Non-Renewable Energy
Energy Concepts and Definitions
Net Energy and Net Energy Ratio
Net Energy: The total useful energy available from a resource over its lifetime, minus the energy expended in its extraction, processing, and transportation. This concept emphasizes the efficiency and sustainability of energy resources.
Net Energy Ratio: This ratio compares the useful energy produced to the energy consumed in the production process, indicating the viability of energy sources. A higher ratio signifies a more efficient energy source.
Types of Oil Recovery
Primary Oil Recovery: Involves drilling a well and utilizing gravity to extract oil. This method is often limited to the initial flow of oil dictated by gravity and is not sufficient for complete extraction.
Secondary Oil Recovery: After primary recovery, water is injected into the well to push remaining oil to the surface, enhancing extraction rates.
Tertiary Oil Recovery: Also known as enhanced oil recovery, this method involves injecting steam or other substances to reduce oil viscosity and improve flow, allowing for the extraction of heavy oil that remains after primary and secondary methods.
Oil and Gas Processing
Refining and Petrochemicals
Refinery: A facility where crude oil is heated and distilled to separate it into various components based on boiling points, such as gasoline, diesel, and aviation fuel.
Petrochemicals: These are chemical products derived from petroleum, used as raw materials in various industries, including plastics, fertilizers, and pharmaceuticals.
Petroleum consists mostly of hydrocarbon compounds.
Natural Gas and Its Forms
Natural Gas: Composed primarily of methane (CH4), it is a cleaner-burning fossil fuel compared to oil and coal, with applications in heating, electricity generation, and as a feedstock for chemicals.
Natural gas from wells consists of 50% to 90% methane.
It is specifically a mixture of hydrogen sulfide, butane, propane, methane, and ethane.
Natural gas is made of a mixture of gases, but there is a small amount of a highly toxic gas that is a by-product of naturally occurring substances within the earth that must be removed before it is pressurized and distributed. This gas is hydrogen sulfide (H2S).
Natural gas was the largest source—about 38%—of U.S. electricity generation in 2019.
Natural gas is used in steam turbines and gas turbines to generate electricity.
Natural gas supplies:
Conventional natural gas: Natural gas supplies that lie above reserves of crude oil.
Unconventional natural gas: Natural gas supplies that are isolated and separated from oil supplies, such as methane hydrate, which is composed of small bubbles of gas trapped in ice crystals, or natural gas that is dissolved in hot water.
Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG): A byproduct of natural gas processing, LPG is stored under pressure and used in areas without natural gas pipelines.
It is when propane and butane are liquefied and removed to be stored in pressurized tanks for use mostly in rural areas not served by gas lines.
Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG): Natural gas cooled to -184°C, allowing it to be transported in liquid form, facilitating international trade.
Countries involved
The United States:
They are the world’s largest producer of crude oil.
The United States also produces an average of 13.1 million barrels per day, the most of any country in the world and equal to 14.1% of daily global oil production.
Coal was the second-largest energy source for U.S. electricity generation in 2019—about 23%.
The greatest use of oil in the U.S. is transportation.
Venezuela:
Largest reserve of crude oil in the world
Saudi Arabia:
They have the 2nd largest reserve of crude oil.
They are also the largest exporter of crude oil.
China:
They are the world’s largest user of coal.
Coal Mining and Environmental Impact
Coal is the world’s most abundant conventional fossil fuel.
Burning coal is also one of the greatest threats to human health. Each year in the United States alone, air pollutants from coal burning kill thousands of people with estimates ranging from 65,000 to 200,000 with at least 50,000 cases of respiratory disease, as well as several billion dollars of property damage.
Mining Techniques
Subsurface Mining: Involves creating tunnels and shafts to access coal deposits deep underground. This method is labor-intensive and poses significant safety risks.
Surface Mining: Used when coal deposits are near the surface, this method includes techniques like area strip mining and contour strip mining, which involve removing overburden to access coal.
Area strip mining: Used on fairly flat terrain where mineral deposits are shallow. An earthmover strips away the overburden, and a power shovel digs a cut to remove the mineral deposit. After removal of the mineral, the trench is filled with overburden, and a new cut is made parallel to the previous one. The process is repeated over the entire site.
Contour strip mining: Used on hilly or mountainous terrain., Form of surface mining used on hilly or mountainous terrain.
Open-pit mining: Thick beds of coal (or other minerals) near the surface are removed by digging a deep pit to get them out.
