Fossil Fuels/Sustainable Development

Question 1

-Draw a Hubbert curve, and describe how such curves have been used to try to predict the future availability of oil. What factors may influence the shape and dimensions of the curve?

Answer 1

• increased consumption
• fuel efficiency
• political factors
• change in estimates
• improved technology

Question 2

-Briefly describe what is meant by “Sustainable Development”

Answer 2

Sustainable development is the organizing principle for meeting human development goals while simultaneously sustaining the ability of natural systems to provide the natural resources and ecosystem services upon which the economy and society depend.

Question 3

Explain the concept of the Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) process, for the generation of energy from coal. With the aid of a schematic diagram, explain the concept of the Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) process, for the generation of electricity from coal.

Answer 3

• coal is fed into a pressurised reactor which produces syngas – a mixture of carbon monoxide, hydrogen plus a small amount of CO2
• the raw syngas is cooled and ‘scrubbed’ several times to remove the various pollutants which makes the gasification cleaner than pulverised fuel combustion
• IGCC operate a combined cycle where first the syngas is fired in gas turbines to produce electricity
• then the hot ‘exhaust gases’ are used to generate superheated steam in a heat-recovery generator to drive a steam turbine, producing more electricity

Question 4

-Describe the different techniques that can be used to separate CO2 from the exhaust gas of a coal-fired power station.

Answer 4

• separation with solvents: go through a cycle of different tanks and it is a pressure temperature relationship between the solvent and the gas so can reuse the solvent for a long time. Quite expensive and need higher efficiency
• separation with a membrane: biggest potential in the long run using porous polymers,
• separation by cryogenic distillation: high energy input in terms of power

Question 5

-Construct a McKelvey diagram, and use it to explain the difference between a “reserve” and a “resource”

Answer 5

• Reserve: material can be legally and economically extracted at present time
• Resources - economic extraction is unfeasible at the moment

Question 6

What are the three main drivers of Oil Price Volatility?

Answer 6

• tightness or highly inelastic nature of both supply and demand in the crude oil market
• speculation in the oil derivatives market
• inadequacies in oil market data

Question 7

Describe the unconventional fossil fuels

Answer 7

• Shale gas: shales are fine-grained sedimentary rocks that can be rich sources of petroleum and natural gas
• methane hydrate is a form of water ice that contains a large amount of methane within its crystal structure