1. Chapter 16
Nonrenewable Energy

2. Core Case Study: How Long Will the Oil Party Last?
Saudi Arabia could supply the world with oil for about 10 years.
The Alaska’s North Slope could meet the world oil demand for 6 months (U.S.: 3 years).
Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge would meet the world demand for 1-5 months (U.S.: 7-25 months).

3. Core Case Study: How Long Will the Oil Party Last?
We have three options:
Look for more oil.
Use or waste less oil.
Use something else.
Figure 16-1

4. TYPES OF ENERGY RESOURCES
About 99% of the energy we use for heat comes from the sun and the other 1% comes mostly from burning fossil fuels.
Solar energy indirectly supports wind power, hydropower, and biomass.
About 76% of the commercial energy we use comes from nonrenewable fossil fuels (oil, natural gas, and coal) with the remainder coming from renewable sources.

5. TYPES OF ENERGY RESOURCES
Nonrenewable energy resources and geothermal energy in the earth’s crust.
Figure 16-2

6. TYPES OF ENERGY RESOURCES
Commercial energy use by source for the world (left) and the U.S. (right).
Figure 16-3

7. TYPES OF ENERGY RESOURCES
Net energy is the amount of high-quality usable energy available from a resource after subtracting the energy needed to make it available.
Remember the second law of thermodynamics!
Net energy ratio – useful energy produced/energy used to produce it

8. Net Energy Ratios
The higher the net energy ratio, the greater the net energy available. Ratios < 1 indicate a net energy loss.
Figure 16-4

9. OIL
Crude oil (petroleum) is a thick liquid containing hydrocarbons that we extract from underground deposits and separate into products such as gasoline, heating oil and asphalt.
Only 35-50% can be economically recovered from a deposit.
As prices rise, about 10-25% more can be recovered from expensive secondary extraction techniques.
This lowers the net energy yield.

10. OIL Refining crude oil:
Based on boiling points, components are removed at various layers in a giant distillation column.
The most volatile components with the lowest boiling points are removed at the top.
Figure 16-5

11. OIL World’s largest business
Eleven OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) have 78% of the world’s proven oil reserves and most of the world’s unproven reserves.
An oil reserve is an identified deposit from which crude oil can be extracted profitably at current prices and current technology.

12. 2007 World Proved Reserves
After global production peaks and begins a slow decline, oil prices will rise and could threaten the economies of countries that have not shifted to new energy alternatives.
Top three oil consuming nations
U.S. (60%)
China (33%)
Japan (100%)
Source: U.S Department of Energy, Energy Information Administration

13. Oil Refining Capabilities
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries control most oil refining.
Supply and demand economics are therefore interrupted by a multi-stage process dictating the supply.

14. Historic Oil Prices
Source: Lindstrom, Kirk. Inflation adjusted oil prices fall on strong USD. Seeking Alpha. 19 Oct, Retrieved 26 Mar, 2009 from

15. As Oil Prices Rise…
Prices of food and products produced from petrochemicals will rise.
People will necessary move down the food chain.
Food production may become more localized.
More land will be used to produce renewable biomass crops.
Air travel and air freight may decline.
Re-urbanization

16. Case Study: U.S. Oil Supplies
The U.S. – the world’s largest oil user – has only 2.9% of the world’s proven oil reserves.
U.S oil production peaked in 1974 (halfway production point).
About 60% of U.S oil imports go through refineries in hurricane-prone regions of the Gulf Coast.

17. Alaskan Oil Pipeline
Carries 2 million barrels a day of crude oil from the Prudhoe Bay oil field 789 miles south to Southern Alaska to be loaded onto tankers destined for refineries. Represents 25% of the U.S. crude oil reserves.

18. OIL
Burning oil for transportation accounts for 43% of global CO2 emissions.
Figure 16-7

19. CO2 Emissions
CO2 emissions per unit of energy produced for various energy resources.
Figure 16-8

20. Heavy Oils
Heavy and tarlike oils from oil sand and oil shale could supplement conventional oil, but there are environmental problems.
High sulfur content.
Extracting and processing produces:
Toxic sludge
Uses and contaminates larges volumes of water
Requires large inputs of natural gas which reduces net energy yield.
Deforestation

21. Oil Sands Bitumen can be extracted
Athabascan Oil Sands deposits equal in area to U.S. states of MD and VA.
Supply 1/5 of Canadian energy needs.
Production costs high ($13/barrel vs. $1-2 for conventional production.
1.8 mt of oil sand = 1 barrel of oil.
China invested heavily.