Environmental Controls in Mining
Electrostatic Precipitators: Devices that remove particulate matter from emissions, improving air quality by capturing pollutants before they are released into the atmosphere.
Scrubbers: These systems remove sulfur dioxide from exhaust gases, reducing acid rain and other environmental impacts associated with coal combustion.
Types of coal
Lignite coal: It is a type of coal that has low sulfur content and low heat content and is often described as brown coal. It is very common.
Anthracite coal: it is a type of coal that has high heat content and low sulfur content and is often called hard coal. It is extremely rare.
Coal gasification: Solid coal can be converted into synthetic natural gas through the process of coal gasification.
Anthracite, bituminous, lignite, and peat are the order of the stages of coal in order from highest to lowest heat content.
Nuclear Energy and Waste Management
Nuclear Reactor Components
Light-Water Reactors (LWRs): The most common type of nuclear reactor, using ordinary water as a coolant, producing a significant portion of the world's nuclear electricity.
Control Rods: These rods are inserted or removed from the reactor core to control the fission rate and power output of the reactor.
Core: 35,000-40,000 long, thin, fuel rods, packed into assemblies.
Moderator: Slows down the neutrons emitted by the fission process so they have near elastic collisions with U-238 but can still fission U235 so chain reactions can be kept going.
Pressurized water reactors: Water in the reactor core is not allowed to boil and instead is kept under high pressure to allow the coolant to reach higher temperatures.
Coolant: Usually water circulates through the reactor's core to remove heat (so they don't melt) and to produce steam for generating electricity.
Types of Nuclear Reactions
Breeder Nuclear Fission Reactors: Generate more nuclear fuel than they consume by converting non-fissionable uranium-238 into fissionable plutonium-239.
Radioactive Waste Management
High-Level Radioactive Wastes: These wastes emit significant radiation and require secure storage for thousands of years, posing long-term environmental challenges.
Low-Level Radioactive Wastes: Produce small amounts of radiation and require safe storage for 100-500 years.
Decommissioning Methods: Various strategies exist for decommissioning nuclear plants, including immediate dismantling, mothballing, and entombment, each with different implications for safety and environmental impact.
Immediate dismantling: Method proposed to decommission nuclear power and nuclear weapon plants. Materials from plants must be as high as radioactive waste materials in high-level nuclear waste facilities (that still don't exist).
Mothballing: Putting up a barrier and setting up a 24-hour security system and then dismantling the nuclear power system.
Entombment: Covering the reactor with reinforced concrete and putting up a barrier to keep out intruders for several thousand years.
Key Terms/Concepts
Net Energy: The total useful energy available from a resource over its lifetime minus the energy used, wasted, or lost in its extraction and processing.
Net Energy Ratio: The ratio of useful energy produced to the useful energy used to produce it.
Primary Oil Recovery: The initial phase of oil extraction where oil flows by gravity into the well and is pumped out.
Secondary Oil Recovery: A method where water is injected into wells to push remaining oil to the surface after primary recovery.
Tertiary Oil Recovery: Involves injecting steam into a secondary well to extract heavy oil left after primary and secondary recovery.
Key Processes
Key Materials
Petrochemicals: Products derived from oil distillation used as raw materials in various industries.
Kerogen: A heavy, waxy mixture of hydrocarbons found in shale oil.
Bitumen: A mixture of clay, sand, water, and oil found in tar sands, resulting in a high-sulfur heavy oil.
Natural Gas: A mixture primarily of methane, used as a fuel source.
Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG): Natural gas converted to a liquid state for transport at low temperatures.
Key Technologies
Facts to Memorize
Net energy: Total useful energy available from a resource over its lifetime minus energy used and wasted.
Net energy ratio: Ratio of useful energy produced to useful energy used to produce it.
Primary oil recovery: Drilling and pumping oil that flows by gravity.
Secondary oil recovery: Injecting water to force remaining oil to the surface.
Tertiary oil recovery: Injecting steam to recover heavy oil left after other processes.
Liquefied natural gas (LNG): Natural gas converted to a liquid at -184 degrees Celsius.
Light-Water Reactors (LWRs): Produce 85% of the world's nuclear electricity.
Reference Information
Crude oil is distilled in refineries to separate into components like gasoline and diesel.
Coal forms from ancient swamp plants during the Carboniferous period.
The Middle East is assumed to have the world’s most remaining undiscovered deposits of oil.
Fluidized-bed combustion diagram: