FOSSIL FUELS AND THEIR

IMPACTS
Srikkanth R
108116090
 WHAT ARE FOSSIL FUELS?

Fossil fuels are fuels formed by natural processes such as anaerobic

decomposition of buried dead organisms, containing energy originating
in ancient photosynthesis.
The age of the organisms and their resulting fossil fuels is typically millions of
years.
Fossil fuels contain high percentages of carbon and include petroleum, coal, and
natural gas.
Fossil fuels range from volatile materials with low Carbon: Hydrogen ratios like
methane, to liquids like petroleum, to non-volatile materials composed of almost
pure carbon, like anthracite coal. Methane can be found in hydrocarbon fields
either alone, associated with oil, or in the form of methane clathrates (CH4
5.75H2O).
 FORMATION OF FOSSIL FUELS
Fossil fuels are essentially the remains of ancient
organisms; predominately plants and bacteria.
This organic matter resulted from ancient forests
and swamps that existed on earth from 100
million to 400 million years ago. Following
changes in the earths climate and geology a
portion of this material was trapped
(sequestered) below the earths surface under
multiple layers of sediment and rock. This
sequestered organic matter was exposed to
immense heat and pressure from the earths
interior for millions of years. This process
physically changed the original decaying biomass
and created the fossil fuels we use today. Oil, gas
and coal deposits can be found in specific
geological sediments throughout the world.
CATEGORIES OF FOSSIL
FUELS
Coal
Petroleum
Natural Gas
 COAL
Coal has been used to power steamships and railroad engines, heat homes

and provide heat for steel production since the 1800s.

Coal is the most abundant of the fossil fuels. Coal can be found in several forms.
Currently, 24 percent of the worlds energy needs are met with coal.
The primary use for coal is in the generation of electrical power. Coal is also used
for industrial applications such as steel production
Coal represents an increasingly dominant energy source for developing countries
such as China and India.
More than half the electricity generated in the United States comes from
combusting coal and 84 percent of electrical power generated in Missouri is
achieved using coal-fired plants.
 TYPES OF COAL
Anthracite: The highest rank of coal. It is a hard, brittle, and black lustrous coal, often referred to as
hard coal, containing a high percentage of fixed carbon and a low percentage of volatile matter.
Bituminous: Bituminous coal is a middle rank coal between subbituminous and anthracite.
Bituminous usually has a high heating (Btu) value and is the most common type of coal used in
electricity generation in the United States. Bituminous coal appears shiny and smooth when you
first see it, but look closer and you may see it has layers.
Subbituminous: Subbituminous coal is black in color and dull (not shiny), and has a higher heating
value than lignite.
Lignite: Lignite coal, aka brown coal, is the lowest grade coal with the least concentration of
carbon.
Peat: Peat is not actually coal, but rather the precursor to coal. Peat is a soft organic material
consisting of partly decayed plant and, in some cases, deposited mineral matter. When peat is
placed under high pressure and heat, it becomes coal.
CURRENT SITUATION OF COAL RESOURCES
Worldwide the percentage of coal used for energy is expected to decline
slightly as coal-fired systems are being replaced by cleaner burning natural
gas systems. However, declines in coal use by Western Europe, Eastern
Europe and Russia are expected to be more than offset by increases in coal
consumption in the United States, Japan and developing Asia.
Coal has more environmental impact than any other energy source. When
coal is combusted large amounts of air pollutants are produced. The main
emissions from coal are sulfur dioxides, nitrogen oxides, air particulates,
carbon dioxide and mercury. Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions
have been linked to acid rain. Mercury is a toxic heavy metal that has been
linked to various neurological and reproductive impairments. Under current
regulatory guidelines power plants in the United States can emit as much 50
tons of mercury annually. Combustion of coal also produces large quantities
of carbon dioxide, which is one of the leading causes of global warming.
The Midwest relies heavily on coal for power production. With its higher
population, Missouri produces 2-3 times as much carbon dioxide than the
surrounding states of Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota
and Arkansas.
 PETROLEUM
Petroleum is a thick, viscous and flammable black liquid used widely for fuel
purposes. It consists of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and other
organic compounds
Petroleum can be refined and separated into different components (fractions) and
are used to generate products such as gasoline, propane gas, various lubricating
oils and asphalt.
It consists of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and o
organic compounds.
OIL RESERVES
 NATURAL GAS
Natural gas is a naturally occurring hydrocarbon gas mixture
consisting primarily of methane, but commonly including varying
amounts of other higher alkanes, and sometimes a small percentage
of carbon dioxide, nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide, or helium.
Natural gas is a fossil fuel used as a source of energy for heating, cooking,
and electricity generation. It is also used as fuel for vehicles and as a
chemical feedstock in the manufacture of plastics and other commercially
important organic chemicals. Fossil fuel based natural gas is a non-renewable
resource.
NATURAL GAS PRODUCTION
 PRODUCTION OF NATURAL GAS
Natural gas is found in deep underground rock formations or associated with
other hydrocarbon reservoirs in coal beds and as methane clathrates.
Petroleum is another resource and fossil fuel found in close proximity to and
with natural gas. Most natural gas was created over time by two
mechanisms: biogenic and thermogenic. Biogenic gas is created by
methanogenic organisms in marshes, bogs, landfills, and shallow sediments.
Deeper in the earth, at greater temperature and pressure, thermogenic gas
is created from buried organic material.
 In petroleum production gas is often burnt as flare gas. The World Bank
estimates that over 150 cubic kilometers of natural gas are flared or vented
annually.[6] Before natural gas can be used as a fuel, most, but not all, must
be processed to remove impurities, including water, to meet the
specifications of marketable natural gas. The by-products of this processing
include: ethane, propane, butanes, pentanes, and higher molecular weight
hydrocarbons, hydrogen sulphide (which may be converted into pure
sulphur), carbon dioxide, water vapor, and sometimes helium and nitrogen.
 TYPES OF NATURAL GAS
Shale gas
Shale gas is natural gas produced from
shale. Because shale has matrix
permeability too low to allow gas to
flow in economical quantities, shale
gas wells depend on fractures to allow
the gas to flow. Early shale gas wells
depended on natural fractures through
which gas flowed; almost all shale gas
wells today require fractures artificially
created by hydraulic fracturing. Since
2000, shale gas has become a major
source of natural gas in the United
States and Canada. Following the
success in the United States, shale gas
exploration is beginning in countries Shale
such as Poland, China, and South (sedimentary rock)
Africa. Because of this increase in
shale production, the United States is
now the number one natural gas
 Town Gas
Town gas is a flammable gaseous fuel made by the destructive distillation of coal. It contains a
variety of calorific gases including hydrogen, carbon monoxide, methane, and other volatile
hydrocarbons, together with small quantities of non-calorific gases such as carbon dioxide and
nitrogen, and is used in a similar way to natural gas. This is a historical technology and is not
usually economically competitive with other sources of fuel gas today.

Most town "gashouses" located in the eastern US in the

late 19th and early 20th centuries were simple by-
product coke ovens that heated bituminous coal in air-
tight chambers. The gas driven off from the coal was
collected and distributed through networks of pipes to
residences and other buildings where it was used for
cooking and lighting. (Gas heating did
not come into widespread use until the last half of the
20th century.) The coal tar (or asphalt) that collected
in the bottoms of the gashouse ovens was often used
for roofing and other
waterproofing purposes, and when mixed with sand and
gravel was used for paving
streets.
 Biogas
Biogas is primarily methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2) and
may have small amounts of hydrogen sulphide (H2S), moisture
and siloxanes. The gases methane, hydrogen, and carbon
monoxide (CO) can be combusted or oxidized with oxygen. This
energy release allows biogas to be used as a fuel; it can be used
for any heating purpose, such as cooking. It can also be used in a
gas engine to convert the energy in the gas into electricity and
heat.

Biogas can be compressed, the same way natural gas is

compressed to CNG, and used to power motor vehicles. In the
UK, for example, biogas is estimated to have the potential to
replace around 17% of vehicle fuel. It qualifies for renewable
energy subsidies in some parts of the world. Biogas can be
cleaned and upgraded to natural gas standards, when it becomes
bio-methane.
Biogas is produced as landfill gas (LFG), which is
produced by the breakdown of Biodegradable
waste inside a landfill due to chemical reactions
and microbes, or as digested gas, produced
inside an anaerobic digester. A biogas plant is the
name often given to an anaerobic digester that
treats farm wastes or energy crops. It can be
produced using anaerobic digesters (air-tight
tanks with different configurations). These plants
can be fed with energy crops such as maize
silage or biodegradable wastes including sewage
sludge and food waste. During the process, the
microorganisms transform biomass waste into
biogas (mainly methane and carbon dioxide) and
digestate. The biogas is a renewable energy that
can be used for heating, electricity, and many
other operations that use a reciprocating internal
combustion engine, such as GE Jenbacher or
Caterpillar gas engines. The digestate is the
remaining inorganic matter that was not
transformed into biogas. It can be used as an
agricultural fertiliser.
There are two key
processes:There are two key processes:
Crystallized natural gas

Huge quantities of natural gas (primarily

methane) exist in the form of hydrates under
sediment on offshore continental shelves and on
land in arctic regions that experience
permafrost, such as those in Siberia. Hydrates
require a combination of high pressure and low
temperature to form.

