Nonrenewable resources, petroleum

Industrial civilization was built by the consumption of fossil fuels. Currently, well over 80% of world energy comes from the three main fossil fuels petroleum, natural gas, and coal. Because these are nonrenewable resources, there will come a time when these energy bank accounts are exhausted. Experts disagree on how soon the depletion of fossil fuels will occur, but eventually it will be necessary to find other energy sources. 

Petrolatum This is all over the place, found in many cosmetics, including lipsticks, creams (and baby ointments), petroleum jelly, and even eye shadow. Some people with sensitive skin say it causes allergic reactions. The reasons to avoid are twofold it s derived from petroleum, a nonrenewable resource. And organic beauty folks say it doesn t allow skin to breathe. 

Polymers. Synthetic polymers or plastics are everywhere. They are used in cars, computers, planes, houses, eyeglasses, paints, bags, appliances, medical devices, carpets, tools, clothing, boats, batteries, and pipes. More than 60 million pounds of polymers are produced in the United States each year. The feedstocks that are used to produce these polymers are virtually all made from petroleum, a nonrenewable resource. Approximately 2.7 percent of all crude oil is used to generate chemical feedstocks. 

Hydrocarbons Petroleum is a mixture of hydrocarbons that formed from plants and animals that lived in seas and lakes hundreds of millions of years ago. With the right temperature and pressure, this plant and animal matter, buried deep under Earth s surface, decomposed to form petroleum. Why is petroleum a nonrenewable resource ... 

For at least the first half of the 21st century the world will continue to rely heavily on petroleum and coal as fuels and as hydrocarbon sources for use in making polymers, etc. Improved versions of existing catalysts, as well as new catalysts/processes, will be vital in making an orderly transition from reliance on nonrenewable resources. Included in this will be the continued development of practicable fuel cell technology and processes for synthesizing clean fuels from coal, tar sands, etc. Catalysis will play a role in the shift toward increased use of renewable/recycled materials and in efforts to minimize air pollution. Catalysts that mimic... 

We face three major problems as a consequence of our dependence on fossil fuels for energy. First, fossil fuels are a nonrenewable resource and the world s supply is continually decreasing. Second, a group of Middle Eastern and South American countries controls a large portion of the world s supply of petroleum. These countries have formed a cartel known as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries OPEC), which controls both the supply and the price of crude oil. Political instability in any OPEC country can seriously affect the world oil supply. Third, burning fossil fuels increases the concentrations of CO2 and SO2 in the atmosphere. Scientists have established experimentally that... 

Coal, like crude oil (petroleum), is a fossil fuel which forms over a period of millions of years from the fossilized remains of plants. It is therefore also a nonrenewable resource. However, reserves of coal are several times greater than those of petroleum and, in contrast to petroleum, most European countries have deposits of coal varying from significant to very large quantities. The United States also has large reserves of coal. Extraction and handling of the coal is more difficult, and expensive, than for oil. 

Aliphatic poly(alkylene dicarboxylate) polyesters (APDs) are among the biodegradable polyesters of maximum interest and they can be prepared by biomass-derived monomers (renewable resources), petroleum-derived monomers (nonrenewable resources), or a mixture of both. Examples of APDs... 

After the Second World War, industrialization took place at a tremendous pace without giving any thought to its effects on the environment, flora and fauna, and peoples safety and heath. This led to increased global warming, depletion of ozone protective cover from harmful UV radiation, contamination of land and water ways due to release of toxic chemicals by industries, reduction in nonrenewable resources such as petroleum, destructions of forest cover due to acid rains, increased health problems, and industrial accidents resulting in loss of life and property. 

Production of many chemicals and fuels uses nonrenewable resources or limited natural resources. Metabolic engineering creates many alternatives to replace dangerous chemicals and petroleum-based transportation fuels writh clean, green, and renewable chemicals and biofuels. 

The increasingly volatile prices and availability of gasoline and natural gas, and the recent British Petroleum oil spill disaster has brought about a heightened awareness of our dependence on nonrenewable resources. Currently, over 90% of the US electricity supply comes from the combustion of fossil fuels i.e., coal, oil, and natural gas) and nuclear power generation. 

The cumulative effect of incremental process improvement is to cause the raw material costs to eventually become the dominant cost factor. This has already occurred with the oil refining industry and will take place in the biomass processing industries as these are established and grow to maturity. In this regard, biorefineries have a significant potential advantage over petroleum refineries because plant-based raw materials are abundant, widely available and inexpensive. The availability and prices of plant raw materials may thus be more stable and predictable than those of petroleum. As we have seen, plant raw material prices are already comparable on a cost per ton basis with petroleum and coal. Over time, petroleum prices must rise to reflect the fact that it is a nonrenewable resource, while there is the potential to keep biomass costs low indefinitely. 

While the demand keeps increasing across the years, consumption of oil is faster than its discovery, thus petroleum production is decreasing and will be depleted sooner as shown. These predictions are described by Hubbert peak theory, which says that when the peak production is passed, production rates enter an exponential decline (Hubbert, 1956 Management et al., 2005). The depletion or decline process is a natural phenomenon that accompanies the development of aU nonrenewable resources. The depletion of the world s crade oil reserve, increasing cmde oil prices, and issues related to conservation have brought about renewed interest in the use of biobased materials. 

A common colorless and flammable gas at room temperature and pressure, propene is generally produced from coal or petroleum and is a nonrenewable resource. However, it can be used in combination with hydrogen peroxide (H Oj) and employed as an inexpensive rocket fuel propellant. Alkenes can also form branched compounds, just as the alkanes (Figure 4.11). However, in the case of the alkene, the main part of the name is always the portion containing the double bond. And, it is important to identify the carbon atom from which the branch comes. Some examples of the names... 

Resources can be classified as finite (with limited existence) or infinite (endless supply) or as renewable (capable of being replaced naturally and replenished on a reasonable timescale), nonrenewable (only capable of being replenished at a very slow rate), and perpetual (such as sunlight and wind). Nonrenewable resources (such as petroleum, coal, and minerals) are generally extracted from the earth. On the other hand, renewable resources (such as biomass) are grown. 

Ethylene. Where ethylene is ia short supply and fermentation ethanol is made economically feasible, such as ia India and Bra2il, ethylene is manufactured by the vapor-phase dehydration of ethanol. The production of ethylene [74-85-1] from ethanol usiag naturally renewable resources is an active and useful alternative to the pyrolysis process based on nonrenewable petroleum. This route may make ethanol a significant raw material source for produciag other chemicals. 

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