Fossil

Fuels
By: Group 9
Fossil fuel
 a general term for buried combustible geologic
deposits of organic materials, formed from
decayed plants and animals during the
carboniferous Period (approximately 362 to 286
Million years ago).
 There are different types of fossil fuels depending
of organic matter, temperature, time, and
pressure conditions while decomposing.
History of Fossil fuel

- Coal has been used for heating since the cave man.
- Archeologists have also found evidence that the Romans in
England used it in the second and third centuries (100- 200
AD).
- 1700s, the English found that coal could produce a fuel that
burned cleaner and hotter than wood charcoal.
History of fossil fuel to
electricity
 Itwas in the 1880s when coal was first
used to generate electricity for homes
and factories.
 By 1961, coal had become the major fuel
used to generate electricity in the United
States
Fossil Fuel to electricity
Fossil Fuel to electricity
 1. A machine called a pulverizer grinds the coal
(either black or brown) into a fine powder.
 2. The coal powder mixes with hot air, which helps
the coal burn more efficiently, and the mixture
moves to the furnace.
 3. The burning coal heats water in a boiler,
creating steam.
 4. Steam released from the boiler powers at very
high pressure used to spin an engine called a
turbine, transforming heat energy from burning
coal into mechanical energy that spins the turbine
engine.
Fossil Fuel to electricity
 5. The spinning turbine is used to power a
generator, a machine that turns mechanical
energy into electric energy. This happens when
spinning turbine causes large magnets to turn
within copper wire coils in the generator spin. The
moving magnets cause electrons in the wires to
move from one place to another, creating an
electrical current and producing electricity.
 6 A condenser cools the steam moving through
the turbine. As the steam is condensed, it turns
back into water. The water returns to the boiler,
and the cycle begins again. Click for video
Types of Fossil Fuel
1. Coal
2. Oil
3. Natural Gas
Coal
 is a black or brownish-black sedimentary rock that
can be burned for fuel and used to generate
electricity.
 It is composed mostly of carbon and
hydrocarbons, which contain energy that can be
released through combustion (burning).
 Coal is the largest source of energy for generating
electricity in the world, and the most abundant
fossil fuel in the United States.
Lignite Coal

A young type of coal formed from

compressed peat, and is often
referred to as brown coal.
 Lignite is a low ranking in carbon
content and highly volatile coal,
has a high moisture content (up to
45%).
Bituminous Coal

a middle rank coal between

subbituminous and anthracite. Has
a moisture content less than 20%.
 A soft, dense, black coal often has
bands of bright and dull material in
it.
Anthracite Coal
 Referred to as hard, black, and
lustrous coal.
 It is the highest rank of coal
according to carbon content has a
moisture content generally less than
15%.
Types of Coal Mining
 SurfaceMining
 Underground Mining
Surface Mining
 Large machines remove the top soil and
layers known as overburden.
 Coal mining is less than 200 feet.
 Extract the coal using open cut (open
cast, open pit, mountain top removal or
strip. )
Underground Mining
 Sometimes called “Deep mining”
 Coal mined several hundred feet below
the surface ( some 1000 feet deep )
 Miners ride elevators down deep mine
shafts
 Did you know?
Underground mining is
more expensive than
Surface mining
Crude Oil
 sits in deep underground reservoirs. Like other fossil
fuels, this liquid is the end-product of millions of
years of decomposition of organic materials.
 Once extracted, oil can be refined into a number
of fuel products -- gasoline, kerosene, liquefied
petroleum gas (such as propane), distillates (diesel
and jet fuels) and "residuals" that include industrial
and electricity fuels.
Three technologies are used to
convert oil into electricity:
 Conventional steam - Oil is burned to heat water
to create steam to generate electricity.
 Combustion turbine - Oil is burned under pressure
to produce hot exhaust gases which spin a turbine
to generate electricity.
 Combined-cycle technology - Oil is first
combusted in a combustion turbine, using the
heated exhaust gases to generate electricity.
Natural gas
 is a naturally occurring hydrocarbon gas
mixture consisting primarily of methane.
 also commonly including varying amounts
of other higher alkanes, and sometimes a
small percentage of carbon dioxide,
nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide, or helium.
Natural gas
 occurs deep beneath the earth's surface.
Natural gas consists mainly of methane, a
compound with one carbon atom and
four hydrogen atoms.
 Despite significant environmental
concerns associated with its extraction,
production, and distribution, natural gas
burns more cleanly than coal and oil and
therefore offers advantages in reducing
emissions and improving public health.
Advantages
 The energy produced by fossil fuels is greater
than that produced by an equivalent amount
of other energy resource.
 The reservoirs of fossil fuels are pretty easy to
locate with the help of advanced equipment
and technology.
 Coal is a fossil fuel that is found in
abundance. It is used in most power plants
because it reduces the production cost to a
great extent.
Advantages
 Transportation of fossil fuels that are in liquid or
gaseous forms is very easy. They are simply
transported through pipes.
 Construction of power plants that work on
fossil fuels is also easy.
 Petroleum is the most predominantly used
form of fossil fuels for all types of vehicles.
 Fossil fuels are easier to extract and process,
hence are cheaper than the non-
conventional forms of energy.
Disadvantage
 Finite Resources

 Greenhouse gases
Disadvantage

 Acid Rain

 Depletion of reservoirs
Disadvantage
 Dangerous to the workers

 Leakage of the fuel

 Global Warming
Fossil Fuel in a nutshell
 Click for summary
The End!
Sources:
 https://www.originenergy.com.au/blog/about-
energy/what-is-coal.html
 https://www.sciencedaily.com/terms/fossil_fuel.htm
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaXBVYr9Ij0
 https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/
coal/
 http://teachcoal.org/converting-coal-into-electricity
 https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/Elem_Coal_S
tudyguide.pdf
 https://www.coals2u.co.uk/blog/coal/the-many-
different-types-of-coal
Sources:
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_gas
 https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/in
dex.php?page=natural_gas_home
 http://naturalgas.org/overview/uses-
electrical/
 www.powerscorecard.org/tech_detail.cf
m?resource_id=8
 https://sciencing.com/oil-power-plant-
work-4570209.html