Fossil FuelNindy Nurdianty

4th Period

Fossil fuels are the carbon rich remains of ancient vegetation and

other organisms that have endured intense heat and pressure

inside the earth over periods of millions of years.

What are fossil fuels?

The different types of fossil fuels are coal, oil and natural gas.

What are the different types of

fossil fuels?

Coal forms from the remains of plants which died in prehistoric swamps

and wetlands. Organic plant matter at various stages of decay form peat,

which, under certain pressure, time and heat conditions experiences slow

rates of bacterial decay and eventually goes on to form coal. The process

through which coal forms from such ancient plants is known as

coalification.

How is coal formed?

Lignite: The softest, brownish coal and is low in carbon but high in

hydrogen and oxygen

Bituminous: Has a higher carbon content with a higher heating value

than lignite. Contains less water and is therefore harder than lignite

Anthracite: The hardest and has more carbon, which gives it a higher

energy content

Describe the different stages

of coal formation?

Coal is primarily used as a solid fuel to produce electricity and heat

through combustion (burned). It is also used to fuel power plants

and other factories.

How is coal used as a fossil fuel?

Oil was formed from the remains of animals and plants (diatoms) that

lived millions of years ago in a marine (water) environment before the

dinosaurs. Over millions of years, the remains of these animals and

plants were covered by layers of sand and silt. Heat and pressure from

these layers helped the remains turn into what we today call crude oil.

How is oil formed?

Oil is carried in pipelines and large tanker ships. A refinery changes

the oil into products like gasoline, jet fuel and diesel fuel. It's also

burned in factories and power plants to make electricity. The oil is

burned, which produces gases that turn a turbine to create electricity.

How is oil used as a fossil fuel?

Millions of years ago, the remains of plants and animals (diatoms)

decayed and built up in thick layers.  Over time, the sand and silt

changed to rock, covered the organic material, and trapped it

beneath the rock.  Pressure and heat changed some of this organic

material into coal, some into oil (petroleum), and some into natural

gas — tiny bubbles of odorless gas.

How is natural gas formed?

Natural gas is the cleanest burning of the fossil fuels. Natural gas

can be used as a substitute for gasoline or diesel fuel in internal

combustion engines.

How is natural gas used as a

fossil fuel?

A refinery is a production facility composed of a group of chemical

engineering unit processes and unit operations refining certain

materials or converting raw material into products of value. It is

important to the production of fossil fuel because it converts raw

material into a lot of fuel that we need.

What are refineries and why are they

important to the production of

fossil fuel?

On March 24, 1989, the tanker Exxon Valdez grounded on Bligh

Reef in Alaska's Prince William Sound, spilling nearly 11 million gallons

of Prudhoe Bay crude oil into a remote, scenic, and biologically

productive body of water. It was the largest single oil spill in U.S. coastal

waters. Many parts of the Alaskan marine environment have begun to

show signs of significant physical and biological change: waters have

warmed, ice has receded, and populations of fish and mammals have

declined. In order to clean this mess up, they tried to displace it with

high-pressure hot water. However it displaced and destroyed the

microbial populations on the shoreline, so they stopped. There are oil

remain in the sandy soil of the contaminated shoreline, declining at a

rate of less than 4% per year.

The Exxon Valdez oil spill incident

The spill started with an oil well blowout on April 20, 2010 which

caused a catastrophic explosion on the Deepwater Horizon offshore

oil drilling platform. On May 1 two aircraft were employed to spray

oil dispersant. The effects are being felt in towns and cities across

the area -- this is in addition the local wildlife in both the land and

sea that are dying by the thousands.

The Deep Water Horizon oil

catastrophe incident