Posts Tagged ‘oil’
Posted in New research, reported this week in the online early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, finds that coal burning, primarily in North America and Europe, contaminated the Arctic and potentially affected human health and ecosystems in and around Earth’s polar regions.
The study, titled “Coal Burning Leaves Toxic Heavy Metal Legacy in the Arctic,” was conducted by the Desert Research Institute (DRI), Reno, Nev. and partially funded by the National Science Foundation.
Detailed measurements from a Greenland ice core showed pollutants from burning coal–the toxic heavy metals cadmium, thallium and lead–were much higher than expected. The catch, however, was the pollutants weren’t higher at the times when researchers expected peaks.
“Conventional wisdom held that toxic heavy metals were higher in the 1960s and ‘70s, the peak of industrial activity in Europe and North America and certainly before implementation of Clean Air Act controls in the early 1970s,” said Joe McConnell, lead researcher and director of DRI’s Ultra-Trace Chemistry Laboratory. Read the rest of this entry »
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Turning coal into gasoline-like fuel has several advantages. It would use America’s vast coal reserves. It would reduce the nation’s thirst for foreign oil and help dampen spikes in energy prices. There’s just one problem: It is not “climate friendly” – at least, not yet.
Coal-to-liquids (CTL) fuels could end up emitting nearly double the carbon dioxide that the equivalent amount of gasoline does, mostly because of the way it’s manufactured. The CTL industry says new technology will fix the problem. But because such technology is not yet developed, it’s unclear whether CTL fuels would be competitive without state and federal subsidies, even competing against high-priced diesel, jet fuel, or gasoline, analysts say.
That’s where politicians come in. The National Mining Association has ramped up Capitol Hill lobbying, creating a new coalition and website, futurecoalfuels.org. Many in Washington are warming to the idea. CTL bills in the House of Representatives and the Senate have received strong backing. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: alternative, alternative fuel, America, amount, Analysis, analyst, Association, atmosphere, backing, Barack, barack obama, bill, bipartisan support, Capitol Hill, capture, carbon, case, chance, climate, coal, coal producers, coal reserves, Coal-to, Coal-to-liquids, coalition, concept, Congress, control, Corey, corn, Council, CTL, day, December, Defense, demand, Department, development, diesel, dioxide, director, DOE, Elizabeth Martin-Perera, energy, energy prices, energy security, energy solution, engine, environment, equivalent, federal subsidies, filing, fire, fleet, forecast, fuel, funding, Gal, gallon, gasoline, Gilb, Global, global security, Global-warming, goal, greenhouse, group, half, Henry, House, idea, Illinois, impact, industry, Institute, Jan, jet, jet fuel, Laboratory, landmark, legislation, liquid fuel, Liquids, Luft, manufacturing, Martin, Mining, momentum, move, Mr. Bush, Mr. Henry, nation, National, national mining association, Natural, NRDC, oil, org, Pennsylvania, percent, plan, planning, policy, president, President Bush, Princeton, problem, production, project, promise, question, range, renewable fuel, rich illinois, Security, Sen, Senate, Senator Obama, solution, speech, spokesman, stance, state, Storing, study, support, tank, tax, technology, term, think, thirst, time, total, Turning, Union, union speech, United States, University, US, warming, warming to the idea, Washington, way, website, Wyoming, year
The gas we use in our houses for heating and cooking may consist of gas manufactured from coal, natural gas, or a mixture of both. It may contain gas made from oil, too. There are several methods of manufacturing gas from coal. True coal gas, or coke-oven gas, is made by heating coal in an airtight oven. In this process called carbonization the coal changes into coke and gives off gas, together with ammonia, tar, and other impurities. Coolers and scrubbers remove impurities.
The coke produced in the ovens is used to make another kind of gas, called water gas, or blue gas. This is made by passing superheated (very hot) steam over white-hot coke. Carbureted water gas is blue gas which has been enriched by gases obtained by cracking, or breaking down oil by heating.
A further way of making gas from coal is called the Lurgi process. In this method, low-grade coal is heated very slowly under pressure. A mixture of steam and oxygen passing through the hot coal converts it into gas.
Each manufactured gas contains several inflammable gases. Coke-oven gas contains hydrogen, methane and carbon monoxide. Water gas contains only carbon monoxide and hydrogen. Oil gas enriches water gas by adding methane and other hydrocarbons which have a high heat value. The Lurgi process also produces hydrocarbons.
Tags: airtight, ammonia, carbon, carbon monoxide, carbonization, Carbureted, coal, coal gas, coke, coke oven gas, Coke-oven, cooking, Coolers, gas, heat, heat value, heating, high heat, hydrocarbons, hydrogen, impurities, inflammable gases, kind, Lurgi, lurgi process, manufacturing, methane, method, mixture, monoxide, natural gas, oil, oil gas, oven, ovens, oxygen, pressure, process, scrubbers, steam, tar, value, water, water gas, way