In 2010, the cost of extracting natural gas from

crystallized natural gas was estimated to be as
much as twice the cost of extracting natural gas
from conventional sources, and even higher
from offshore deposits.
McMahon natural gas producing plant,
In 2013, Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Canada
Corporation (JOGMEC) announced that they had
recovered commercially relevant quantities of
natural gas from methane hydrate.
NATURAL GAS PROCESSING
 IMPORTANCE OF FOSSIL FUELS

Fossil fuels are of great importance

because they can be burned (oxidized to
carbon dioxide and water), producing
significant amounts of energy per unit
mass. The use of coal as a fuel predates
recorded history. Coal was used to run
furnaces for the melting of metal ore.
Semi-solid hydrocarbons from seeps
were also burned in ancient times, but
these materials were mostly used for
waterproofing and embalming.
 RESERVES
Levels of primary energy sources are the reserves in the ground. Flows are production of fossil fuels from these reserves.
The most important part of primary energy sources are the carbon based fossil energy sources. Coal, oil, and natural gas
provided 79.6% of primary energy production during 2002 (in million tonnes of oil equivalent (mtoe)) (34.9+23.5+21.2).
Levels (proved reserves) during 20052006
Coal: 997,748 million short tonnes (905 billion metric tonnes), 4,416 billion barrels (702.1 km3) of oil equivalent
Oil: 1,119 billion barrels (177.9 km3) to 1,317 billion barrels (209.4 km3)
Natural gas: 6,1836,381 trillion cubic feet (175181 trillion cubic metres), 1,161 billion barrels (184.6109 m3) of oil
equivalent
Flows (daily production) during 2006
Coal: 18,476,127 short tonnes (16,761,260 metric tonnes),52,000,000 barrels (8,300,000 m3) of oil equivalent per day
Oil: 84,000,000 barrels per day (13,400,000 m3/d)
Natural gas: 104,435 billion cubic feet (2,963 billion cubic metres), 19,000,000 barrels (3,000,000 m3) of oil equivalent
per day
COAL RESERVES
NATURAL GAS RESERVES
 ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS

Combustion of fossil fuels generates sulfuric, carbonic, and nitric acids, which fall to Earth as acid rain, impacting
both natural areas and the built 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 are released into the atmosphere.
In 2000, about 12,000 tonnes of thorium and 5,000 tonnes of uranium were released worldwide from burning coal. It
is estimated that during 1982, US coal burning released 155 times as much radioactivity into the atmosphere as the
Three Mile Island accident.
Burning coal also generates large amounts of bottom ash and fly ash. These materials are used in a wide variety of
applications, utilizing, for example, about 40% of the US production.
Harvesting, processing, and distributing fossil fuels can also create environmental concerns. Coal mining methods,
particularly mountaintop removal and strip mining, have negative environmental impacts, and 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.
Environmental regulation uses a variety of approaches to limit these emissions, such as command-and-control
(which mandates the amount of pollution or the technology used), economic incentives, or voluntary programs.
An example of such regulation in the USA is the "EPA is implementing 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.".
HEALTH EFFECTS
ECONOMIC IMPACTS

Economic effects
Europe spent 406 billion on importing fossil fuels in 2011 and 545 billion in
2012. This is around three times more than the cost of the Greek bailout up
to 2013. In 2012 wind energy in Europe avoided 9.6 billion of fossil fuel
costs. A 2014 report by the International Energy Agency said that the fossil
fuels industry collects $550 billion a year in global government subsidies.
This amount was $490 billion in 2014, but would have been $610 billion
without agreements made in 2009.

A 2015 report studied 20 fossil fuel companies and found that, while highly
profitable, the hidden economic cost to society was also large. The report
spans the period 20082012 and notes that: "For all companies and all years,
the economic cost to society of their CO2 emissions was greater than their
aftertax profit, with the single exception of ExxonMobil in 2008." Pure coal
companies fare even worse: "the economic cost to society exceeds total
revenue in all years, with this cost varying between nearly $2 and nearly $9
per $1 of revenue." In this case, total revenue includes "employment, taxes,
THE END