22. Canadian Oil Sand Pit Mine

24. Athabascan River Surface Water Allocations

25. Oil Shales
Oil shales contain a solid combustible mixture of hydrocarbons called kerogen.
Figure 16-9

26. Figure 16-10

27. When Does the Oil Party End?

28. 60 minutes video re: Shalieonaires

29. NATURAL GAS
Natural gas consists mostly of methane and other gaseous hydrocarbons.
Conventional natural gas
found above reservoirs of crude oil.
When a natural gas-field is tapped, gasses are liquefied and removed as liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).
Unconventional natural gas
Coal bed methane gas
Methane hydrate
bubbles of methane trapped in ice crystals deep under the arctic permafrost and beneath deep-ocean sediments

30. Natural Gas Processing

31. Natural Gas Production

32. NATURAL GAS
Some analysts see natural gas as the best fuel to help us make the transition to improved energy efficiency and greater use of renewable energy.
Figure 16-11

33. COAL
Coal is a solid fossil fuel that is formed in several stages as the buried remains of land plants that lived million years ago.
Figure 16-12

34. COAL Most abundant fossil fuel
Generates 62% of world’s electricity and is used to make 75% of its steel
Anthracite (98% carbon) is most desirable but least common.
Lower grades of coal have increasing traces of sulfur, toxic mercury, and radioactive materials that are released upon burning.
Extraction by subsurface mining, area strip mining, contour strip mining, and mountaintop removal are environmentally damaging.

35. Cooling tower transfers waste heat to atmosphere Coal bunker Turbine
Generator
Cooling loop
Stack
Pulverizing mill
Condenser
Filter
Figure 16.13
Science: Coal-burning power plant. Heat produced by burning pulverized coal in a furnace boils water to produce steam that spins a turbine to produce electricity. The steam is cooled, condensed, and returned to the furnace for reuse. A large cooling tower transfers waste heat to the troposphere. The largest coal-burning power plant in the United States in Indiana burns 23 metric tons (25 tons) of coal per minute or three 100-car trainloads of coal per day and produces 50% more electric power than the Hoover Dam. QUESTION: Is there a coal-burning power plant near where you live or go to school?
Boiler
Toxic ash disposal
Fig , p. 369

36. COAL
Coal reserves in the United States (27%), Russia (17%), and China (13%) could last hundreds to over a thousand years.
In 2005, China and the U.S. accounted for 53% of the global coal consumption.
The U.S. has 27% of the world’s proven coal reserves, followed by Russia (17%), and China (13%).

37. COAL
Coal is the most abundant fossil fuel, but compared to oil and natural gas it is not as versatile, has a high environmental impact, and releases much more CO2 into the troposphere.
Figure 16-14

38. COAL Synfuels
Coal can be converted into synthetic natural gas (SNG or syngas) and liquid fuels (such as methanol or synthetic gasoline) that burn cleaner than coal.
Requires mining 50% more coal
Costs are high.
Burning them adds more CO2 to the troposphere than burning coal.

40. COAL
Since CO2 is not regulated as an air pollutant and costs are high, U.S. coal-burning plants are unlikely to invest in coal gasification.
Figure 16-15

41. Clean Coal Technology
Multiple technologies aimed at cleaning coal and containing its emissions
Coal washing
Wet scrubbers (flue gas desulfurization systems)
Low-NOx burners
Electrostatic precipitators
Oxy-fuel combustion
Pre-combustion capture
Flue-gas separation removes CO2 with a solvent, strips off the CO2 with steam, and condenses the steam into a concentrated stream. Flue gas separation renders commercially usable CO2, which helps offset its price. Another process, oxy-fuel combustion, burns the fuel in pure or enriched oxygen to create a flue gas composed primarily of CO2 and water -- this ­sidesteps the energy-intensive process of separating the CO2 from other flue gasses. A third technology, pre-combustion capture, removes the CO2 before it's burned as a part of a gasification process.
When coal burns, it releases carbon dioxide and other emissions in flue gas, the billowing clouds you see pouring out of smoke stacks. Some clean coal technologies purify the coal before it burns. One type of coal preparation, coal washing, removes unwanted minerals by mixing crushed coal with a liquid and allowing the impurities to separate and settle.
Other systems control the coal burn to minimize emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and particulates. Wet scrubbers, or flue gas desulfurization systems, remove sulfur dioxide, a major cause of acid rain, by spraying flue gas with limestone and water. The mixture reacts with the sulfur dioxide to form synthetic gypsum, a component of drywall.
Low-NOx (nitrogen oxide) burners reduce the creation of nitrogen oxides, a cause of ground-level ozone, by restricting oxygen and manipulating the combustion process. Electrostatic precipitators remove particulates that aggravate asthma and cause respiratory ailments by charging particles with an electrical field and then capturing them on collection plates.
­­Gasification avoids burning coal altogether. With integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) systems, steam and hot pressurized air or oxygen combine with coal in a reaction that forces carbon molecules apart. The resulting syngas, a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, is then cleaned and burned in a gas turbine to make electricity. The heat energy from the gas turbine also powers a steam turbine. Since IGCC power plants create two forms of energy, they have the potential to reach a fuel efficiency of 50 percent [source: ­U.S. Department of Energy]. ­

