What are Fossil Fuels?

Review:

• What are Renewable and Non-Renewable Resources?

RENEWABLE RESOURCES

Renewable resources are natural resources that can be replenished in a short period of time.

● Solar ● Geothermal● Wind ● Biomass● Water

SOLAR

Energy from the sun.

Why is energy from the sun renewable?

GEOTHERMAL

Energy from Earth’s heat.

Why is energy from the heat of the Earth renewable?

WINDEnergy from

the wind.

Why is energy from

the wind renewable?

BIOMASSEnergy from

burning organic or living matter.

Why is energy from biomass renewable?

WATER or HYDROELECTRIC

Energy from the flow of water.

Why is energy of flowing water

renewable?

NONRENEWABLE RESOURCES

A nonrenewable resource is a natural resource that cannot be re-made or re-grown at a scale comparable to its consumption.

NUCLEAR ENERGYNuclear fission uses uranium to create

energy.

Nuclear energy is a nonrenewable

resource because once the uranium is

used, it is gone!

What are fossil fuels?What are fossil fuels?

• Coal, crude oil and natural gas are commonly used fossil fuels.

• Like the fossils you can see in rock, they were once living organisms, which lived about 300 million years ago.

So How Are Fossil Fuels Made?So How Are Fossil Fuels Made?• Instead of being converted into fossils, the organic

material from plants and animals piled up on the bottom of a swamp, lake or ocean.

• It was then covered with many layers of sediment. There was no oxygen in these layers, so the organic material could not decompose.

• More layers of sediment piled on top (several kilometers thick), compressing the organic material

• Because the layers were so deep and there was so much pressure, temperatures increased.

• The heat and pressure changed the decaying organic matter into coal, oil and natural gas. SEE PG. 136

HOW IS COAL MADE ???

CoalCoal• Coal has been used as a fuel for

at least 3000 years.

• It is abundant in most parts of the world, but was used only a little until the invention of the steam engine.

• Coal was and still is popular because it is cheap, easy to mine and easy to transport.

• That is why it provided almost all of the thermal energy during the Industrial Revolution and is still popular today

There are three types of coal found in Alberta:

1) Lignite – soft brown or black coal (SE Alberta)

2) Sub-bitumous – softer than bitumous and has more moisture (Alberta is the only province in Canada that has sub-bitumous coal)

3) Bitumous – hard coal (found all over Alberta)

AnthraciteAnthracite – produced when bitumous coal is compressed and heated further. It is the hardest and driest type of coal. It is not found in Alberta.

Mining CoalMining Coal• Underground mines –

deposits deep below the Earth’s surface are dug using networks of underground rooms and tunnels. Machinery cuts into the coal and conveyor belts lift it to the surface.

• Open-pit mines – deposits close to the surface are often quarried the same way gravel and sand are. This devastates the ecology of an area

Natural GasNatural Gas• Ancient eternal fires burning in the Iraq area were

reported to travelers 1900 years ago. – These were the result of natural gas escaping from cracks

found in the ground and being ignited by lightning.

• Natural gas is difficult and

dangerous to control and

transport. That is why its

potential energy has only

been used in recent years

Natural GasNatural Gas• Until a few decades ago, when natural gas was found while

drilling for oil it was simply burned off and wasted. Back then, natural gas was difficult to control.

• Today there are pipelines, trucks and ships that have been designed to safely transport natural gas across Canada.

• Natural gas is a popular fuel because it causes less pollution than either coal or gasoline. Also, it provides immediate heat, which makes it an excellent choice for cooking and heating.

• Recently some vehicles have been developed that run on natural gas instead of gasoline.

HOW ARE OIL AND GAS MADE ???

Natural Gas

Now it’s your turn…

• Go to pg. 138 and complete question # 1-2

Crude OilCrude Oil• Crude oil, also called petroleum, is found as a liquid.

• It is extracted by drilling a hole into the Earth’s crust.

– In some cases oil is under pressure and will come out of the hole on its own.

– In other locations, it has to be pumped to the surface

• In Alberta, oil was discovered in 1914 near Turner Valley when a farmer noticed oil seeping from the ground.

• Now Alberta is a major oil producing area and exports oil tothe rest of Canada and the U.S.

Drilling for OilDrilling for Oil• As oil developed, it mixed with water and sand.

This mixture, along with bubbles of natural gas, seeped through porous layers of rock.

• Eventually, the mixture reached a layer of rock it could not pass through and was trapped.

