UNIT 6- NONRENEWABLE RESOURCES AND AIR POLLUTION

Where do we get biomass/fuelwood

Russia is the largest producer of fuelwood because it has the largest cover of forests

Largest charcoal producer

Brazil, using managed eucalyptus plantations and trees from the Amazon rainforest

Charcoal exports

African countries- Nigeria, Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Namibia, and Somalia

Who uses biomass

Easily accessible for developing countries

#1 consumer of fuelwood

India, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Ethiopia

Charcoal importers

china and india, essential for cooking and small industries

Primary pollutants from biomass

• Co2 and CO

• NO2

• PM/SPM (Suspended particulate matter)

  • dust, soot

• VOCs (volatile organic compounds)

  • Gases emitted into the air from products/processes

Advantages to using biomass

• Low cost to generate heat

• Accessible to rural areas

  90% of the energy source in Ethiopia is through biomass energy

• Can be renewable if done correctly

Disadvantages to using biomass

• Over harvesting of trees contributes to deforestation

• Contributes to climate change

  • Soil erosion

  • Desertification

  • Increased flooding

where is peat formed?

• Tropical rainforests, Boreal forests, and subartic regions

• Where low temperatures (below freezing for long periods during the winter) reduce the rate of decomposition, peat is formed mainly from mosses, herbs, shrubs, and small trees

• Tropical rainforests

• Where it is derived mostly from leaves, branches, trunks, and roots under near constant annual high temperatures

Industrial peat harvesting?

Involves huge tractors that scrape peat from the surface of BOGS

• scraped peat is then collected into bricks

• Wet bricks of raw peat are pressed to force out water. They are then used as fuel mostly for heating homes and businesses

  • precursor to COAL

Who utilizes peat and why?

Belarus, Estonia, Finland, Indonesia, Iceland, Ireland, Russian Federation, and Sweden

Used for centuries to warm homes and fire small industries

How does peat contribute to air pollution?

Emits more C02 than coal and nearly 2x as much as natural gas

CO2, CO, NO2, SO2, PM, SPM, and Hg (Mercury) are emitted directly into the atmosphere

Peat contribution to air 2

secondary pollutants- form as a result of reactions between primary pollutants and other components of atmosphere

• No2+UV light= photochemical smog

• SO2+h2O=UV light= Acid Rain

Advantages of burning peat

• Emits lower amounts of sulfur into air

• Produces more energy/heat content than burning wood

Disadvantages of burning peat

Bulky and difficult to transport

So it must be utilized close to its source

High water content so it must be dried prior to burning

how is coal formed 2

Formed in swamps= anaerobic environment and acidic (C02 is converted carbonic acid)

• Lignite

• Bituminous (most abundant in the U.S.)

• anthracite (highest quality, highest heating value)

Coal users

China, India, USA, Germany, Russia, Japan, South Africa, Poland, South Korea, Australia, Turkey, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Taiwan, and Czechia

Mining effects

• destroys natural communities/ecosystems over large areas

  • Deforestation

  • Removes forests and nutrient-rich topsoil

  • Contributes to habitat fragmentation

  • Loss of biodiversity

  • Triggers erosion because of loss of vegetation

  • Noise pollution

Primary pollutants of coal to air pollution

Co2 and Co

NO2

SO2

SPM- Suspended particulate matter and soot and ash

Trace amounts of mercury and other radioactive materials

Coal contribute to water pollution

Waste water is stored in large reservoirs called SURFACE IMPOUNDMENTS

• Breaches of surface impoundments can have massive environmental impacts (groundwater contamination)

Coal extraction impact on people

Numerous health and social impacts

• Flood and rock slides affect properties while blasting cracks foundations and wells

• Coal dust and contaminated water cause illnesses

• not sustainable

• ran out coal leaves companies with impoverished communities

effects of acid deposition

• damages man made items like statues, buildings, metals, car finishes

• DAMAGES TREE FOLIAGE

• CAUSES STRESS

• Makes trees more susceptible to cold temps, diseases, insects, invasive species, drought and fungi

toxic chemicals into soil

• metal ions (zinc, aluminum, etc) are converted into soluble forms that pollute water, weakening plants by damaging root tissues

• Prevents plants from taking in water

• Acid rain dissolves the minerals in the soils that are washed away before the plants can use them

Acid deposition effect on soil

• Lowers the pH of soils over time

• enzymes of microbes found in the soil become denatured (rendering them useless)

Aquatic systems effect on soil

Contributes to lower reproductive success of insects

Leads to disruption of food webs and REDUCTION in biodiversity

Prevention of acid deposition

1) Reduce energy use and thus air pollution by improving energy efficiency

2) Switch from coal to cleaner-burning natural gas

3) Removes sulfur from coal before it is burned

4) Burn low-sulfur coal

5) Removes SO2 particles, particulates, and nitrogen oxides from wet scrubbers

6) Remove nitrogen oxides from morot vehicle exhaust

Reducing coal use is economically and politically difficult

Job losses, updating infrastructure is expensive, etc

Clean-up approaches are expensive and mask symptoms without treating causes

• add lime to neutralize acidified lakes and soil

• add phosphate fertilizer to neutralize acidified lakes (runoff and algal blooms)

