Fuel Minerals

The breakdown spectra of graphite may be very different for pieces from the same deposit. Spectra with higher resolution enable us to detect impurities of Ca, Al, Mg and Si (Fig. 8.22). 

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Each year the US electric utility industry generates over 1500 billion kWh of electricity from the combustion of over 800 Mt of coal (Wang Sweigard 1996). The combustion of this coal leads to the generation of approximately 110 Mt of coal combustion products (CCPs) annually (ACAA 2000). The total mass of CCPs produced in the USA now ranks among non-fuel mineral resources such as crushed stone, sand, and gravel. 

Volatile petroleum fuels and solvents (naphtha, gasolines, jet fuels, mineral spirits)... 

All the occupations listed in Table 28.2 carry with them exposures to mixtures of lipophilic and hydrophilic chemicals. Of the chemicals listed in Table 28.3, several are mixtures of compounds. These include gasoline, diesel fuel, mineral spirits, paint removers, paint thinners, and VM P naphtha. Though many of the studies referenced above consider organic solvents as only a mixture of lipophilic compounds, I13-1517 this is inappropriate, since many of the chemicals listed in Table 28.3 are mixtures of lipophiles and hydrophiles. For example, a typical solvent-based paint... 

Moreover, the foam material is resistant to the plasticizer contained in sealing films, fuels, mineral oils, dilute acids, alkalis, exhaust gases, and aggressive industrial environments. Rigid polyurethane foam does not degrade, is resistant to mold and rot, and is odorless [513]. 

An interesting point in this study is the relatively poor performance of TBHQ compared to BHT. It has been well-established that TBHQ is highly effective for fatty oils, esters and animal fats while BHT is more effective for diesel fuel and lubricants [15, 22, 36, 44]. Two reasons for this are that, first, the greatly different structures of fatty oils compared to non-polar hydrocarbons (fuels, mineral oil or lubricants) may interact with the highly hindered polar phenol group of BHT to... 

The earlier docxunentation of chronic renal disease and hydrocarbon exposure consists of case reports, and this data was summarized by Churchill et al ° describing Goodpasture s syndrome in 15 adults, epimembranous glomerulonephritis in 5 adults, and subacute proliferative glomerulonephritis in one adult. The hydrocarbon exposures were for solvents in 12 patients, gasoline in 4, gasoline-based paint in 3, jet fuel, mineral turpentine and unspecified in 1 case report. These case reports were previously summarized by us in a previous publication and are represented in the following table. 

The metal is a source of nuclear power. There is probably more energy available for use from thorium in the minerals of the earth s crust than from both uranium and fossil fuels. Any sizable demand from thorium as a nuclear fuel is still several years in the future. Work has been done in developing thorium cycle converter-reactor systems. Several prototypes, including the HTGR (high-temperature gas-cooled reactor) and MSRE (molten salt converter reactor experiment), have operated. While the HTGR reactors are efficient, they are not expected to become important commercially for many years because of certain operating difficulties. 

Furfuryl alcohol is comparable to kerosene or No. 1 fuel oil in flammabiUty, the Tag Closed Cup flash point is 170°F. In the presence of concentrated mineral acids or strong organic acids, furfuryl alcohol reacts with explosive violence. Therefore, precautions should be taken to avoid contact of such materials with the alcohol. Caution is also recommended to avoid over-catalysis in the manufacture of furfuryl alcohol resins. 

Acetic acid has a place in organic processes comparable to sulfuric acid in the mineral chemical industries and its movements mirror the industry. Growth of synthetic acetic acid production in the United States was gready affected by the dislocations in fuel resources of the 1970s. The growth rate for 1988 was 1.5%. 

Physical Dilution. The flame retardant can also act as a thermal sink, increasing the heat capacity of the polymer or reducing the fuel content to a level below the lower limit of flammabiHty. Inert fillers such as glass fibers and microspheres and minerals such as talc act by this mechanism. 

The functional group ia collectors for nonsulfide minerals is characterized by the presence of either a N (amines) or an O (carboxyUc acids, sulfonates, etc) as the donor atoms. In addition to these, straight hydrocarbons, such as fuel oil, diesel, kerosene, etc, are also used extensively either as auxiUary or secondary collectors, or as primary collectors for coal and molybdenite flotation. The chain length of the hydrocarbon group is generally short (2—8 C) for the sulfide collectors, and long (10—20 C) for nonsulfide collectors, because sulfides are generally more hydrophobic than most nonsulfide minerals (10). 

Other Specialty Chemicals. In fuel-ceU technology, nickel oxide cathodes have been demonstrated for the conversion of synthesis gas and the generation of electricity (199) (see Fuel cells). Nickel salts have been proposed as additions to water-flood tertiary cmde-oil recovery systems (see Petroleum, ENHANCED oil recovery). The salt forms nickel sulfide, which is an oxidation catalyst for H2S, and provides corrosion protection for downweU equipment. Sulfur-containing nickel complexes have been used to limit the oxidative deterioration of solvent-refined mineral oils (200). 

Radioactivity occurs naturally in earth minerals containing uranium and thorium. It also results from two principal processes arising from bombardment of atomic nuclei by particles such as neutrons, ie, activation and fission. Activation involves the absorption of a neutron by a stable nucleus to form an unstable nucleus. An example is the neutron reaction of a neutron and cobalt-59 to yield cobalt-60 [10198 0-0] Co, a 5.26-yr half-life gamma-ray emitter. Another is the absorption of a neutron by uranium-238 [24678-82-8] to produce plutonium-239 [15117 8-5], Pu, as occurs in the fuel of a nuclear... 

Oil shale deposits were formed in ancient lakes and seas by the slow deposition of organic and inorganic remains. The geology and composition of the inorganic minerals and organic kerogen components of oil shale vary with deposit locations throughout the world (1) (see also Fuel RESOURCES Petroleum). 

Natural Deposits. Natural deposits, eg, minerals and fossil fuels, are located by drilling operations. An auger, eg, a screw or worm, is turned in the earth and pulled out, and material is scraped from the auger for analysis. Alternatively, samples can be taken by hoUow core drills which, when withdrawn, enclose a core of the earth that is representative of the strata through which the drill has passed. Such core samples are used in geological surveys for fossil fuels. As the drill drives deeper into the strata, each core is extracted and placed in a shallow box and coded so that a complete cross section of the geological strata can be reconstmcted. From this, the relative thickness of coal and mineral seams can be directly measured. 

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