SOURCES & USES OF HYDROCARBONS Chemistry

Natural Gas  Natural Gas:  Mostly CH 4 (Methane)  Obtained from the ground  Fossil Fuel  Good for combustion  Hot Flame  “Clean” flame

Petroleum  Petroleum is:  A mixture of straight- chain and branched alkanes  Also contains some: Sulfur Nitrogen Aromatic Compounds  Most widely used fossil fuel

Distillation  Distillation-Separating a mixture based on differences in boiling points  Used to separate the components in a petroleum mixture

Distillation Column  Distillation is done in tall columns in industry  Top of column:  Cold  Substances with low boiling points  gases  Bottom of column:  Hot  Substances with high boiling points  solids

Cracking  Cracking-Process that breaks larger chains molecules into smaller molecules  Smaller molecules might be more useful

Coal  Fossil fuel made up of decaying plants and vegetation over years of heat and pressure

Coal Info  Coal is classified by its carbon content  More carbon content  Better fuel  Anthracite coal has the highest carbon content  Coal also contains small amounts of sulfur and mercury