NONRENEWABLE ENERGY-2: OIL, NATURAL GAS and NUCLEAR

1. NONRENEWABLE ENERGY-2: OIL, NATURAL GAS and NUCLEAR • Oil is what we have left of tiny marine plants (phytoplankton) that lived in oceans millions of years ago. • They died and were buried about 3 miles under great heat and pressure to transform them into liquid. Deeper than 3 miles transforms them into natural gas

2. Formed from organic material over millions of years

3. OIL (aka crude oil and petroleum) • Oil is a fossil fuel produced by decomposition of deeply buried organic material, plants, under high temperatures and pressures for millions of years. • Crude oil is a thick liquid mixture containing hydrocarbons that once extracted, are separated into products through fractional distillation (gasoline, aviation fuel, heating oil, diesel oil, asphalt).

4. Oil and gas migrate upwards because they are less dense • They migrate into reservoir rocks which have pores large enough to hold fluids. • If nothing stops the migration they may reach the surface and escape through seeps • If they encounter a layer of impermeable rock, they become trapped. This layer is called the cap rock

5. World’s proven reserves of oil • Top oil producing countries are the United States, Saudi Arabia, Russia. • In the US petroleum is produced mostly in Texas, Alaska, California, Louisiana and Oklahoma • Fracking has increased domestic supply so that we have increased our use of fossil fuels even as renewables grow.

6. Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Many are in the middle east: “foreign oil”and control most of the global supply

7. PEAK OIL (Hubbert’s peak) • Oil is the world’s most USED commercial fuel. Peak oil is the term used to describe when 1/2 the world’s oil is consumed. • Expected between 2020 and 2050 based on current recoverable oil sites • Finding new sources of oil could extend that date

8. Natural Gas • Russia has 31 % of world’s gas reserves, followed by Iran (15%), and Qatar (9%). • Known reserves and undiscovered potential reserves of conventional natural gas should last the world for 62-125 years.

9. Natural Gas • Natural gas is a mixture of 50-90% by volume of methane (CH4) and smaller amounts of ethane (C2H6), propane (C3H8), and butane (C4H10). • Conventional Natural Gas – lies above most reservoirs of crude oil, but can only be used if a pipeline is put in place. Many times it was considered waste and was burned off adding CO2 to the atmosphere. • Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) propane and butane gases liquefied when a natural gas field is tapped. Stored in pressurized tanks for use in rural areas. • At very low temperatures LPG can be converted to Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) can be shipped in refrigerated tankers.

10. FRACKING • Hydraulic fracturing forces high pressure water and “special chemicals” into a rock formation to crack the rock, opening more pathways for the gas to flow. • Propping agents like sand or glass beads are added to prop open the cracks when the pressure is decreased. This keeps the gas flowing

11. How fracking is done • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tudal_4x4F0

12. Fracking REQUIRES WATER AND produces salty wastewater • The fracking fluid is SALTY when it is pumped out of the oil bed. High salinity is due to the leftover salt between the sediments where the marine plankton turned into oil millions of years ago. • Disposal in unlined waste lagoons could cause leaching of salt into groundwater or runoff into surface water supplies. This would impact both agricultural and residential users of nearby freshwater sources

13. Pros and cons of fracking for oil and natural gas • CONS: • Tremendous use of freshwater to harvest the oil or natural gas, producing conflict between farmers, oil men and habitat managers • Salty wastewater produced • Unclear ingredients in mixture of chemicals in the fracking water, some suspected carcinogens • Increased number of earthquakes from injecting fluid back into ground • PROS: • More fuel previously hard to access • Less habitat disruption on the surface • Jobs and tax based revenue

14. Coal Bed methane: unconventional • https://youtu.be/8mNIg40XUk8 • Natural gas stored within the coal bed, near surface • Powder River Basin in Wyoming is one of the world’s largest coal basins producing methane • Benefits of natural gas include • producing less CO2 is produced when burned • using it prevents its escape into the atmosphere where it can trap heat

15. Methane Hydrate: unconventional source 2 • A cage-like lattice of ice inside of which are trapped molecules of methane • Warming or depressurizing the hydrate releases the methane (often seen as bubbles coming from the ocean floor) • Artic permafrost and ocean floor deposits are main sources

16. Storage and delivery of natural gas • Natural gas is produced from underground rock then sent by pipelines to storage facilities and then on to the end user. • The US has a vast pipeline network that transports gas to and from nearly every location in the lower 48 states. • It may be cooled until liquified and transported by ship, though this reduces its net energy yield

17. Advantages of Natural Gas • Relatively inexpensive and pipelines in place in USA • Produces no criteria pollutants and less carbon dioxide when burned • Medium-High net energy yield • Can be used for transportation, heating, electricity generation and cooking

