GEOLOGY

E21 (GROUP 3)

Aries, James
Carmona, Krizia
Ea, Andrei
Rebadonia, Wingella
Retita, Ira
Tabuada, Azkarah
Tagnia, Crenz
Tingson, Wilmar

PETROLEUM

Millions of years ago, algae and plants lived in shallow seas. After dying and sinking to the
seafloor, the organic material mixed with other sediments and was buried. Over millions of
years under high pressure and high temperature, the remains of these organisms transformed
into what we know today as fossil fuels. Coal, natural gas, and petroleum are all fossil fuels that
formed under similar conditions.

Today, petroleum is found in vast underground reservoirs where ancient seas were located.
Petroleum reservoirs can be found beneath land or the ocean floor. Their crude oil is extracted
with giant drilling machines.

Crude oil is usually black or dark brown, but can also be yellowish, reddish, tan, or even
greenish. Variations in color indicate the distinct chemical compositions of different supplies of
crude oil. Petroleum that has few metals or sulfur, for instance, tends to be lighter (sometimes
nearly clear).

Petroleum is used to make gasoline, an important product in our everyday lives. It is also
processed and part of thousands of different items, including tires, refrigerators, life jackets,
and anesthetics.

When petroleum products such as gasoline are burned for energy, they release toxic gases and
high amounts of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas. Carbon helps regulate the Earth’s
atmospheric temperature, and adding to the natural balance by burning fossil fuels adversely
affects our climate.

There are huge quantities of petroleum found under Earth’s surface and in tar pits that bubble
to the surface. Petroleum even exists far below the deepest wells that are developed
to extract it.
However, petroleum, like coal and natural gas, is a non-renewable source of energy. It took
millions of years for it to form, and when it is extracted and consumed, there is no way for us to
replace it.

Oil supplies will run out. Eventually, the world will reach “peak oil,” or its highest production
level. Some experts predict peak oil could come as soon as 2050. Finding alternatives to
petroleum is crucial to global energy use, and is the focus of many industries.

Formation of Petroleum

The geological conditions that would eventually create petroleum formed millions of years ago,
when plants, algae, and plankton drifted in oceans and shallow seas. These organisms sank to
the seafloor at the end of their life cycle. Over time, they were buried and crushed under
millions of tons of sediment and even more layers of plant debris.

Eventually, ancient seas dried up and dry basins remained, called sedimentary basins. Deep
under the basin floor, the organic material was compressed between Earth’s mantle, with very
high temperatures, and millions of tons of rock and sediment above. Oxygen was almost
completely absent in these conditions, and the organic matter began to transform into a waxy
substance called kerogen.

With more heat, time, and pressure, the kerogen underwent a process called catagenesis, and
transformed into hydrocarbons. Hydrocarbons are simply chemicals made up of hydrogen and
carbon. Different combinations of heat and pressure can create different forms of
hydrocarbons. Some other examples are coal, peat, and natural gas.

Sedimentary basins, where ancient seabeds used to lie, are key sources of petroleum. In Africa,
the Niger Delta sedimentary basin covers land in Nigeria, Cameroon, and Equatorial Guinea.
More than 500 oil deposits have been discovered in the massive Niger Delta basin, and they
comprise one of the most productive oil fields in Africa.

Extracting Petroleum

In some places, petroleum bubbles to the surface of the Earth. In parts of Saudi Arabia and Iraq,
for instance, porous rock allows oil to seep to the surface in small ponds. However, most oil is
trapped in underground oil reservoirs.

The total amount of petroleum in a reservoir is called oil-in-place. Many petroleum liquids that
make up a reservoir’s oil-in-place are unable to be extracted. These petroleum liquids may be
too difficult, dangerous, or expensive to drill.

The part of a reservoir’s oil-in-place that can be extracted and refined is that reservoir’s oil
reserves. The decision to invest in complex drilling operations is often made based on a site’s
proven oil reserves.

Drilling can either be developmental, exploratory, or directional.

Drilling in an area where oil reserves have already been found is called developmental drilling.
Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, has the largest oil reserves in the United States. Developmental drilling in
Prudhoe Bay includes new wells and expanding extraction technology.