42. Clean Coal Technology
Regardless of method, the CO2 must be sequestered – either in a commercially viable product or stored deep underground or in the oceans.
1. CO2 pumped into disused coal fields displaces methane which can be used as fuel 2. CO2 can be pumped into and stored safely in saline aquifers 3. CO2 pumped into oil fields helps maintain pressure, making extraction easier

43. NUCLEAR ENERGY
When isotopes of uranium and plutonium undergo controlled nuclear fission, the resulting heat produces steam that spins turbines to generate electricity.
The uranium (V, VI) oxide (U3O8) consists of about 97% nonfissionable uranium-238 and 3% fissionable uranium-235.
The concentration of uranium-235 is increased through an enrichment process.
Describe what symbol means and why uranium must be enriched.

44. Small amounts of radioactive gases
Uranium fuel input (reactor core)
Control rods
Containment shell
Heat exchanger
Steam
Turbine
Generator
Electric power
Waste heat
Hot coolant
Useful energy 25%–30%
Hot water output
Pump
Pump
Coolant
Pump
Pump
Cool water input
Waste heat
Figure 16.16
Science: light-water–moderated and –cooled nuclear power plant with a pressurized water reactor. QUESTION: How does this plant differ from the coal-burning plant in Figure 16-13?
Moderator
Coolant passage
Shielding
Pressure vessel
Water
Condenser
Periodic removal and storage of radioactive wastes and spent fuel assemblies
Periodic removal and storage of radioactive liquid wastes
Water source (river, lake, ocean)
Fig , p. 372

45. Nuclear energy
There are currently 435 nuclear reactors in the world. Why is nuclear power considered nonrenewable? What are its advantages over coal, oil, and natural gas as an energy source? What are its disadvantages?

46. Decommissioning of reactor Fuel assemblies
Enrichment of UF6
Fuel fabrication
(conversion of enriched UF6 to UO2 and fabrication of fuel assemblies)
Temporary storage of spent fuel assemblies underwater or in dry casks
Conversion of U3O8 to UF6
Uranium-235 as UF6 Plutonium-239 as PuO2
Spent fuel reprocessing
Low-level radiation with long half-life
Figure 16.18
Science: the nuclear fuel cycle. QUESTION: Are any parts of the nuclear fuel cycle within 27 kilometers (17 miles) of where you live or go to school?
Geologic disposal of moderate & high-level radioactive wastes
Open fuel cycle today
“Closed” end fuel cycle
Fig , p. 373

47. Uranium Surface Mining

48. Uranium Mining – Injection Wells
ISL Mining is a method used to extract uranium ore from underground, using water to inject solutions deep into the uranium ore body through injection wells, then the ‘production well’ pulls up the injected solution with the uranium ore attached. The piping is placed in drill holes which puncture the aquifers. From these pipes, the uranium ore enters the production plant, the solution and dirt debris is shaken off, and the remaining uranium ore is dried to turn the it into a fine powder called “yellow cake”. It is necessary to drill thousands of holes deep in the ground to conduct ISL mining. Arsenic, Radium 226 & 228, Thorium 230 and other contaminants are stirred up during the extraction process and can enter groundwater through leaks in the thousands of pipes used to ISL mine. Such leaks can allow the radioactive water to seep out of the pipe and back into the groundwater, which has happened at ISL mines all over the world. (for info see ). Water that is used to extract the uranium ore out of the ground is re-used to repeat the extraction process, some of this water is then stored in evaporation ponds, along with the sludge of the contaminants, some is stored permanently underground in disposal wells. The sludge is shipped out as radioactive waste. No corporation has ever been able to clean up the aquifers of an ISL uranium mine site, rather, the state or EPA will relax its water standards
From:

