an introduction to energy sources

289 Pages·2007·3.8 MB·English

AN INTRODUCTION TO ENERGY SOURCES

NATIONAL CENTRE FOR CATALYSIS RESEARCH
DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY
INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, MADRAS

1

PREFACE

The reasons for the choice of energy sources are many. There is a need to know the
options available and how to exploit them, the need to harness some of these sources
efficiently and effectively and above all the environmental concerns these energy sources
give rise to. The material presented in the form of an e book is mainly meant for higher
secondary school students as the audience and for others this may be elementary unless
otherwise one wishes to get some basis on this topic.

Each of the chapters has been prepared by the individual members of the National Centre
for Catalysis Research keeping various factors in mind like the audience to whom the
subject matter is addressed to and the level of knowledge required to follow the contents
of the material. We do hope that this attempt has fulfilled all these expectations.
However, it should be remembered that there can be serious shortcomings in the
compilation. We do hope that the book in spite of these limitations may be useful to
some extent.

The material contained in this e book was the subject matter of a summer term course
delivered by the members of the National Centre for Catalysis Research to the
participants of the Chemistry programme organized by Childrens’ Club of Madras.

This is one of our first attempts to bring out an e book and this effort will be improved in
the subsequent attempts only when appropriate feed back is given to us on various
aspects of this endeavour. We will be grateful for any feed back sent to us to our email
address [email protected].

We do hope our ebook will receive considerable number of hits from the people who
seek to know about the possible energy sources.

Chennai 600 036
Dated 20th October 2006 B.Viswanathan
2

Contents

S. No. Chapter Page No.
1 Energy sources 3-8
2 Petroleum 9-34
3 Natural Gas 35-49
4 Coal 50-84
5 Nuclear Fission 85-101
6 Nuclear Fusion 102-114
7 Introduction to Batteries 115-134
8 Solid State Batteries 135-152
9 Fuel Cells 153-175
10 Super capacitors 176-195
11 Photo-voltaic cells 196-210
12 Photo-electrochemical Cells 211-227
13 Hydrogen Production 228-243
14 Hydrogen Storage 244-263
15 Biochemical Energy Conversion Processes 264-287
Chapter –1

ENERGY SOURCES

B. Viswanathan

The standard of living of the people of any country is considered to be proportional to the
energy consumption by the people of that country. In one sense, the disparity one feels
from country to country arises from the extent of accessible energy for the citizens of
each country. Unfortunately, the world energy demands are mainly met by the fossil
fuels today. The geographical non equi-distribution of this source and also the ability to
acquire and also control the production and supply of this energy source have given rise
to many issues and also the disparity in the standard of living. To illustrate the points
that have been mentioned, it is necessary to analyze some data. In Table 1, the proved
reserves of some of the fossil fuels are given on the basis of regions.
Table 1. Data on the proved reserves of fossil fuel on region-wise
Region/ OIL Thousand Thousand R/P
Million barrels Million barrels Ratio
(1994) (2004)
North America 89.8 61 11.8
South and Central America 81.5 101.2 40.9
Europe and Eurasia 80.3 139.2 21.6
So called Middle East 661.7 733.9 81.6
Africa 65.0 112.2 33.1
Asia pacific 39.2 41.1 14.2
Total world 1017.5 1188.6 40.5
Region/Natural gas Trillion cubic Trillion cubic R/P ratio
meters (1994) meters (2004)
North America 8.42 7.32 9.6
South and central America 5.83 7.10 55.0
Europe and Eurasia 63.87 64.02 60.9
So called Middle east 45.56 72.83 *
Africa 9.13 14.06 96.9
4 Energy sources
Asia pacific 10.07 14.21 43.9
World 142.89 179.53 66.7
Region/COAL Million tones R/P ratio
(2004)
North America 254432 235
South and central America 19893 290
Europe and Eurasia 287095 242
Africa and so called middle east 50755 204
Asia and pacific 296889 101
World 909064 164

The world energy consumption pattern is also increasing as shown in the Fig.1. The
energy consumption has been increasing and it will triple in a period of 50 years by 2025
as seen from Fig.1. Data on fossil fuel consumption by fuel type are given in Table 2.
The fossil fuel use as energy source has many limitations. There are a number of
pollutants that have been identified as coming out of the use of fossil fuels and they are
serious health hazards. A simple compilation of the type of effects of the pollutants from
fossil fuel sources is given in Table 3.

