Carbon Climate Energy Resources Unit 4 Fossil Fuel

Carbon, Climate, & Energy Resources Unit 4 Fossil Fuel Formation

Learning Objectives 1. Students will distinguish fossil fuels from renewable energy sources. 2. Students will discuss uses of various fossil fuels. 3. Students will describe the sequence of processes by which coal forms. 4. Students will describe the sequence of processes by which oil and natural gas form. 5. Students will be able to relate the formation and use of various fossil fuels to the carbon cycle.

Fossil Fuel Formation Activity 1 Fossil fuels, renewable and non-renewable energy sources: A think-pair-share activity

Identifying Fossil Fuels 1. In two minutes, list as many fossil fuels as possible, without consulting reference materials or other students. 2. Pair up with several other students to compare lists to see if they have anything additional you can add to your list. 3. The instructor will call on each group to share an answer and write it on the board.

Fossil Fuels • • Coal Oil (or petroleum) Natural gas Other nontraditional fossil fuels? – Oil shale – Oil sands and tar sands – Shale gas – Methane hydrate

Fossil Fuels are Nonrenewable Energy Resources • Nonrenewable means they are consumed by humans faster than they can be replenished through geological processes. • Fossil fuels are produced by geological processes acting on organic matter over long periods of time (hundreds of millions of years).

Identifying Renewable Energy Sources 1. In two minutes, list as many renewable energy sources as possible, without consulting reference materials or other students. 2. Pair up with several other students to compare lists to see if they have anything additional to add to the list. 3. The instructor will call on each group to share an answer and write it on the board.

Renewable Energy Sources • Biomass (burning of wood, biofuels such as ethanol & biodiesel, or waste) • Hydroelectric power (using flowing water to produce energy) • Solar energy • Wind energy • Tidal and wave energy • Geothermal energy

What about nuclear energy? Nuclear energy is not a fossil fuel and is not considered renewable.

Where does your energy come from? Select the diagram that most closely matches current energy usage in the United States. A B C

Fossil Fuel Formation Activity 2 Watch video on Coal, Oil, and Natural Gas https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=s. Qnc. Fcu. YWos (6 minutes 47 seconds). Partway through, pause the video and do the activity Compare And Contrast Oil And Coal Resources. See handout.

Summary Fossil Fuels • • Coal Oil (or petroleum) Natural gas Other – – Oil shale Oil sands and tar sands Shale gas Methane hydrate Renewable Energy Sources • • • Biomass (burning of wood, biofuels such as ethanol & biodiesel, or waste) Hydroelectric power Solar energy Wind energy Tidal and wave energy Geothermal energy

Fossil Fuel Formation Activity 3 Coal Ranks and their Heating Value

What is Coal? • Organic sedimentary rock formed from plant remains deposited in swamps and marshes. • The major use of coal is generating electric power. • Burning coal is one of the largest sources of CO 2, a greenhouse gas related to global warming.

Coal Formation • • • Think about the carbon cycle. Trace the carbon from the atmosphere into plants. Dead plants are buried under sediment, and converted into coal. When coal is burned, carbon returns to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide.

Types (or Ranks) of Coal Increasing pressure, temperature and depth of burial Low Rank § Peat § Lignite § Sub-bituminous coal § Bituminous coal § Anthracite coal High Rank

Peat: The sediment that forms coal • Brown, partially decayed plant fragments. • Vegetation accumulates in wetlands (swamps, marshes, peat bogs or lakes). • Stagnant water (little or no oxygen) slows decomposition rate. Pamela Gore

• Soft, dark brown, gray or black, crumbly, sooty coal. • Plant parts may be visible. • Formed from compaction of peat under low burial pressures & temperatures. • Low rank coal. • Carbon content 46 -60% (dry basis). Pamela Gore Lignite

Sub-bituminous coal • Intermediate between lignite and bituminous coal. • Carbon content 46 -60% (dry basis).

Bituminous coal Hard, but slightly sooty. Dull to shiny luster. May have layers. Deeper burial, longer burial, and higher temperatures than lower coal ranks. • Most abundant coal rank in the United States. • Carbon content 46 -86% (dry basis). Pamela Gore • •

• Hard, shiny coal with a silvery luster. • A metamorphic rock formed from bituminous coal at higher temperatures and pressures. • The highest coal rank. • Carbon content 86 -98% (dry basis). Pamela Gore Anthracite coal

Coalification • Water is expelled as peat is compacted. • Plant material breaks down releasing natural gas (mostly methane). • A bed of peat about 10 feet thick produces a layer of coal about 1 foot thick.

Carbon, Heating Value and Carbon Dioxide • Different types of coal contain different amounts of carbon. • The highest percentage of carbon is found in the highest rank coal. • High-rank coal also has a higher heat content (or heating value). • When coal is burned, carbon dioxide is emitted – a greenhouse gas related to global warming.

