YAB3033

Hydrocarbon Chemistry
Semester May 2019
Assignment 1

Lecturer: Dr Normawati Mohamad Yunus

Group members:

1. Nur Afiqah Bt Mohd Saman (25213)

2. Nur Qamilia Bt Suhaimy (25142)

1. Provide TWO sources of non-renewable (exhaustible) energy. Discuss on their

occurrence and abundance, composition and important usage. Compare and contrast

on their advantages and disadvantages. (10 marks)

Non-renewable energy is energy sources that cannot be replenished, limited and will be used

up after some time. Example of non-renewable energy sources are crude oil and natural gas.

Crude oil and natural gas are considered as non-renewable energy because it takes thousands

of years to form naturally and they cannot be replaced as fast as they are being consumed.

Both crude oil and natural gas are considered as fossil fuels as they are formed from the

buried remains of plants and animals that lived millions of years ago. Fossil fuels began as

living plants and animals, which died and subsequently decayed over million years under

anaerobic conditions (Patel & Shah, 2015).

Crude oil is one of the sources of non-renewable energy. Crude oil can be found in reservoirs.

It can exist deep down in the earth's surface or deep below the ocean beds. Crude oil is liquid

in nature and yellowish black in colour. They are composed mainly of hydrocarbons and

organic compounds. Crude oil is made up of different forms of hydrocarbons with different

molecular weights, chemical properties, and organic structures. According to US Energy

Information Administration in 2007, crude oils are accountable for 36% of the total energy

produced in the world (Patel & Shah, 2015). Saudi Arabia, USA, Russia, China and Iran are

among the top crude oil producers in the world, and the USA is the world's biggest consumer

of crude oil, followed by China (Gautam, Kumar, & Lokhandwala, 2019). Fractional

distillation is used to separate crude oil a simple and more useful products. Products of crude

oil can be used in wide range of applications. Oil is important to provide mobility for human

daily life and is often used as fuel in transportation like cars, trucks, airplane, trains and
busses. However, extracting and refining crude can lead to production of toxic materials.

Since crude oil is liquid in nature, spilling of oil from offshore drills and fuel tankers can

harm the environment especially marine life. If crude oil improperly disposed, they can leach

into the ground and spread harmful chemicals that can pollute rivers. Burning crude oil

products also emits high amounts of carbon dioxide which can pollute the air and causing

global warming.

Other source of non-renewable energy is natural gas. Natural gas contains hydrocarbons in

gaseous forms which consisting mainly of methane. It also contains small amounts of

nitrogen, oxygen, hydrogen, propane, ethylene, ethane, and helium. Natural gas is commonly

found over oil deposits. It can also br found separately within different layers under the

earth's surface. Natural gas is colourless, shapeless, and odourless in its pure form. There are

two types of natural gas. The first one is a conventional type which is found in permeable

sandstone reservoirs. Next is the unconventional type which is found in coal deposits or shale

rock formations. Natural gas supplies about 23% of the world's energy (Patel & Shah, 2015).

Natural gas is commonly used for household purposes like heating water, cooking and

sometimes in industry. Natural gas is also a major source of electricity generation through the

use of gas turbines and steam turbines. Unlike oil, natural gas is clean burning and emits

lower levels of potentially harmful by-products into the air. Compared to crude oil and other

gases, natural is the cleanest fuel because it produces less carbon dioxide. To sum up, both

crude oil and natural gas are used for heating and transportation. Even the crude oil is cheaper

than natural gas, it is better to use natural gas than crude oil because it is safer for our

environment.
2. Select ONE source of renewable (inexhaustible) energy. Explain how this renewable

source can be transformed to energy. Discuss briefly on the 3 important areas in which

renewable energy sources often displace conventional fuel. (10 marks)

REFERENCES

Patel, N. K., & Shah, S. N. (2015). Biodiesel from Plant Oils. Food, Energy, and Water, 277-
307. doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-800211-7.00011-9

Gautam, P., Kumar, S., & Lokhandwala, S. (2019). Energy-Aware Intelligence in

Megacities. Current Developments in Biotechnology and Bioengineering, 211-238.
doi:10.1016/b978-0-444-64083-3.00011-7

Gopalakrishnan, B., Khanna, N., & Das, D. (2019). Dark-Fermentative Biohydrogen

Production. Biohydrogen, 79-122. doi:10.1016/b978-0-444-64203-5.00004-6