Drilling where there are no known reserves is called exploratory drilling. Exploratory, also called
“wildcat” drilling, is a risky business with a very high failure rate. However, the potential
rewards of striking oil tempt many “wildcatters” to attempt exploratory drilling. “Diamond”
Glenn McCarthy, for example, is known as the “King of the Wildcatters” because of his success
in discovering the massive oil reserves near Houston, Texas. McCarthy struck oil 38 times in the
1930s, earning millions of dollars.

Directional drilling involves drilling vertically to a known source of oil, then veering the drill
bit at an angle to access additional resources. Accusations of directional drilling led to the first
Gulf War in 1991. Iraq accused Kuwait of using directional drilling techniques to extract oil from
Iraqi oil reservoirs near the Kuwaiti border. Iraq subsequently invaded Kuwait, an act which
drew international attention and intervention. After the war, the border between Iraq and
Kuwait was redrawn, with the reservoirs now belonging to Kuwait.

Petroleum Alternatives

Individuals, industries, and organizations are increasingly concerned with peak oil and
environmental consequences of petroleum extraction. Alternatives to oil are being developed
in some areas, and governments and organizations are encouraging citizens to change their
habits so we do not rely so heavily on oil.

Bioasphalts, for example, are asphalts made from renewable sources such as molasses, sugar,
corn, potato starch, or even byproducts of oil processes. Although they provide a non-toxic
alternative to bitumen, bioasphalts require huge crop yields, which puts a strain on the
agricultural industry.

Algae is also a potentially enormous source of energy. Algae oil (so-called “green crude”) can be
converted into a biofuel. Algae grows extremely quickly and takes up a fraction of the space
used by other biofuel feedstocks. About 38,849 square kilometers (15,000 square miles) of
algae—less than half the size of the U.S. state of Maine—would provide enough biofuel to
replace all of the U.S.’s petroleum needs. Algae absorbs pollution, releases oxygen, and does
not require freshwater.

The country of Sweden has made it a priority to drastically reduce its dependence on oil and
other fossil fuel energy by 2020. Experts in agriculture, science, industry, forestry, and energy
have come together to develop sources of sustainable energy, including geothermal heat
pumps, wind farms, wave and solar energy, and domestic biofuel for hybrid vehicles. Changes in
society’s habits, such as increasing public transportation and video-conferencing for businesses,
are also part of the plan to decrease oil use.

Types of Petroleum
1. Petrochemicals
(also known as petroleum distillates) are chemical products derived from petroleum. Some
chemical compounds made from petroleum are also obtained from other fossil fuels, such as
coal or natural gas, or renewable sources such as corn, palm fruit or sugar cane.

2. Fuel Oils
(also known as heavy oil, marine fuel or furnace oil) is a fraction obtained from petroleum
distillation, either as a distillate or a residue. Fuel oil is made of long hydrocarbon chains,
particularly alkanes, cycloalkanes, and aromatics.

3. Gasoline
or petrol /ˈpɛtrəl/, is a toxic, clear liquid that is mostly used as a fuel in internal combustion
engines. It is made by boiling petroleum, a fossil fuel. In a distillation process, petroleum is
heated to a very high temperature, then it separates into its components, one of them is
gasoline. This is an expensive process. It is made mostly of octane (C8H18), a hydrocarbon.

4. Kerosene
is a flammable liquid which is used in many industries and homes around the world as a fuel for
light, heat and power. It is generally non-viscous and clear, however viscous substances such as
wax and other thicker substances can be made from kerosene. Kerosene is also known as
paraffin or kero.
Coal
Coal is a natural mineral that is formed under the earth's crust due to the prolonged decay of
plant and animal matter due to the heat and pressure.

At various times in the geologic past, the Earth had dense forests in low-lying wetland areas.
Due to natural processes such as flooding, these forests were buried under the soil. As more
and more soil deposited over them, they were compressed. The temperature also rose as they
sank deeper and deeper. As the process continued the plant matter was protected
from biodegradation and oxidation, usually by mud or acidic water. This trapped the carbon in
immense peat bogs that were eventually covered and deeply buried by sediments.

