From fossil fuels

Chemicals have long been manufactured from biomass, especially wood (sHvichemicals), by many different fermentation and thermochemical methods. For example, continuous pyrolysis of wood was used by the Ford Motor Co. in 1929 for the manufacture of various chemicals (Table 20) (47). Wood alcohol (methanol) was manufactured on a large scale by destmctive distillation of wood for many years until the 1930s and early 1940s, when the economics became more favorable for methanol manufacture from fossil fuel-derived synthesis gas. 

If possible comparisons are focused on energy systems, nuclear power safety is also estimated to be superior to all electricity generation methods except for natural gas (30). Figure 3 is a plot of that comparison in terms of estimated total deaths to workers and the pubHc and includes deaths associated with secondary processes in the entire fuel cycle. The poorer safety record of the alternatives to nuclear power can be attributed to fataUties in transportation, where comparatively enormous amounts of fossil fuel transport are involved. Continuous or daily refueling of fossil fuel plants is required as compared to refueling a nuclear plant from a few tmckloads only once over a period of one to two years. This disadvantage appHes to solar and wind as well because of the necessary assumption that their backup power in periods of no or Httie wind or sun is from fossil-fuel generation. Now death or serious injury has resulted from radiation exposure from commercial nuclear power plants in the United States (31). 

Nuclear power plants of the future are to be designed and operated with the objective of better fiilfiUing the role as a bulk power producer that, because of reduced vulnerabiUty to severe accidents, should be more broadly accepted and implemented. Use of these plants could help stem the tide of environmental damage caused by air pollution from fossil-fuel combustion products (64). 

Table 1. Estimated Emissions from Fossil-Fueled Steam-Electric Generating Units at U.S. Electric Utilities, 10 t ...

Exposures to chemicals may involve solids, liquids, or airborne matter as mists, aerosols, dusts, fumes (i.e. pm-sized particulates), vapours or gases in any combination. Many situations, e.g. exposure to welding fumes or to combustion products from fossil fuels, include mixtures both of chemicals and of physical forms. Quantification of exposure is then difficult. 

Desulfurization removal of sulfur from fossil fuels to reduce pollution. 

Bolten, J. G, 1983, Risk-Cost, ssessment Methodology for Toxic Pollutants from Fossil Fuel Power Plants, Rand report R-2993-EPRI, June. 

Sulfur dioxide emissions resulting from fossil fuel can have negative effects on urban air quality and create acid rain that harms aquatic life. These emissions arc nonexcludable in that there is no private action that a particular individual can take to avoid this impact, and they are nonrival in that their effect on any one individual does not preclude or offset their effect on any other. 

Methane from renewable biological sources will never be a major energy resource, yet it can be a valuable addition to the energy supply mix. Nevertheless, whether methane comes from fossil fuel reservoirs or from bioconversions, it is certain to provide useful energy for many years to come. 

Over a number of years, fuel cells have promised a new way to generate electricity and heat from fossil fuels using ion-exchange mechanisms. Fuel cells are... 

In 1985, about 70% of the sulphur dioxide in the United States was emitted from fossil-fueled generating stations while in Canada, about 50% was... 

Assuming that the carbon cycle of Fig. 4-12 will remain a closed system over several thousands of years, we can ask how the equilibrium distribution within the system would change after the introduction of a certain amount of fossil carbon. Table 4-2 contains the answer for two different assumptions about the total input. The first 1000 Pg corresponds to the total input from fossil fuel up to about the year 2000 the second (6000 Pg) is roughly equal to the now... 

However, with "only" 1000 Pg emitted into the system, i.e. less than 3% of the total amount of carbon in the four reservoirs, the atmospheric reservoir would still remain significantly affected (20%) at steady state. In this case the change in oceanic carbon would be only 2% and hardly noticeable. The steady-state distributions are independent of where the addition occurs. If the CO2 from fossil fuel combustion were collected and dumped into the ocean, the final distribution would still be the same. 

Figure 11-4 Globally and annually averaged oxygen versus CO2 concentration from 1991 to 1994. The oxygen concentration is displayed as the measured O2/N2 ratio and expressed in per meq" which denote the pm deviation from a standard ratio. The inset shows the directions of the state vector expected for terrestrial and oceanic uptake. The long arrow shows the expected atmospheric trend from fossil fuel burning if there were no oceanic and terrestrial exchanges. (Used with permission from Keeling et al. (1996). Nature 381 218-221, Macmillan Magazines.)...

Keeling, C. D. (1973b). Industrial production of carbon dioxide from fossil fuels and limestone. Tellus 25,174-198. 

Marland, G. and Rotty, R. M. (1984). Carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels A procedure for estimation and results for 1950-1982. Tellus 36B, 232-261. 

Marland, G., Boden, T. A., Griffin, R. C., Huang, S. F., Kanciruk, P. and Nelson, T. R. (1989). Estimates of CO2 emissions from fossil fuel burning and cement manufacturing, based on the US Bureau of Mines cement manufacturing data. Rep. ORNL/CDIAC-25, NDP-030, Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center, Oak Ridge Natl. Lab., Oak Ridge, TN. 

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