Chapter2

CHARACTERISTICSOFFOSSILFUELS

 At the present time, fossil fuels such as oil, gas, and coal

provide the majority of energy consumed around the

world.
In addition, there are two emerging, nonconventional
fossil fuels, shale oil and tar sands.
86% of commercial energy resources come from fossil
fuels.
As the name implies, fossil fuels come from layers of
prehistoric carbonaceous materials that have been
compressed over millions of years to form energydense
concentrations of solid, liquid, or gas, which can be
extracted and combusted to meet human energy
requirements.
Dr. Anwar Abu-Zarifa . Islamic University Gaza . Department of Industrial Engineering

 The energy density of coal is measured in GJ/tonne or million BTU/ton.

Energy density of oil is measured in GJ/barrel or million BTU/barrel*.
For natural gas, energy density is measured in kJ/m3 or BTU/ft3 when

the gas is at atmospheric pressure, and its value can be assumed

constant. In practice, gas is compressed in order to save space during
transportation and storage.

*The standard barrel of crude oil or other petroleum product (abbreviated bbl) is 42 US gallons (gal; 158.9872 L)
Dr. Anwar Abu-Zarifa . Islamic University Gaza . Department of Industrial Engineering

Dr. Anwar Abu-Zarifa . Islamic University Gaza . Department of Industrial Engineering

CurrentRatesofConsumptionandTotalResourceAvailability
Measured in terms of gross energy content of resource

consumed each year, fossil fuels account for some 86% of

total world energy consumption.
Crude oil represents the largest source of energy, while
natural gas and coal, the second and third ranked energy
sources.
Fossil fuels are used differently and in different amounts,
depending on whether a country is rich or poor.
Table 53 gives the breakdown of fossil fuel consumption
among Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD) and nonOECD countries.

Dr. Anwar Abu-Zarifa . Islamic University Gaza . Department of Industrial Engineering

Dr. Anwar Abu-Zarifa . Islamic University Gaza . Department of Industrial Engineering

EstimatedReservesandResourcesofFossilFuels
A reserve is a proven quantity of a fossil fuel that is known to

exist in a given location, within agreed tolerances on the

accuracy of estimating fuel quantities.
Table 54 gives available reserves of coal, oil, and gas for the
entire world, as well as for selected countries that are either
major consumers or producers of fossil fuels.
Crude oil is the fossil fuel in highest usage at the present time,
and that gas can serve as a substitute transportation fuel when
petroleum becomes scarce, coal as an energy source is likely to
last much further into the future than either oil or gas.
USA or China that have sizeable crude oil demand and
relatively small reserves (1.4% and 1.7% of the world total,
respectively) can expect to continue to rely on imports for as
long as they continue to use petroleum in the same way in their
economies.
Dr. Anwar Abu-Zarifa . Islamic University Gaza . Department of Industrial Engineering

EstimatedReservesandResourcesofFossilFuels

Dr. Anwar Abu-Zarifa . Islamic University Gaza . Department of Industrial Engineering

CO2EmissionsComparisonand
aDecarbonizationStrategy
The CO2 emissions per unit of fossil fuel combusted are a

function of the chemical reaction of the fuel with oxygen to

release energy.
The three chemical reactions governing the combustion of coal,
gas, and oil in their pure form.

Note that the energy released is given per unit of mass of fuel

combusted, not of CO2.

By Gas: CO2 emitted to the atmosphere is 50 MJ/kg (16/44) =
18.2 MJ/kg CO2.
For gasoline gives 16.1 MJ/kg CO2, and for coal gives 8.18 MJ/kg
CO2.
Dr. Anwar Abu-Zarifa . Islamic University Gaza . Department of Industrial Engineering

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 Coal has the lowest amount of energy released per unit of

CO2 emitted to the atmosphere.

This is a problem for many countries seeking to reduce
CO2 emissions, because certain sectors, such as the
electricity sector in China, Germany, or the United States,
depend on coal for a significant fraction of their
generating capacity.
To put the relative emissions in some context, a typical
power plant producing on the order of 2 billion kWh of
electricity per year might require roughly 50 PJ (~50
trillion BTU) of energy input to meet this demand.
Completely combusting coal with this amount of energy
content would generate 5.9 million tonnes of CO2,
whereas for gas the amount is 2.7 million tonnes.
Dr. Anwar Abu-Zarifa . Islamic University Gaza . Department of Industrial Engineering

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 Breakdown of the world CO2 emissions coming from fossil

fuels in 2011.

Dr. Anwar Abu-Zarifa . Islamic University Gaza . Department of Industrial Engineering

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 In response to this situation, some national or regional

governments have pursued or advocated a policy of

decarbonization, in which coal is displaced by oil and gas as an
energy resource for electricity, industry, or other applications,
in order to reduce CO2 emitted per unit of energy produced.
Decarbonization is especially appealing for countries with large
gas or oil reserves, such as Canada, which had reserves of 1.7
trillion m3 (59.1 trillion ft3) in 2004, with a population of 31.9
million.
As the Kyoto Protocol and other future agreements restrict the
amount of CO2 that can be emitted, these countries can use
decarbonization to meet targets.
Historically, decarbonization has been taking place since the
nineteenth century around the world and especially in the
industrialized countries, with many sectors of the world
economy replacing coal with oil and gas because they were
cleaner and easier to trans port and combust.
Dr. Anwar Abu-Zarifa . Islamic University Gaza . Department of Industrial Engineering

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Reserve

Dr. Anwar Abu-Zarifa . Islamic University Gaza . Department of Industrial Engineering

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Dr. Anwar Abu-Zarifa . Islamic University Gaza . Department of Industrial Engineering

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Dr. Anwar Abu-Zarifa . Islamic University Gaza . Department of Industrial Engineering

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WhoconsumesthemostOil??

Dr. Anwar Abu-Zarifa . Islamic University Gaza . Department of Industrial Engineering

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 20 richest countries consume

50% of coal
80% of natural gas
65% of oil

Dr. Anwar Abu-Zarifa . Islamic University Gaza . Department of Industrial Engineering

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ClassSeminars:Presentation&WrittenReport
Presentation 1: Nonconventional fossil resources

Dr. Anwar Abu-Zarifa . Islamic University Gaza . Department of Industrial Engineering

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