Fossil Fuels - Report Example

Running Head: FOSSIL FUELS Inserts His/Her Inserts Grade Inserts Fossil Fuels Fossil Fuels are deposits of hydrocarbons within the crust of the earth. There are three main types of fossil fuels. They are Coal Oil Natural Gas They are substances that form naturally within the earth from the remains of animal and plants that lived long ago. They burn in presence of oxygen and release large amounts of energy. Carbon is the basic element found in fossil fuels. Fuels such as methane, liquid petroleum and anthracite coal are examples of different types of fossil fuel. Fossil fuels are the prime source of energy. There are certain replacements for fossil fuels such as the biomass, but these are not enough and require more energy to produce than the output that they give. They are non-renewable sources of energy as it is impossible for humans to recreate the process of their formation. They take millions of years to form and used up faster than new ones are formed. It is widely believed that at present rate of consumption, most of the fossil fuel will be used up in next hundred years. Burning fossil fuels also produce pollution, which damages the environment and ecosystem. People have started to shift towards renewable and more environment friendly energy sources to meet the ever-rising energy demands. Formation of fossil fuels The formation of fossil fuels is a geological process in which the remains of dead animals and plants die and get buried under the surface of earth. Over the passage of time, they get covered up by layers of mud, sand and rocks. These remains take a long time, about millions of years, to decompose and turn into what we know as fossil fuels. The entire process of the formation of fossil fuels occurs under conditions of extreme pressure and heat in earth’s crust. Oil and Natural Gas Oil and natural gas form in similar ways while formation of coal is slightly different. Generally, the oil and gas form because of decomposition of organic remains of marine life. Oil and natural gas form by certain organism, such as, planktons and plants that lived and died in water. They were buried under the seas and oceans. After a long period, the water receded back. The pressure and temperature acted upon the fossils to turn them into oil and natural gas. The oil and gas tend to rise up from under the ground but cannot pass through the hard rock covering them, known as the cap-rock. There needs to be a suitable formation of rock or sand that is porous to serve the purpose of storing this fuel. The cap-rock has to be drilled by humans in order to access the underground reserves of oil and gas. Coal Coal formed in a slightly different way. Coal forms because of the decay of land vegetation. It formed by the dead remains of trees and plants that lived over 300 million years ago. Coal is usually found in areas that once used to be swamps covered by seawater. Seawater contains sulphur, which stayed behind in the coal once the water receded. There is much less sulphur in coal that is extracted from areas of fresh water swamps and is, therefore cleaner. The sulphur is an air pollutant and goes in air when we burn coal. The plant remains that decompose initially turn into a material known as peat. Peat converts to coal due to the burial under sedimentation of mud and rocks. This process is known as coalification. Unlike oil and gas, coal retains, to some extent, the shape of the material or vegetation by which it is formed. Extraction of fossil fuels is a huge industry worldwide. For extraction of oil, drilling process is done in places where it is likely that oil will be present. Certain instruments have been developed to find out the presence of fossil fuels under the surface of earth. Oil and gas usually occur together. Gas being lighter, is found above the oil. Uses of Fossil Fuels All the present day uses of fossil fuels are derived from one property; the ability to burn exothermically and release large amount of stored energy in form of thermal or heat energy. Thus, fossil fuels have found application in all those places where there is a need for heat energy or conversion of thermal energy into any other form such as electrical energy. Transportation Petrol and diesel are products formed through the process of cracking of crude oil. They are used as fuels for vehicles. Petroleum is burned in the pistons of engine and the energy released is used to move the vehicle. All modes of transportation use some form of fossil fuels to operate. Oil is the lifeline of shipping industry. Oil is used as fuel for ships as the most suitable source of energy for propulsion. Only a small number of military ships use nuclear fuel. Power Generation Coal fired electric power plants use coal as the fuel to boil the water. The stream generated drives the turbines. The turbines drive generators to produce electricity. In gas turbines, the oil is injected into the combustion chamber in form of a fine spray. It burns in the chamber, and the high velocity exiting gas is used to drive the turbines to produce electricity. Gas turbines are also used in jet engines, where the velocity of the gas provides a thrust to move the airplane forward. Oil fired power plants are also operated worldwide. All furnaces use oil or coal as fuel to produce heat. Household usage Natural gas and oil are also used for heating the living spaces to keep them at a temperature comfortable for human beings in winters. Heating is also required for cooking for which natural gas is commonly used. Plastic Industry Plastics manufacturing is a huge industry worldwide that uses petroleum as the raw material. Item such as toys, water bottles, laptop bodies and hundreds of other everyday use things cannot be manufactured without petroleum. Plastic materials have an advantage of being able to be recycled thus reducing waste. Coal, oil and gas power most of the industrial production all over the world. All industrial activities and machinery require some form of fossil fuels to operate. Other by-products A number of by-products are extracted from fossil fuels. Benzene is one such ingredient used in solvents, food products, medicines, synthetic food ingredients etc. Lubrication fluids used in machinery such as engines, hydraulic equipments etc. to lubricate moving parts are all by-products of fossil fuels. Polyester is another by-product which is mainly used in the textile industry. Alternatives for fossil fuels Along with a wide array of applications and uses, fossil fuels also have some disadvantages. They are not environmentally friendly. Fossil fuels are considered to be the only major reason of global warming. Problems like acid rain are a result of fossil fuel consumption. They are non-sustainable and all sources are exhaustible. Due to the rising prices of fossil fuels and depletion of its sources, there is a need to investigate and switch over to other sources of power generation. A number of alternatives energy sources such as wind, solar, geothermal, hydrogen, nuclear, hydroelectric, biodiesel etc. are already in use all over the world. Since the fossil fuels are non renewable and the natural reserves going to end sooner or later, we need to rely more on the alternate sources and less on the fossil fuels. However, it will still take a long time for this shift to take place. Bibliography ESA, ‘Fossil Fuels: Oil’, 2010, Web, Retrieved on April 26, 2012 Howard Herzog, ‘Carbon Capture and Storage from Fossil Fuel Use’, 2004, Encyclopedia of Energy, Print. Sustainable. Org, ‘Fossil Fuel and Energy Use’, n.d., Web, Retrieved on April 26, 2012 Read More