FOSSIL FUEL AND THE ENVIRONMENT Edited by Shahriar Khan Fossil Fuel and the Environment Edited by Shahriar Khan Published by InTech Janeza Trdine 9, 51000 Rijeka, Croatia Copyright © 2012 InTech All chapters are Open Access distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license, which allows users to download, copy and build upon published articles even for commercial purposes, as long as the author and publisher are properly credited, which ensures maximum dissemination and a wider impact of our publications. After this work has been published by InTech, authors have the right to republish it, in whole or part, in any publication of which they are the author, and to make other personal use of the work. Any republication, referencing or personal use of the work must explicitly identify the original source. As for readers, this license allows users to download, copy and build upon published chapters even for commercial purposes, as long as the author and publisher are properly credited, which ensures maximum dissemination and a wider impact of our publications. Notice Statements and opinions expressed in the chapters are these of the individual contributors and not necessarily those of the editors or publisher. No responsibility is accepted for the accuracy of information contained in the published chapters. The publisher assumes no responsibility for any damage or injury to persons or property arising out of the use of any materials, instructions, methods or ideas contained in the book. Publishing Process Manager Mirna Cvijic Technical Editor Teodora Smiljanic Cover Designer InTech Design Team First published March, 2012 Printed in Croatia A free online edition of this book is available at www.intechopen.com Additional hard copies can be obtained from orders@intechweb.org Fossil Fuel and the Environment, Edited by Shahriar Khan p. cm. ISBN 978-953-51-0277-9 Contents Preface IX Chapter 1 Effects of Fuel Properties on Diffusion Combustion and Deposit Accumulation 1 Kazuhiro Hayashida and Katsuhiko Haji Chapter 2 A Review of Hydrogen-Natural Gas Blend Fuels in Internal Combustion Engines 17 Antonio Mariani, Biagio Morrone and Andrea Unich Chapter 3 Fuel-N Conversion to NO, N 2 O and N 2 During Coal Combustion 37 Stanisław Gil Chapter 4 Co-Combustion of Coal and Alternative Fuels 63 Pavel Kolat and Zdeněk Kadlec Chapter 5 Fossil Fuel Power Plant Simulators for Operator Training 91 José Tavira-Mondragón, Guillermo Romero-Jiménez and Luis Jiménez-Fraustro Chapter 6 Energy-Efficient Standalone Fossil-Fuel Based Hybrid Power Systems Employing Renewable Energy Sources 121 R. W. Wies, R. A. Johnson and A. N. Agrawal Chapter 7 Estimating Oil Reserves: History and Methods 143 Nuno Luis Madureira Chapter 8 Global Trends of Fossil Fuel Reserves and Climate Change in the 21st Century 167 Bharat Raj Singh and Onkar Singh Chapter 9 Modern Transitions in Saving Energy and the Environment 193 Shahriar Khan VI Contents Chapter 10 Presence of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) in Semi-Rural Environment in Mexico City 215 Salvador Vega, Rutilio Ortiz, Rey Gutiérrez, Richard Gibson and Beatriz Schettino Chapter 11 Carbon Capture and Storage – Technologies and Risk Management 237 Victor Esteves and Cláudia Morgado Chapter 12 Energy and Economy Links – A Review of Indicators and Methods 265 Mohammad Reza Lotfalipour and Malihe Ashena Chapter 13 Fossil Fuel and Food Security 279 Richard E. White Preface As in a past decades, the world today continues to be at crossroads in terms of energy. Shortages and rising prices of fuel, accompanied by environmental damage are leading to a poor quality of life. Fossil fuel consumption is increasing, and our search for oil has led to ever deeper reserves, with its higher production costs. Rapid depletion of oil and gas are real issues affecting both current and future generations. The production of food for the world population is being affected by the shortages and price-increases of fuel. Fossil fuel’s domination on geopolitics continues with ever- greater force, even leading nations to wars, and the loss of millions of lives. It is enigmatic that the research described in this book, has potentially far reaching implications on the commodity so important to mankind. Just about a decade ago, renewable energy could not compete with fossil fuel in terms of cost and feasibility. However, fuel costs have risen unexpectedly quickly, making alternative energy commercially feasible earlier than expected. Thousands of wind turbines line the landscapes of the US and Europe today, supplementing the electric grid. Large areas of solar panels have risen almost overnight, with even households selling power to electric companies in Europe. Areas as large as mid-size countries are being clear-cut for crops for the production of bio-fuels. In the US, bio-fuels constitute 10% (and increasing) of automobile fuel. Hydrid electric vehicles have been commercially available for close to a decade. We are now entering a new era, as fossil fuel and alternative energy begin a long period of coexistence with each other. Quite appropriately, the research has shifted from the topics of yester year, to more current issues such as increasing efficiency, reducing emissions, coexistence with alternative energy, hybrid vehicles, etc. Reducing emissions have even promoted the futuristic research on sending emissions back underground, otherwise known as carbon sequestration. The economics of fossil fuel and prices continues to have complex interdependence on production costs, availability, and geopolitics. As prices hover around $3-4/gallon at US pumps, a new economics is taking new shape, as described. Concepts such as urban sprawl and a car for every adult are being challenged, as the housing market continues to fall. A chapter is dedicated to the impact on food availability for the world. X Preface Depleting fossil fuel raises valid concerns about ongoing shortages and availability for future generations. Estimates of current and future reserves of oil and gas are conflicting, given the data by commercial companies, government organizations, and academia. It is clear that increasing prices, coupled with the importance of oil to the chemical industry will ensure that oil will continue to be produced at higher expense for a very long time. The readers will find 13 chapters in the book. The topics move mostly seamlessly from conventional