Coal advantages

• most abundant energy sources

• Inexpensive compared to other energy sources

• Leading source of electricity today

• Versatile, can be burned directly, transformed into liquid, gas or feed stock

• Reduces dependence on foreign oil

• By-product of burning ash can be used for concrete and roadways

Disadvantages to coal

Single biggest air polluter in coal-burning countries

• ¼ of the annual CO2 emissions

• Coal mining scars the landscape

  • Deforestation, aesthetic value loss

• Physical transport is difficult and can be expensive

• Non renewable

• Dirty industry

• Leads to health problems such as respiratory distress and diseases (asthma and lung cancer)

• Mercury is released into the atmosphere when burned

Clean coal technologies

technologies, equipment, and approaches to remove chemical contaminants while generating electricity from coal

Clean coal continued

Scrubbers chemically convert/remove pollutants

Clean the gases passing through the smokestack of a coal-burning power plant

Remove sulfur dioxide or nitrogen oxides

Reduces formation of acid rain

Oil and formation

All the oil and gas we use today began as microscopic algae and plankton living in OCEANS millions of years ago

Buried under layers of sediment and subjected to heat and pressure

Largest reserves- tells us about geologic history

Oil and gas

collects in pore spaces of rock and are trapped by impermeable layers of rock (above and below)

organic matter in the source rock is subjected to heat and pressure over time, changing to oil and gas which collects in the reservoir rock above it

Oil and gas extraction

Oil rigs on land

• Roads have to be built to bring materials to and from

• drill down at least 1 mile

• Once the drill hits the oil, it’ll gush out because pressure is released

• replace the drill with a steel pipe to pull out the oil

• oil is then pumped out

Shallow offshore drilling

rigs have been used for decades

Industry is moving into deeper and deeper waters

poses increased danger like hurricanes and tsunamis

farther from shore= long amount of time to get to accidents

Oil primary pollutants to air pollution

CO

CO2

NOx

SO2

PB (unless unleaded gasoline)

Oil secondary pollutants to air pollution

O3

• Tropospheric ozone

• MAJOR component of photochemical smog

• Photochemical smog: O3+NO2+VOCs+ UV light

Photochemical smog

produced by combustion engines and industrial fumes that react with sunlight to produce secondary pollutants

Oil contributions to water pollution

cannot dissolve in H20 and forms a thick sludge:

• suffocates fish

• Gets caught in the feathers of marine birds, stopping them from flying and can cause them to drive

• Blocks light from photosynthetic awuatic plants

• Increases turbidity, reduces, DO, disrupts food chain

Advantages of oil

• Abundant energy source

• Liquid form makes it easy to extract

• Liquid form makes it easy to transport over long distances

• Pipelines, trucking, and tanker-based shipping

• Oil has high heating value

• Inexpensive

• Variety of ways: heat, plastics, chemicals

Oil disadvatages

Leads to carbon emissions

Carbon has been sequestered underground is added to the carbon cycling between the atmosphere and biosphere

Finite resource

Oil recovery process is inefficient

Drilling endangers the environment and ecosystem

Oil transportation can lead to spills

Natural gas

methane (CH4) and other volatile hydrocarbons (mixture of gases)

• more than half is CH4

• Cleaner because it burns more completely than oil

• emits fewer pollutants than oil

• 50% less CO2 released compared to coal

• doesn’t produce ashes after energy release

• inexpensive

• no odor until added

Which countries use natural gas

Used primarily for cooking, heating and fuels power stations to generate electricity

• TOP 3: USA, RUSSIA, CHINA

Primary pollutants of natural gas contributions to air pollution

CO and CO2

CH4 (Methane)

NOx

SO2

VOCs

SPM (very low)

secondary pollutants

ground level ozone

Hydofracking contributions to water pollution

• Increased amounts of watewater is produced

• Contains salts, radioactive compounds and toxic substances

• sent to sewage treatment plants that are not designed to treat those pollutants

hydrofracking chemical leakage

• may leak out of drilling shafts and contaminate aquifers

  • Methane may travel through the fractures and contaminate drinking water

  • Contributes to earthquakes and aquifer contamination

Advantages of using natural gas

• Cleanest burning fossil fuel

• Domestic availability

  • Reduces dependence on foreign supplies

  • Reduces transportation costs

• Combustion releases less SPM, thereby reducing smog in the atmosphere

• Reduced creation of acid rain

Disadvantages of natural gas

• nonrenewable source

• Inability to recover all in-place gas from producible deposit because of unfavorable economics and lack of tech

• $$$ to transport

  • requires building and maintenance of special pipelines

  • Gas must be cooled to a very low temp. to liquiefy for shipping

Reclamation

Restoration that aims to bring a site to a condition similar to its pre-mining condition

removes structures, replace overburden, replant vegetation

What is reclamation?

Where mining companies will restore mined alnd to beneficial use

• open space (golf courses)

• Wildlife habitat (The Wilds)

• Agriculture

• Residential and commercial development

• erosion control, slope stabilization, and repairing wildlife habitat

Reclamation difficulty

• reclaimed soil is weak

• compressible and compacted

• many years of stabilization

• limited to shorter buildings due to unstability

Advantages of fossil fuels

• Generates significant income

  • Local, state, and national (taxes, fees, and royalties)

• Provides employment

• Temporary

Disadvantages of fossil fuels

• Requires enormous amount of energy

• Deforestation

• Loss of rivers and streams

• Erodes soil

• Produces waster, can be hazardous

• Polluted air, water and soil