• The water, oil and natural gas gather under the impermeable rock. Because natural gas is less dense than oil, it rises to the top.

Oil Rig at Work

Now it’s your turn

• Go to the first page of your workbook and identify what each of the wells would be drilling for.

• Go to pg. 140 of your textbook for the color image.

Drilling for OilDrilling for Oil• The hardest part is knowing where to drill.

• Geologists uses a number of methods but one of the most common ways, is the use of seismic survey.

• During a seismic survey, shock waves from compressed air guns or explosives are sent through the layers of the Earth’s crust. The returning sound waves reflect off rock.

• They are then detected by sensitive equipment which create images of the underground rock.

• Geologists interpret these images to look for structures that may contain oil.

• Once seismic surveys identify likely places to find oil and gas, oil companies start to drill.

• When they hit reservoir rock, the fuel may come to the surface on its own.– Reservoir rock: porous rock containing tiny droplets

of oil forced there by changes in Earth’s crust

• As oil is removed the pressure of the oil drops so a pump jack may need to be installed.

Pump JackPump Jack • A motor turns a gearbox which moves a lever.

• The lever pushes and pulls a series of rods up and down the well casing

• The rods are attached to the plunger in the ground

• The pump consists of two valves that open and close.

• The sucker rod and tubing creates suction which brings the oil to the surface.

• Counter weights help to balance the system. Without them the pump jack would need a larger gear and would need more power to move the pump

Crude Oil Use

Product Uses

Pentane, hexane, heptane

Explosives, petrochemicals, fuels, plastics

Octane Gasoline

Light oilsDiesel, kerosene, jet fuel, and light lubricants

Heavy oils Lubricants, heavy fuel oil

Bitumen, tar, asphalt

Used in road paving, roofing

What do you do with the crude oil?

You’re given a sample of “bitumen”

•How are you going to separate the sand from the oil?

•How are you going to return the oil to its original state?

• On a larger scale, companies will use drilling rigs.

• The function of drillings rigs is to drill through hundreds of meters of rock to gain access to the reservoir rock that contains the oil

• You will be exploring the function of drilling rigs further in your computer lab.

What do you do with the crude oil?

• Once crude oil is extracted from the ground, it is refined into many different products.

• This is done by a process called fractional distillation.

Fractional Distillation TowerFractional Distillation Tower• Distilling allows people to

separate materials with a low boiling point from those with a higher boiling point.

• When crude oil is refined, it goes into a distillation system to be separated into its components.

• Here, heavy liquids (with a high boiling point) such as motor oil are separated from lighter liquids (with a low boiling point) like gasoline

Now it’s your turn…

•Go to pg. 143 and complete questions #1-6

The Environment

• How does fossil fuel extraction effect the environment?

• Think about… • How does the extraction, refining and use of fossil fuels affect the environment?• What other sources of energy could we use so we don’t use as many fossil fuels?• What could we do to reduce the amount of fossil fuels that we use in our lives

Effects on the Environment

• Destroying land by strip mining

• Tailing ponds

• Dealing with the waste

Positive? Reclamation!

Tailing Ponds Oil sands producers use large amounts of water and extract thousands of tonnes of sand each day. The water that is used in the extraction process and sand that is extracted are pumped into artificial lakes called "tailings ponds." The tailings ponds in the oil sands area of northeastern Alberta are the largest in the world. These ponds cover several square kilometers, and contain millions of litres of oil and chemical-laced water. Ducks, geese, and other water birds are attracted to them. Measures are taken to detract the birds from using the tailing ponds, but some birds die each year from the effects of the pollution in the water of the ponds.

Reclamation  

The removal of oil sands or coal from surface mines literally destroys the landscape—but only temporarily! To get at the valuable minerals below the surface, the mining company must clear any forests, pump out all the ground water, strip away the soil, then break up and remove any layers of rock and sediment that cover the coal or oil sands. This, of course, totally disrupts the ecology of the area. 

Fortunately, most mining companies take great care to return the land back to a healthy state. This is called reclamation. To reclaim a mine site, the piles of rock and debris are spread out and smoothed down by massive bulldozers. Next, the topsoil that was removed before mining began is brought back and spread over the surface. Finally, forests, pastures, and grain fields are replanted. A former mine may require much time and money, but eventually a productive landscape can be brought back. Former mines can be used for agricultural purposes in as little as two years after the mining was completed. Forests and other natural ecosystems take much longer to re-establish.

Oil Sands Assignment

• See Assignment Handout