fuel to alternative energy, to the environment, and finally to economics and food security. The book starts with conventional topics of fuel properties, combustion and deposition, and co-combustion with alternative fuels. It discusses operator training, power stations, and distributed power systems. There are also discussed some estimates of remaining fuel reserves, electric vehicles, and environmental issues. Chapters on sending emissions back underground, though somewhat futuristic, define the borders of current research, and the importance of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The research on fossil fuel and the environment defines much of the range of today’s scientific knowledge, and is a major driving force of modern progress. The ideas and data here, however, humble they may seem, are potentially far reaching and profound, considering the billions of dollars of fuel, its tankers and pipelines and the global geopolitics, that are shaping the world. Whether feasible or futuristic, this book is a great read for researchers, practitioners, policymakers, or just about anyone with an enquiring mind on this subject. I take this opportunity to thank Intech Publisher, whose vision on open-access publishing has in a few short years brought cutting-edge research to the academic community worldwide. This book acknowledges and recognizes all the researchers, who have dedicated their lives to the betterment of mankind as well their work on the topic of fossil fuel and the environment. It is a tribute to those, whose tireless pursuit of a new knowledge on energy has been the driving force of modern progress. Shahriar Khan Associate Professor School of Engineering and Computer Science Independent University, Bangladesh [...]... of the other fuels, thus the PAHs-LIF intensity detected at just after the wick of the other fuels might be derived mainly from the originally contained aromatics in the fuel The PAHs-LIF intensity rapidly decreases with distance from the wick; this implies that the growth of PAHs occurred by condensation polymerization of PAHs and thereby the number of PAHs molecules decreases A Laser-induced incandescence... Note that the PAHs-LIF intensity of fuel F was indicated as multiply the original data by 5 The peak of 8 Fossil Fuel and the Environment the PAHs-LIF was located at just after the wick in any flames Since fuel F did not contain any aromatics, the PAHs would be formed by pyrolysis of paraffin components and subsequent reactions within the wick However, PAHs-LIF intensity of fuel F at just after the wick... of aromatics 10 Fossil Fuel and the Environment 4 Effects of fuel properties on deposit accumulation 4.1 Test fuels Five types of kerosene fraction, with different distillation and compositional properties, were used The physical properties of the test fuels are shown in Table 3 Regarding fuel K, the end point (246.5 °C) and density (0.7547 g/cm3) were lower than those of the other fuels Test method... presented in Fig 12 The deposit accumulation ratio was strongly associated with the content of aromatics and naphtheno benzenes As naphtheno benzenes are 14 Fossil Fuel and the Environment one of the aromatics, more naphtheno benzenes may be contained in the aromatic-rich fuel It is well known that naphtheno benzenes are more susceptible to thermal decomposition at lower temperatures than other hydrocarbons;... this chapter are presented and discussed The stoichiometric air -fuel ratio on mass basis (AFRstoich ), defined in equation 1, is the mass of air needed to fully oxidize 1 kg of fuel, while AFR is the ratio between air and fuel mass flow rates, equation 2 The ratio between the actual AFR and the AFRstoich , is the relative air -fuel ratio, equation 3 If λ > 1 the mixture is lean and the oxidation takes place... PAHs To estimate the effect of fuel properties on the soot emission and the soot generation characteristics, concentration distributions of soot and PAHs was investigated Figure 7 shows planar images of LII and PAHs-LIF obtained from the test flames Since the concentrations of fuel F was significantly lower than the other fuels, another color scale was supplied in the figure Except for fuel F, high concentration... 1 The calorific value of each fuel was same level, because the difference of net calorific value between test fuels was within 2.5% Regarding fuel F, its smoke point (>50 mm) implies that the sooting tendency of fuel F was much smaller than that of the other fuels Distillation characteristics indicate that fuel C was light, whereas fuel D was heavy in the test fuels Fuel F was comparatively light, and. .. represent the mole per each species in the blend, and it is immediate to observe that the reduction of the C/H ratio, compared to pure methane, brings about a theoretical reduction of the CO2 The burning velocity represents a main property for the combustion characteristics of the fuels and is defined as the velocity at which unburned gases move through the combustion wave in the direction normal to the. .. test fuels used in the deposit accumulation experiment 11 Effects of Fuel Properties on Diffusion Combustion and Deposit Accumulation Table 4 shows the results of the composition analyses of the test fuels The results confirmed that fuel K consisted only of saturated hydrocarbons (i.e., paraffins and naphthenes) In contrast, other fuels contained between 7.6~19.5 vol% aromatic hydrocarbons Most of the. .. concentrations in fuel G (5.4 vol%); these molecules were not contained in fuel K The bromine number was largest in fuel J (28.8 mgBr2/100g) and lowest in fuel K (4.4 mgBr2/100g) The diene values of fuels J and K indicated 0.05 gI2/100g and 0.01 gI2/100g, respectively; dienes were not detected in other fuels The peroxide numbers demonstrate that none of the test fuels contained organic peroxides Component . PAHs-LIF and LII on the flame axis. Note that the PAHs-LIF intensity of fuel F was indicated as multiply the original data by 5. The peak of Fossil Fuel and the Environment 8 the PAHs-LIF. of fuel F at just after the wick was much lower than that of the other fuels, thus the PAHs-LIF intensity detected at just after the wick of the other fuels might be derived mainly from the. that the sooting tendency of fuel F was much smaller than that of the other fuels. Distillation characteristics indicate that fuel C was light, whereas fuel D was heavy in the test fuels. Fuel