18. Disadvantages of Natural Gas • H2S, benzene and SO2 released during processing, and CO2during burning. • LNG processing is expensiveand results in lower net energy yield • LEAKS IN PIPELINES adversely affect human health, causing dizziness, headaches, nausea and nosebleeds. methane leaks also add GHG to the air • Extraction releases contaminated wastewater and brine to the surface • Disruption to wildlife habitats (ANWR)=lower biodiversity

19. Oil Exploration and extraction • To know where to drill for oil, scientists look for reservoir rocks with the right size and number of pores; the right speed of fluid movement through pores as well as where the natural fractures are. • When the well first hits the reservoir, some of the oil comes to the surface immediately due to the release of pressure in the reservoir. THIS IS PRIMARY PRODUCTION AND RECOVERS ONLY ABOUT 25% OF THE OIL IN THE DEPOSIT

20. Stages of Oil Recovery • Primary Oil Recovery – drilling a well and pumping oil that flows by gravity into the bottom of a well. • Secondary Oil Recovery – After primary, water is pumped into nearby injection wells to force some of the remaining oil towards the oil production well. The water washes the oil out of the rock pores and pushes it through the reservoir. • Tertiary Oil Recovery (Enhanced Oil Recovery) – after primary and secondary, CO2 or natural gas or nitrogen gas is used to push some of the heavy oil towards the wellbore so it can be pumped to the surface.

21. Secondary recovery

22. Pipelines transport oil and fuels from one location to another • There are pipelines that transport crude oil from the oil well to the refinery. • At the refinery there are additional pipelines that transport the finished product to storage terminals to be loaded onto trucks for delivery to gas stations and so on.

23. Refining= Distillation • Crude oil is not readily usable. It must be refined. It is cleaned and distilled to separate into components with different boiling points. • Some of the products called petrochemicals are used as raw materials in industrial organic chemicals, pesticides, plastics, synthetic fibers, paints, and medicines.

24. Fractional Distillation-based on differences in boiling points The lightest components such as gasoline, Will vaporize and rise to the top, where it will condense And turn back into liquid. It can then be siphoned off The heavier components will sink to the bottom. They also have the highest boiling point so will be last to vaporize

25. Advantages of Oil • Relatively inexpensive as a result of government subsidies to oil companies • Easily transported via pipelines, trucks and tankers. • High net energy (about 35%) yield • Ample supply for immediate future (about 50 years) and can be refined into a variety of products, including gasoline, jet fuel, diesel and so on.

26. Disadvantages of Oil • Produces air pollution when burned: SO2, NO, NO2, CO2 leading to acid deposition, smog, asthma and global warming • Drilling and toxic sludge ponds causes land disturbances which accelerates habitat loss, threatening endangered species and causing a trophic cascade • Pipelines will eventually leak, causing environmental damage as crude oil coats the feathers of birds, blocks sunlight needed for photosynthesis, chokes dolphins and sea mammals • Extraction of oil releases contaminated wastewater and brine which threatens surface water, livestock and wildlife

27. A word about diesel fuel • About 12 gallons of diesel is produced from 42 gallons of crude oil • Diesel produces SOx, particulates and ground level ozone and CO2 • Used for transportation and back up generators • EPA regulations have lowered sulfur emissions from diesel • Diesel yields less net energy than gasoline

28. ANWR, DAPL, KEYSTONE XLcase studies

29. ANWR contains just over 1 years worth of oil for US consumption • Proponents point to thousands of jobs. Opponents point to habitat fragmentation and/or loss, especially for Caribou

30. Keystone XL pipeline It takes 2x as much energy and 4x as much water to process and transport tar sands than regular crude oil

31. DAPL pipeline https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2016/09/09/federal-judge-denies-standing-rock-sioux-tribes-request-to-stop-work-on-four-state-oil-pipeline/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.3e12d14f6363

32. Oil Spill Case studies • BPs Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling platform explosion (2010) in the Gulf of Mexico. Many bird species, shrimp and shellfish and coastal wetland ecosystems severely impacted. Loss of fisheries and tourism income for locals. Company pays $20 Billion! • Exxon Valdez (1989) hit a reef and released about 11 million gallons of oil into the Prince William Sound of Alaska. The spill was the largest in U.S. history. Capt. Joe Hazelwood, who later admitted to having had several alcoholic drinks that day, (From Huntington, Long Island). More than 33,000 seabirds, 1,000 sea otters, 100 bald eagles killed.

33. How much damage is done? • The type and amount of damage from an oil spill depend on a number of factors: • Type of oil (crude oil most toxic due to benzene and toluene) • Storms mix oil into waves • Types of organisms in the area, especially sea birds • Oils spill cleanup is difficult and EXPENSIVE. It is very difficult to save animals who have ingested the hydrocarbons into their digestive tracts. Aquatic birds die from their inability to keep warm with oil in their feathers.

34. So how do we clean it up? • 1.Containment (with booms) and Removal by using absorbents such as hay • 2. Application of Dispersants to break the oil into smaller particles for easier removal with hot water hoses • 3. Using a pump to transfer oil from a damaged tanker to an intact one before too much oil is released into the water • 4. Bioremediation by oil-eating bacteria • Enzymes released by the microbe break the contaminant down into digestible pieces. • The contaminant is consumed as food by the cell. • Harmless biological wastes are all that remain of the contaminant.

