Energy consumption petroleum

World resources of sulfur have been summarized (110,111). Sources, ie, elemental deposits, natural gas, petroleum, pyrites, and nonferrous sulfides are expected to last only to the end of the twenty-first century at the world consumption rate of 55.6 x 10 t/yr of the 1990s. However, vast additional resources of sulfur, in the form of gypsum, could provide much further extension but would require high energy consumption for processing. 

In the free market, as long as petroleum supplies are plentiful, there is little incentive for oil companies to transition to any of the alternative fuels, which is a major reason that the U.S. Department of Energy projects petroleum consumption will rise from 18.6 million barrels per day in 1997 to 22.5-26.8 million barrels by 2020. As the crude oil resei ves dwindle, the... 

Transportation accounts for about one-fourth of the primary energy consumption in the United States. And unlike other sectors of the economy that can easily switch to cleaner natural gas or electricity, automobiles, trucks, nonroad vehicles, and buses are powered by internal-combustion engines burning petroleum products that produce carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, and hydrocarbons. Efforts are under way to accelerate the introduction of electric, fuel-cell, and hybrid (electric and fuel) vehicles to replace sonic of these vehicles in both the retail marketplace and in commercial, government, public transit, and private fleets. These vehicles dramatically reduce harmful pollutants and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by as much as 50 percent or more compared to gasoline-powered vehicles. 

The conventional fuels used for transit applications include gasoline, diesel fuel, and electricity. Alternatives to these fuels have been sought to reduce energy consumption, pollutant emissions, greenhouse gas emissions, and use of imported fuels. The conventional fuels for internal-combustion engines are the most energy-dense fuels petroleum and diesel fuel. 

Over the next ten years (1919-1929), U.S. annual energy demand grew from nearly 18.7 to 25.4 quadrillions Btus. The percentage of energy represented by petroleum increased from a little over 12 percent to 25 percent. Natural gas also nearly doubled its share, from 4.3 perent to 8 percent. Coal continued to lose ground as a source of energy, from 78 percent to 63 percent of total energy consumption. 

From the onset of the Depression (1929) to the beginning of World War II (1941), petroleum s share of total U.S. energy consumption continued to expand, from 24 percent to more than 34 percent (while natural gas increased its share from 8 to 11 percent). Coal continued to lose share in the nation s energy output, from 62 percent to 54 percent. Over the same period, output of motor fuel, while not matching the growth of the previous decade, nevertheless continued its upward trend, from 256.7 million barrels to 291.5 million barrels. 

In 1991 coal furnished 55% of the total hiel required to generate electricity in the United Slates. One ton of coal consumed by a power plant generates approximately 2000 kilowatt hours of electricity. Then current consumption of 772 million tons/year for electricity generation was expected lo rise to close to 1.3 billion tons by the year 2030. Clean eoal technologies will be mandated. Even after installation of considerable environmental correction equipment, coal remains the least expensive of the fossil fuels by a wide margin. The cost lo generate a million Blu of energy for petroleum is 2.63 for natural gas. SI. 18 and for coal, S0.77. U.S. recoverable coal... 

When one considers the early 2000 s, it can be expected that about one half of the thermal energy will be supplied by natural gas, and the rest by petroleum fuels (fuel oil and residual oil) and coal. Coal is assumed to be the main energy source for electricity generation, gasoline for surface transportation, and jet fuel for air transportation. This is of course a simplified version of the fossil fuel energy system, but it is close enough to the present patterns of energy consumption, and can be used as the basis for comparisons. 

Approximately 30% of the energy used in U.S. chemical plants and petroleum refineries is for distillation, and it accounts for nearly 3% of the total U.S. annual energy consumption. The energy usage associated with some specific distillation products is shown in Table III. The cost of energy for distillation can be reduced by using waste heat such as is available from quench water in ethylene plants, for example, or exhaust steam from mechanical drivers such as compressors. 

As a result of the continuing increased demand for petroleum and a continuing decline in the domestic production of crude oil, it has been necessary to import crude oil and refined products in ever increasing amounts. In 1970, the U.S. imported 1.324 million barrels per day of crude oil and 2.095 million barrels per day of refined products, a total of 3.419 million barrels per day. At the same time, our consumption of oil was 14.697 million barrels per day. Our imports of oil were therefore 23.3 percent which amounted to 10 percent of our total energy consumption. 

The common practice is to relate energy units to a common product, in this case, to petroleum liquid. For example, world consumption of crude oil and liquids (condensates) from natural gas in 1999 reached 149.72 Quadrillion (1015 BTUs)—Quad. If the amount of energy from other sources were converted to equivalent barrels of oil, the total world energy consumption in 1999 would be 380 Quads.1 The relative distribution of these sources is shown in Fig. 18.1. More energy comes from oil than from any other single source. 

Another view to consumption is that the world consumption of crude oil and liquids from natural gas in 2001 reached 76 million barrels per day (MMbpd). North America is the largest energy consumer at 24.1 MMbpd. The Asia-Pacific regional demand is steadily increasing. In 2001, Asia-Pacific comprised 27.2 percent of the world s oil demand, up from 20 percent in 1990.2 Crude oil s share of primary energy consumption was 39.4 percent in 2001. Thus, petroleum oil and natural gas remain the steadfast energy sources globally, as shown in Fig. 18.1.2... 

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