49. Nuclear Fuel Cycle
After three or four years in a reactor, spent fuel rods are removed and stored in a deep pool of water contained in a steel-lined concrete container.
After spent fuel rods are cooled considerably, they are sometimes moved to dry-storage containers made of steel or concrete.
Figure 16-17

50. Radioactive Waste
Wastes must be safely stored for 10,000 to 240,000 years.
Options:
Bury it deep underground.
Shoot it into space.
Bury it in the Antarctic ice sheet.
Bury it in the deep-ocean floor that is geologically stable.
Change it into harmless or less harmful isotopes.

51. In 2009, Obama pulled funding for Yucca Mountain, the only existing U
In 2009, Obama pulled funding for Yucca Mountain, the only existing U.S. facility designed for long term highly-radioactive waste storage.

52. Decommissioning
When a nuclear reactor reaches the end of its useful life, its highly radioactive materials must be kept from reaching the environment for thousands of years.
At least 228 large commercial reactors worldwide (20 in the U.S.) are scheduled for retirement by 2012.
Many reactors are applying to extend their 40-year license to 60 years.
Aging reactors are subject to embrittlement and corrosion.

53. NUCLEAR ENERGY
In 1995, the World Bank said nuclear power is too costly and risky.
In 2006, it was found that several U.S. reactors were leaking radioactive tritium into groundwater.
Figure 16-19

54. NUCLEAR ENERGY
A 1,000 megawatt nuclear plant is refueled once a year, whereas a coal plant requires 80 rail cars a day.
Figure 16-20

55. What Happened to Nuclear Power?
After more than 50 years of development and enormous government subsidies, nuclear power has not lived up to its promise because:
Multi billion-dollar construction costs.
Higher operation costs and more malfunctions than expected.
Poor management.
Public concerns about safety and stricter government safety regulations.

56. Case Study: The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Accident
The world’s worst nuclear power plant accident occurred in 1986 in Ukraine.
The disaster was caused by poor reactor design and human error.
Resulted in an 18-mile (30 km) Exclusion Zone
By 2005, 56 people had died from radiation related illnesses.
4,000 more are expected from thyroid cancer and leukemia.
Over 600,000 clean up workers exposed to some elevated levels of radiation.
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission

57. The Chernobyl Disaster

58. Risks from Terrorism Attack nuclear power plants Dirty bombs
Especially poorly protected pools that store spent nuclear fuel rods.
Dirty bombs
Explosives wrapped around small amounts of radioactive materials
Radioactive material is easy to get
Cause minimal loss of life, but could contaminate areas for decades resulting in environmental damage and economic losses.
Ended here on in period 6

59. Are Reactors the Answer to Oil Independence?
Yes.
Nuclear power can be developed domestically to generate electricity rather than using foreign oil.
Nuclear power is clean and does not contribute to global warming.
No.
Oil only generates 2-3% of U.S. electricity.
When the entire nuclear fuel cycle is considered, the cycle does contribute to CO2 emissions.
Wind turbines, solar cells, geothermal energy, and hydrogen contributes much less to CO2 emissions.

60. New and Safer Reactors
Pebble bed modular reactor (PBMR) are smaller reactors that minimize the chances of runaway chain reactions.
no need for a core cooling system or airtight containment dome
fuel can be rearranged while operating
security concerns
generates more waste
more expensive
Figure 16-21

61. Reactor vessel Water cooler
Each pebble contains about 10,000 uranium dioxide particles the size of a pencil point.
Pebble detail
Silicon carbide
Pyrolytic carbon
Porous buffer
Uranium dioxide
Graphite shell
Helium
Turbine
Generator
Pebble
Figure 16.21
Pebble bed modular reactor (PBMR): this is one of several new and smaller reactor designs that some nuclear engineers say should improve the safety of nuclear power and reduce its costs. This design reduces chances of a runaway chain reaction by encapsulating uranium fuels in tiny heat-resistant ceramic spheres instead of packing large numbers of fuel pellets into long metal rods.
Hot water output
Core
Cool water input
Reactor vessel
Recuperator
Water cooler
Fig , p. 380

62. NUCLEAR FUSION
Nuclear fusion is a nuclear change in which two isotopes are forced together.
No risk of meltdown or radioactive releases.
May also be used to breakdown toxic material.
Still in laboratory stages.
Link

63. Resources
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64. Resources
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