This is Reykjavic Iceland in 1932, when they burned imported fossil fuels to heat their homes.

This is a present-day image of Reykjavic Iceland, where 95% of the buildings are now heated with geothermal energy.

In this lesson, you will understand the formation, history of use and environmental-economic impact of using fossil fuels.Including:• Coal

• Oil• Natural Gas

Coal

Petroleum

Natural Gas

is a rock consisting almost entirely of organic material. Coal consists of fragments of land plant material, including wood, cuticle (the waxy surface found on some leaves), sap (amber), spores and pollen. Each of these can be present in varying degrees of degradation due to decay near the surface and "cooking" due to burial in thick sediments.

or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights, and other organic compounds, that is found in geologic formations beneath the Earth's surface.

is a gas consisting primarily of methane. It is found associated with other fossil fuels, in coal beds, and is created by methanogenic organisms in marshes, bogs, and landfills. It is an important fuel source, and the cleanest burning of the three fossil fuels.

Coal is one of our fossil fuels because it was formed from the remains of terrestrial vegetation that grew as long as 400 million years ago.

• Most of our coal was formed about 300 million years ago during the Carboniferous Period, when much of the Earth was covered by steamy swamps. 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.

Coal

• It is burned in power plants to produce more than half of the electricity we use in the United States

• Even though you may never see it, you each use several tons of it every year

America has more coal resources and reserves than any other fossil fuel.

Containing 25% of the World’s coal means the US is the “Saudi Arabia” of coal.

Four Types of Coal Mined Today in the US

• Lignite

• Subbituminous

• Bituminous

• Anthracite

• PeatPlant materials buried under sediments decay to form peat, a compressed mass of plant remains.

Compaction forces water out of the sediments to form lignite, a soft, brown coal.

Further compression and aging turn lignite into bituminous coal, a soft, black coal.Heat and pressure metamorphose bituminous coal to anthracite, a hard coal that is almost pure carbon.

A stage between lignite and bituminous

History of Coal Use• Human use of coal dates back over 70,000 years BP!

• Industrialization brought about an escalation in the need for the energy contained in coal, and now we collect it in two ways:

• Surface mining

• Underground mining

BEFORE PRESENTMousterian site of Les Canalettes, France (to 73,500 years BP), where the structure of some of the coal recovered by archaeologists suggests Neanderthals exploited a local outcrop of coal.

Oil and gas formed in our geologic history during a similar time as coal… from 400 million ybp to 150 million ybp. During this time the seas were rich in microscopic and macroscopic zooplankton and phytoplankton (NOT DINOSAURS!!!)

When these died they slowly sank to the bottom forming thick layers of organic material. This in turn became covered in layers of mud that trapped the organic material, which over time became compressed and decomposed into oil and natural gas.

History of Oil Use in the US

• Oil use goes back 150 years• Our oil fields are some of the oldest still producing in the world

• We have used approximately 175 billion barrels of oil in that time• There are still an estimated 350 billion barrels left• Probably billions more in fields yet to be discovered

Where is the world’s oil supply?

Oil Uses• Oil keeps America moving

• Used to produce lubricants• Used to make plastics• Used to make fertilizersWhile coal is the most abundant fossil fuel, oil is the most used in the US. Oil supplies 40% of all energy this country consumes.

Gasoline, Diesel fuel, aviation fuel

• Used to keep homes and businesses warm

1. Of what gas is Natural Gas primarily composed?

2. Which of the fossil fuels is the cleanest burning?

3. What is a pre-cursor to coal?

4. Who were the first humans to use coal?

5. What ways are coal mined today?

6. How is the formation of oil and natural gas different from coal?

7. Which fossil fuel is the most abundant in the U.S.?

8. Which fossil fuel is the most used in the U.S.?

Crude Petroleum must be refined

•from oil rigs• Then to pipeline

• Then to the refinery Nearly 75% of refined oil goes

towards transportation!

What is an oil reservoir?

•Tiny droplets of oil are trapped inside porous rocks, like sandstone, limestone, and shale.

These pores can only be seen with a microscope

Think about the aquifer which transfers water freely to above the ground. Instead of water…

This porous, oil-rich layer is under tremendous pressure, because of the cap rock above it. Once tapped into, it flows freely to the surface.

Oil Technology and ProductionDrilling wells:• Small drilling rig to dig starter hole

• Larger rig to dig nearly to reserve

Once reserve is reached:• Gushers

• Blowout preventers Types of Production

• Primary

Christmas tree Grasshoppers

Waterflooding• Problems: Very expensive, environmentally damaging, and only recovers only 1/5 of oil

• Secondary

9. What process changes crude oil into useful products?

10. What does the majority of refined oil go towards in the U.S.?

11. Describe an oil reservoir.

12. What type of rock typically traps oil droplets?

13. What two types of oil production are there?

14. Why is primary recovery cheaper than secondary recovery?

15. Describe waterflooding, and tell why it is so environmentally unfriendly.

Natural Gas

• Colorless, shapeless, and odorless

• Considered worthless for many years, and simply burned off during primary oil production.

