6.3- Fuel Types and Uses

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Additional info on Subsistence Fuels

-Wood is cheap/free but leads to habitat loss and fragmentation

-Charcoal is made by heating wood under low oxygen positions

-Peat is decomposed matter found in acidic ecosystems such as bogs and moors which can be dried and used as biomass fuel

How is Coal formed

From pressure of underlying rock that compacts peat into coal

Stages of Coal from least valuable to most valuable

-Lignite, Bituomous, Anthracite

The deeper the coal..

the more energy dense from the pressure

How does coal make electricity?

Coal is burned to turn water into steam which turns a turbine then turns a generator to produce electricity

What is natural gas?

-Decaying remains of plants and animals that are trapped under buried layers of rock

-Found on top of trapped oil

What is natural gas mostly made up of?

Methane

How is natural gas formed?

When oil is trapped in a porous sedimentary rock underneath a harder rock layer that doesn’t let any gas escape

What is the cleanest fossil fuel and why?

-Natural Gas

-Produce ½ less CO2 than coal

-Does not produce PM (ash/soot)

Crude Oil

Decaying organic matter trapped under rock layers

How is crude oil extracted?

-By drilling through the rock layers then pumping

-Another way is through tar sands (more water and energy intense)

Fractional distillation

-Different products produced from Crude Oil

-Burned through a furnace to vaprorize hydrocarbons

-Boiling level determines the usage