Fig.1.ENERGY CONSUMPTION 1970-
2025
700
U
T 600
B
N 500
O
400
LI Series1
RI 300
D
A 200
U
Q 100
0
1960 1980 2000 2020 2040
YEARS

Fig.1. World energy consumption pattern
An Introduction to Energy Sources 5
Table 2. Energy consumption by fuel type (in million tones of oil equivalent) for the year
2004
Region Oil Gas Coal Nuclear Hydro- Total
energy electricity
North America 1122.4 705.9 603.8 210.4 141.9 2784.4
South & central 221.7 106.2 18.7 4.4 132.1 483.1
America
Europe and Eurasia 957.3 997.7 537.2 287.2 184.7 2964.0
So called Middle east 250.9 218.0 9.1 - 4.0 481.9
Africa 124.3 61.8 102.8 3.4 19.8 312.1
Asia Pacific 1090.5 330.9 1506.6 118.9 152.0 3198.8
World 3767.1 242.4 2778.2 624.3 634.4 10224.4

The scene of energy resources have been visualized in terms of various parameters.
Mainly the population increase and also the need to increase the standard of living are the
factors forcing to see new and alternate energy options. The climate change which is
threatening the existence of life is another factor forcing to consider alternate energy
sources. However the energy sources to be adopted will have to meet the varying needs
of different countries and at the same time enhance the security of each one against the
energy crisis or energy shortage that have taken place in the past. The factors that need
consideration for the search for new energy sources should include:
(i) The global energy situation and demand
(ii) The availability of fossil sources
(iii) The efficiency of the energy sources
(iv) The availability of renewable sources
(v) The options for nuclear fission and fusion.
The world population will increase from 6 billion to 11 billion in this century and the life
expectancy has increased 2 times in the last two centuries and the energy requirement has
increased 35 times in the same period. The main drivers of the alternate energy search
are the population growth, economy, technology, and agriculture. This energy demand
will be in the non OECD countries and it is expected that in china alone the energy
demand will increase by 20% and this will shift the oil export from west to other non
6 Energy sources
OECD countries. Need for new and carbon free energy sources and possibly electricity
demand will go up in the coming years.
Energy from Nuclear fission though can be conceived as an alternate for the production
the necessary electrical energy, the current available technologies and reactors may not
be able to meet this demand. A global integrated system encompassing the complete fuel
cycle, water management, and fissile fuel breeding have to be evolved for this source of
energy to be a viable option.
The renewable energy sources are not brought into main stream energy resources though
occasionally we hear the use of low quality biomass as a source in some form or the
other. The carbon dioxide emission must be controlled in the vicinity of 600 to 650 ppm
in the period of 2030 to 2080. The exact slope of the curve is not a matter of concern the
cumulative amount of the carbon dioxide emission will be a factor to reckon with.
Therefore the alternative for energy supply should include fossil fuel with carbon dioxide
sequestration, nuclear energy and renewable energies. Possibly fusion and also
hydrogen based energy carrier system will evolve. However, the costs involved may
even force the shift to the use of coal as an energy source in countries like India and
China.
The adaptation of new energy sources also faces some limitations. One is not sure of the
feasibility and sustainability of such an energy source, and the learning curve also has
very limited gradient making investments restrictive.
Even though collaborative ventures between nations may be one option from the point of
view of investment, it is not certain whether any country will be willing to deploy giga
watts power not directly produced in the country of consumption. This is mainly due to
the experience from energy disruptions in the past and also the small elasticity of the
energy market. Countries will opt for a diversity of energy supply rather than depend on
a mega scale power plants since the possibility of alternate suppliers will be more
acceptable than the inter dependent supplies across countries, economy and
administration.
There are a variety of energy resources and energy forms. These include hydro power,
wind, solar, biomass and geothermal for resources and in the energy forms, light, heat,
electricity, hydrogen and fuel. How this transition has to occur depends on many factors
An Introduction to Energy Sources 7
but surely the transition has to take place sooner or later. What kind of mix will be
required also depends on the location and also the availability of the resources.
Photovoltaic devises have been advocated as a powerful energy source, but the
technology still needs high investment and also the reliability and sustainability questions
have to be addressed.
Table 3. Effect of pollutants on Human beings
Types Effects
Primary pollutants
CO Heart disease, strokes, pneumonia, pulmonary tuberculosis,
congestion of brain and lungs.
SO Acute respiratory infection ( chronic pulmonary or cardiac
x
disorders)
NO Chronic respiratory infection ( chromic bronchitis, emphysema
x
and pulmonary oedema)
HC Lung and stomach cancer
SP Tissue destruction of the respiratory epithelium ( deleterious
effects on the lining of the nose, sinus, throat and lungs) cancer
Pb and PbO Brain damage, cumulative poisoning (absorbed in red blood cells
x
and bone marrow.
Secondary pollutants
PAN and NO Attacks of acute asthma and allergic respiratory infections
2
(chronic bronchitis and emphysema).
O Chest constriction, irritation of mucous membrane, headache,
3
coughing and exhaustion.
Aerosols
SO 2- and NO - Asthma, infant mortality and acute respiratory infections
4 3
Others
Aldehydes, olefins, Respiratory tract carcinoma
nitroamines PAH
Acrolein Irritation to eyes