chapter15 Flashcards
gooey, black, high sulfur, heavy oil extracted from tar sand and then upgraded to synthetic fuel oil
bitumen
solid, combustible mixture of organic compounds with 3098% carbon by weight, mixed with various amounts of water and small amounts of sulfur and nitrogen compounds. it forms in several staged as the remains of plants are subjected to heat and pressure over millions of years.
coal
Conversion of solid coal to synthetic natural gas (SNG).
coal gasification
Conversion of solid coal to a liquid hydrocarbon fuel such as synthetic gasoline or methanol.
coal liquefaction
Gooey liquid consisting mostly of hydrocarbon compounds and small amounts of compounds containing oxygen, sulfur, and nitrogen. Extracted from underground accumulations, it is sent to oil refineries, where it is converted to heating oil, diesel fuel, gasoline, tar, and other materials.
crude oil/ petroleum
Freeing oil or natural gas that is tightly held in rock deposits by using perforated drilling well tubes with explosive charges to create fissures in rock and then using high pressure pumps to shoot a mixture of water, sand, and chemicals into the well to hold the rock fractures open and release the oil or natural gas, which flows back to the surface along with a mixture of water, sand, fracking chemicals, and other chemicals (some of them hazardous) that are released from the rock.
fracking
Method for extracting oil or natural gas from underground deposits by first drilling down and then using a flexible drilling bore to drill horizontally to gain greater access to oil and gas deposits.
horizontal drilling
Freeing oil or natural gas that is tightly held in rock deposits by using perforated drilling well tubes with explosive charges to create fissures in rock and then using high pressure pumps to shoot a mixture of water, sand, and chemicals into the well to hold the rock fractures open and release the oil or natural gas, which flows back to the surface along with a mixture of water, sand, fracking chemicals, and other chemicals (some of them hazardous) that are released from the rock.
hydraulic fracturing
natural gas converted to liquid form by cooling it to a very low temperature
Liquefied natural gas (LNG)
Mixture of liquefied propane (C3H8) and butane (C4H10) gas removed from natural gas and used as a fuel.
Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG)/ natural gas
Total amount of useful energy available from an energy resource or energy system over its lifetime, minus the amount of energy used (the first energy law), automatically wasted (the second energy law), and unnecessarily wasted in finding, processing, concentrating, and transporting it to users.
net energy yield
Includes the mining of uranium, processing and enriching the uranium to make nuclear fuel, using it in the reactor, safely storing the resulting highly radioactive wastes for thousands of years until their radioactivity falls to safe levels, and retiring the highly radioactive nuclear plant by taking it apart and storing its high- and moderate-level radioactive material safely for thousands of years.
Nuclear Fuel Cycle
Deposit of a mixture of clay, sand, water, and varying amounts of a tarlike heavy oil known as bitumen. Bitumen can be extracted from tar sand by heating. It is then purified and upgraded to synthetic crude oil.
oil sand
Point in time when the pressure in an oil well drops and its rate of conventional crude oil production starts declining, usually a decade or so; for a group of wells or for a nation, the point at which all wells on average have passed peak production.
peak production
Chemicals obtained by refining (distilling) crude oil. They are used as raw materials in manufacturing most industrial chemicals, fertilizers, pesticides, plastics, synthetic fibers, paints, medicines, and many other products.
petrochemicals