Review Questions 1. How does coal rank relate to temperature and pressure of burial? 2. How does carbon content relate to coal rank? 3. How does heating value relate to coal rank? 4. What is the major use of coal?

Fossil Fuel Formation Activity 4 Petroleum and Natural Gas Includes the Origin of Oil Activity.

What is Oil (or Petroleum)? • Liquid hydrocarbons that are present in certain layers of sedimentary rock (the geosphere). • Petroleum can be extracted from the rock and refined to produce fuels and chemicals.

Petroleum products Other products: • Kerosene • Lubricants • Waxes • Asphalt • Chemicals A barrel of oil is 42 gallons.

What is Natural Gas? • The major component in natural gas is methane, CH 4 • Other gases that may be present include: § ethane, C 2 H 6 § propane, C 3 H 8 § butane, C 4 H 10

See video of formation of petroleum source rocks, movement of hydrocarbons, reservoir rock, and hydrocarbon traps https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=_PDOD_FEn. Nk (2 minutes 15 seconds).

Petroleum and Natural Gas Formation • • • Think about the carbon cycle. Trace the carbon from the atmosphere to the ocean and into marine organisms. Remains of organisms are buried under sediment and converted into oil and natural gas. When these fossil fuels are burned, carbon dioxide is emitted.

Do the Origin of Oil Activity Materials needed: The Origin of Oil Student Worksheet Scissors or pre-cut strips

What are Tar Sands? • Tar sands form when oil moving upward within a reservoir of porous, permeable sand is not stopped by an impermeable sedimentary layer. • Oil begins to escape from the sand at the surface, and is biodegraded by “oil-eating bacteria”, causing the oil to become highly viscous asphalt or tar called bitumen. • Tar sands can be mined and processed with hot water to separate the bitumen from the sand.

What is Oil Shale? • Oil shale is sedimentary rock containing kerogen that has not been heated enough within Earth to change the kerogen into hydrocarbons. • Oil shale can be mined, but it must be subjected to a high temperature before petroleum-like liquids can be separated from the rock.

What is Shale Gas? • Shale gas forms in organic-rich black shales where extremely deep burial and extremely high temperatures have broken petroleum down into natural gas (methane).

What is fracking? • Shales have low permeability, so to extract the oil or methane gas, it is necessary to create artificial fractures. • Wells are drilled to thousands of feet deep, and then drilled horizontally along the shale bed. • High-pressure fluids and sand are injected to hydraulically fracture the shale, releasing the trapped oil or methane gas (fracking).

What are methane hydrates? • Ice saturated with natural gas (methane) on the seafloor, and in arctic permafrost regions. • Methane in the cryosphere!

Watch video on Oil and Gas Formation https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=8 YHsx. XEVB 1 M (3 minutes 4 seconds).

Review Questions 1. Oil and natural gas form from the remains of what sorts of organisms? 2. What has to happen to organic matter in order to produce hydrocarbons? 3. What are the major components of natural gas? 4. What types of rock serve as reservoirs for oil and gas? 5. How do tar sands form?

Review Questions 6. What is the major use of petroleum? 7. What other sorts of products are made from petroleum? 8. What is the difference between oil and oil shale? 9. How is natural gas extracted from shale?

Answers to “Origin of Oil” Activity The correct order of statements is GLECKHDJAIMFB 1. The story of oil and gas begins with planktonic organisms living in the ocean (or in lakes). 2. Zooplankton eat phytoplankton (algae) that use the Sun’s energy to produce organic matter and energy through photosynthesis.

3. As the planktonic organisms die, their remains begin to settle to the sea floor under anoxic conditions (without oxygen). 4. Over time, layer upon layer of sediments accumulate, containing the remains of planktonic organisms.

5. Thick sequences of sediments are deposited and the planktonic organisms buried in them are heated and compressed until the organic matter begins to change into kerogen, a solid, waxy organic material. 6. With the high temperatures and pressures of greater depth of burial, the kerogen begins to change into hydrocarbons. 7. With even more heat and pressure, the hydrocarbons are broken down into petroleum (oil) and natural gas.

8. The petroleum and natural gas migrate into porous and permeable sedimentary rocks such as sandstone, which serves as a petroleum reservoir rock. 9. Oil floats on water, and gas is even lighter than oil, so petroleum and natural gas move upward within the reservoir rock, until they are stopped by an impermeable sedimentary layer such as shale, which forms a trap.

10. More and more petroleum and natural gas accumulate and become concentrated in the trap, forming an oil field. 11. Geologists use various tools, such as seismic surveys, to study Earth to locate oil fields beneath the ground. If a location seems promising, drilling may begin.

12. Wells are drilled into the ground in the oil field to extract the petroleum, which is called crude oil.

13. The crude oil is transported to a refinery, where it is separated by distillation and other processes into fuels such as gasoline, butane, kerosene, liquid petroleum gas, jet fuel, diesel fuel, fuel oil, and chemicals used to manufacture plastics.