• Methane is the chief chemical component of natural gas

•It is highly flammable• burns completely• produces no ash• very little air pollution (cleanest burning fossil fuel)

Use of Natural Gas

• Only 1/5 of energy used in US is natural gas.• Mostly used in homes for heating, and cookingGas companies add a chemical called butyl mercaptan to make it smell.

What do you notice about the placement of natural gas resources in the United States?

Oil Deposits

History of NG• No record of collection or use until 1821

•Used exclusively in street lamps until electricity was harnessed.

• Robert Bunsen

• Welding after WWII, pipes manufacturing

Why Use Natural Gas?• Plentiful• Easy to pipe from one location to another• Clean burning

Easy and Difficult Gas• Easy flows naturally due to pressure: Christmas tree (used to regulate flow)

• Difficult must be pumped via horsehead pump or

•Hydraulic fracturingFirst used in 1947, it wasn’t until 1998 that modern technology made possible the economical extraction of shale gas. It was first used in the Barnett Shale in Texas. The energy from the injection of a highly pressurized hydraulic fracturing fluid creates new channels in the rock, which can increase the extraction rates and ultimate recovery of natural gas.

Acids—hydrochloric acid (usually 28%-5%), or acetic acid is used in the pre-fracturing stage for cleaning the perforations and initiating fissure in the near-wellbore rock.Sodium chloride (salt)—delays breakdown of the gel polymer chains.Polyacrylamide and other friction reducers—minimizes the friction between fluid and pipe, thus allowing the pumps to pump at a higher rate without having greater pressure on the surface. Polyacrylamide are good suspension agents ensuring the proppant does not fall out.Ethylene glycol—prevents formation of scale deposits in the pipe.Borate salts —used for maintaining fluid viscosity during the temperature increase.Sodium and potassium carbonates —used for maintaining effectiveness of crosslinkers.Glutaraldehyde—used as disinfectant of the water (bacteria elimination.)Guar gum and other water-soluble gelling agents—increases viscosity of the fracturing fluid to deliver more efficiently the proppant into the formation.Citric acid—used for corrosion prevention.Isopropanol —increases the viscosity of the fracture fluid.

From Ground to Home• Pipeline

• Storage facility• Smaller pipe network• Homes and businessesEase of production and movement make NG an economical choice

15. Why is natural gas so clean-burning?

16. How do natural gas companies help ensure the safety of its use?

17. Describe hydraulic fracturing, and how it can be used to increase natural gas production.

18. How is secondary recovery of natural gas an environmental threat?

19. Why is natural gas use economically advantageous as compared to coal or oil?

Supply and demand dictates that as hydrocarbon supplies diminish, prices will rise.

Higher prices will, in turn, lead to a market for alternative renewable energy, and increased consumption of those resources.Renewable energy resources have not been economical to exploit, but will become economical as fossil fuel supplies dwindle.

Artificial gasolines (called synfuels) and other renewable energy sources currently require more expensive production and processing technologies than conventional petroleum reserves, but may become economically viable in the near future.

The widescale use of fossil fuels, (coal at first and petroleum later), to fire steam engines enabled the Industrial Revolution.

• Combustion of fossil fuels generates sulfuric, carbonic, and nitric acids, which combine with water and fall to Earth as acid rain, impacting both natural areas and the artificial human-generated environment.

• Monuments and sculptures made from marble and limestone are particularly vulnerable, as the acids dissolve calcium carbonate.

• Fossil fuels also contain radioactive materials, mainly uranium and thorium, which may be released into the atmosphere when combusted.

1908 1969

Harvesting, processing, and distributing fossil fuels can also create environmental concerns. • Coal mining methods, particularly mountaintop removal and strip mining, have negative environmental impacts• Offshore oil drilling poses a hazard to aquatic organisms. • Oil refineries also have negative environmental impacts, including air and water pollution.

Transportation of coal requires the use of diesel-powered locomotives, while crude oil is typically transported by tanker ships, each of which requires the combustion of additional fossil fuels.

20. What types of acids are created, when hydrocarbons are combusted, later leading to acid rain production?

21. What is the average pH of rainwater in the DFW area?

22. What radioactive elements may be released during the large-scale combustion of fossil fuels?

23.What fossil fuel harvesting methods are the most environmentally unfriendly?

24. What fossil fuel production methods are the most environmentally unfriendly?

25. Describe two ways the transport of oil is detrimental to the environment.