off lights, computers, televisions, video games and other
electrical equipment when you're not using them.
 Buying equipment that uses less electricity, including lights, air
conditioners, heaters, refrigerators and washing machines. Energy Star-
certified products and buildings use at least 10 less energy than standard
models.
 Limiting the use of air conditioning.
 Installing a programmable thermostat.
 Minimize the Miles
Driving cars and trucks also produces significant amounts of nitrogen oxide emissions. To help
cut down on air pollution from cars, you can consolidate driving trips, carpool or take public
transportation, such as buses and trains. When possible, consider walking or biking instead of
driving.