Hydrocarbon fossil fuel formation

One of our most important sources of energy today is oil and coal. Fossil fuels are found deposited in rock formations. Fossils are non-renewable and relatively rare resources. More importantly, the major energy demand is fulfilled by fossil fuels. Fossil fuels are fossil source fuels, that is, hydrocarbons found within the top... 

Better cleaning products have been developed using chemicals derived from hydrocarbons. These synthetic detergents are carefully tailored to provide excellent cleaning power without the formation of scum. In most applications hydrocarbons derived cleaners have largely replaced soaps made from animal and plant products. Today 80% to 90% of the cleaning compounds used, both in the home and by industries, are based on chemicals derived from fossil fuel hydrocarbons. 

The structural molecules of the skeletons and shells of invertebrates, which function as physical defenses against predation, are important in marine environments, where they produce carbonate and silicate rocks. Deposition in anaerobic environments has also been the basis for the formation of the extensive deposits of gas and oil that now fuel modern industrial societies. Removal of carbon from the biosphere by organisms to produce carbonate rocks, coal, oil, and hydrocarbon gases has been responsible for the presence of oxygen in the atmosphere of the Earth. Reversal of this process by human consumption of fossil fuels has already produced a detectable increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide. 

Today, many hydrocarbons are obtained from a fossil fuel called petroleum. Petroleum formed from the remains of microorganisms that lived in Earths oceans millions of years ago. Over time, the remains formed thick layers of mudlike deposits on the ocean floor. Heat from Earths interior and the tremendous pressure of overlying sediments transformed this mud into oil-rich shale and natural gas. In certain kinds of geological formations, the petroleum ran out of the shale and collected in pools deep in Earths crust. Natural gas, which formed at the same time and in the same way as petroleum, is usually found with petroleum deposits. Natural gas is composed primarily of methane, but it also contains small amounts of other hydrocarbons that have from two to five carbon atoms. 

Phenyl radicals have an important role to play in the combustion of fossil fuels and in the formation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. The absolute rate constant for the reaction of CeHs with 2-methylpropane, 2,3-dimethylbutane and 2,3,4-trimethylpentane has been measured using cavity ring-down spectromehy between 290 and 500 K. The reactions were found to be dominated by the extraction of H atoms from the tertiary C—H bonds. ... 

In solid sources of fossil fuel - coal, oil shale, oil sands and tar sands - the mineral content is higher and the hydrocarbon molecules usually are heavier. In China and South Africa, a significant amount of coal is converted into synthesis gas, which is used to make chemicals and/or synthetic petroleum. In Canada, oil sands are converted into more than 700,000 barrels-per-day of S5uithetic petroleum, which is sent to conventional oil refineries in Canada and the United States. A well-written book by Berger and Anderson provides additional general information about the formation, production, and refining of petroleum. 

Nitro-substituted polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (nitro-PAHs) are formed during the combustion of fossil fuels at high temperatures with a vast supply of combustion air. In this reaction, conversion of nitrite (NO2) to nitric acid is an important intermediate step. Another source of nitro-PAHs is the photochemical radical-mediated conversions of parent PAHs to nitro-derivatives. Combustion at high temperatures with a vast supply of combustion air may lead to the formation of 1-nitropyrene (1-NP), whereas photochemical conversion of pyrene gives rise to 2- and 4-nitropyrene [24,25]. 

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