35. Today, tanks are double hulled to provide better protection against spills resulting from a similar accident, and communications between vessel captains and vessel traffic centers have improved to make for safer sailing. • The cost of alleviating all environmental impacts from fossil fuels are high and are considered externalitiesbecause the public pays the cost through medical expenses, cost of cleanup and impacts on our quality of life.

36. Canadian Heavy Oil Sands • Oil sand (tar sand) is a mixture of clay, sand, water and combustible bitumen (heavy oil with high sulfur content). • They are dug up by strip mining, mixed with hot water and steam to extract the bitumen, which is heated and converted to a low-sulfur synthetic crude oil suitable for refining. This lowers the net energy yield. • Exists mostly in Alberta, Canada (70% known reserves) • Causes Severe environmental degradation and threatens endangered species such as the whooping crane

37. US Shale Oil • Oil shales are sedimentary rocks containing kerogen which can be extracted from crushed oil shales by heating them to yield a distillate called shale oil. • Extracted by surface mining or by heating the shale underground and pumping to collect • Before it can be sent by pipeline to a refinery, it must be heated to increase its flow rate and processed to remove sulfur, nitrogen, and impurities. Tar Sand - bitumen Shale Oil - kerogen

38. About 40% of global oil shale reserves are in the US

39. Energy conservation • Subsidies for oil and gas encourage high use of the energy resources and discourages conservation. • ENERGY CONSERVATION describes the practice of reducing energy use and results from behavioral choices. • Immediately after the oil embargo in 1973 the US government enacted a mandate to lower the national speed limit to 55mph • Other mandates (CAFÉ standards) to automakers to raise average fuel efficiency to 35mpg by 2020 • Individual choices such as driving less and walking more, using mass transit or carpooling, turning off lights when rooms are not being used, switching from incandescent to fluorescent bulbs and using more Energy Star appliances • .

40. More conservation ideas • 4. Cogeneration: industries such as prisons and greenhouses can use the excess heat given off as waste from a power plant to provide space heating, thereby avoiding the need for additional energy consumption.

41. NUCLEAR ENERGY The difference between Nuclear and Coal power Coal power needs about 20,000 times more fuel than nuclear power to produce the same amount of electricity! Burning coal emits SOx, NOx, particulates, CO, CO2 and various hydrocarbons • Nuclear power plants use much less material to produce the same amount of energy • Nuclear power is very clean and does not emit air pollutants

42. Nuclear power generates electricity the same way coal does • A nuclear reactor is basically a machine that heats water that creates the steam that turns the turbine, that spins the magnet within the coil of wire in the generator…

43. Reactors use uranium 235 NUCLEAR FISSION takes place inside the CORE of the reactors, made from uranium 235 fuel assemblies (tubes of enriched uranium pellets packed together). Uranium fuel lasts about 3-5 years

44. A nuclear reactor has 4 main parts… • Uranium 235 fuel assemblies • Control rods • Water (the coolant and moderator) • Pressure vessel surrounds the reactor. This is where the coolant water is placed. The entire system is within the huge containmentbuilding made of thick concrete reinforced with steel. This protects the environment from radiation in case of a problem in the reactor.

45. A closer look at the reactor • The fuel rods are separated by the control rods which regulate the rate of fission. They slide in and out of the reactor core and act like sponges for neutrons (absorbing them). • Sliding the control rods in between the fuel rods slows the fission chain reaction because fewer neutrons hit the uranium atoms

46. A closer look at the reactor 2. The rods are surrounded by water which acts as a moderator and coolant. It keeps the core from getting too hot but also slows down the neutrons, making fission possible. It is easier for U-235 atoms to capture neutrons when they are moving more slowly

47. The fuel creates heat that moves from the reactor to the cooler water that surrounds it • The power plant has three separate loops of water piping through it. The loops of water do not mix. • Heat transfers from one loop to another. In the reactor superheated water flows through tubes in the steam generator making them hot. This transfers heat to the second loop

48. Heat transfer in the second loop • Causes the water to boil, building pressure as the water expands from liquid to vapor. The steam provides mechanical energy that turns the turbine attached to a generator • The generator changes the mechanical energy of the spinning turbine into electrical energy (the wire coils spin inside a magnetic field)

49. Nuclear energy is the energy stored in the nucleus of atoms • Nuclear energy comes from radioactive materials that have unstable isotopes • Unstable isotopes change their proton-neutron combination at regular intervals, releasing large amounts of energy in the process

50. Isotopes have different numbers of neutrons in the nucleus • The element Uranium has 92 protons and electrons. • U-235 has 92 protons and 143 neutrons. It is most often used in nuclear reactors because it is fissionable. • U-235 is processed or enriched to increase its concentration before using it as fuel