Under high pressure and high temperature, dead vegetation was slowly converted to coal. As
coal contains mainly carbon, the conversion of dead vegetation into coal is called carbonization.

The wide, shallow seas of the Carboniferous Period provided ideal conditions for coal
formation, although coal is known from most geological periods. The exception is the coal gap
in the Permian–Triassic extinction event, where coal is rare. Coal is known
from Precambrian strata, which predate land plants — this coal is presumed to have originated
from residues of algae.

Charcoal

Char Coal is generally prepared by burning wood and sometimes animal matter and
extinguishing the fire just before they turn ash.

Charcoal is mostly pure carbon, called char, made by cooking wood in a low oxygen
environment, a process that can take days and burns off volatile compounds such as water,
methane, hydrogen, and tar. In commercial processing, the burning takes place in large
concrete or steel silos with very little oxygen, and stops before it all turns to ash. The process
leaves black lumps and powder, about 25% of the original weight, that packs more potential
energy per ounce than raw wood.

When ignited, the carbon in charcoal combines with oxygen and forms carbon dioxide, carbon
monoxide, water, other gases, and significant quantities of energy. It packs more potential
energy per ounce than raw wood. Char burns steady, hot, and produces less smoke and fewer
dangerous vapors.
The process of making charcoal is ancient, with archaeological evidence of charcoal production
going back about 30,000 years. Making charcoal is still practiced at home in third world
economies.
TYPES OF COAL

Peat is the first step in coal formation. Peat is composed of over 60% organic matter; typically,
ferns and vegetation found in swamps or bogs. As a result of the high water content of this
environment, peat contains a lot of water, which limits its heat content or the amount of
energy it contains. It's a very soft brown coal.
Eventually over time, with increasing pressures and temperatures, peat is 'cooked' into coal's
next stage, lignite. Lignite is a soft brown coal that still contains a high amount of water. Lignite
has a higher heat content than peat but is still not the most desired form of coal. However,
lignite makes up almost half of our known coal reserves.
Bituminous coal is formed as more pressure is applied to lignite coal. The greater the pressure
applied, the more water is expelled, which increases the amount of pure carbon present and
increases the heat content of the coal. Bituminous coal is often classified as sub-bituminous or
bituminous. The difference is that sub-bituminous is the transition stage from lignite to
bituminous coal. Bituminous coal is widely used in the United States and across Europe.
Anthracite coal is a metamorphic rock and is considered the highest grade coal. It's hard and
dark black in color. It has a very light weight when compared to other forms of coal, as there is
very little water present in anthracite. As a result, anthracite has the highest heat content.
Anthracite is formed when bituminous coal is subjected to great pressures.
Subbituminous coal, also called black lignite, generally dark brown to black coal, intermediate
in rank between lignite and bituminous coal according to the coalclassification used in the
United States and Canada. In many countries subbituminous coal is considered to be a
brown coal.

Graphite is formed in lower crust setting from carbonaceous rocks that might
contain coal. Coal is a mixture of organic compounds. Minerals are the inorganic component
of coal, referred to as "ash" because it is residual when burning coal

Lignite, often referred to as brown coal, is a soft, brown, combustible, sedimentary rock formed
from naturally compressed peat. It is considered the lowest rank of coal due to its relatively low
heat content.
MINING COAL

Surface mining
including strip mining, open-pit mining and mountaintop removal mining, is a broad category
of mining in which soil and rock overlying the mineral deposit (the overburden) are removed, in
contrast to underground mining, in which the overlying rock is left in place

Underground Mining
In underground coal mining, the working environment is completely enclosed by the geologic
medium, which consists of the coal seam and the overlying and underlying strata. Access to the
coal seam is gained by suitable openings from the surface, and a network of roadways driven in
the seam then facilitates the installation of service facilities for such essential activities as
human and material transport, ventilation, water handling and drainage, and power. This phase
of an underground mining operation is termed “mine development.” Often the extraction of
coal from the seam during mine development is called “first mining”; the extraction of the
remaining seam is called “second mining.”