5 FUTURE FOSSIL ENERGY

TECHNOLOGIES
Around the corner
 Necessity
 Fossil fuels haven't been winning any popularity
contests.
 A lot of that's because approximately 80 percent
of greenhouse gases consist of carbon dioxide
that is generated, in part, by burning fossil fuels .
 So today, it's wind, water and solar energy that
are all the rage.
 Keep in mind that alternative energies aren't
without their faults, though they're the lesser of
the evils for sure. But the fact is that wide-scale
use of green power is years away, so fossil fuels
are still by far the largest producers of energy .
The good news is there are new technologies emerging that
attempt to handle the mining and processing of fossil fuels in
more environmentally friendly ways.

 From harvesting gases trapped for millions of years in ice

cages to cars powered by hydrogen extracted from coal, these
non-renewable power sources may yet be able to help address
one of the biggest global issues of our day: our rampant
consumption of energy.

While the ultimate solution to fossil fuel emissions will be to

one day reduce our dependence on oil, coal and other fossil
fuels, steps are being taken to make those out there a little
cleaner.
5. Carbon Capture and
Sequestration
 The idea of clean coal sounds like an oxymoron because
we know the facts. Coal mining destroys mountains and
is the leading contributor to global warming . But here's
another fact: Coal is cheap and plentiful. And that's
where……

 CCS separates the C02 from the general emissions stream

in one of three ways: post-combustion carbon capture,
which occurs immediately after fossil fuels are burned;
pre-combustion carbon capture, which occurs before
fossil fuels are burned; and oxu-fuel combustion carbon
capture, which burns oxygen with the fossil fuel before
separating the C02.
Now for the second step in CCS: dealing with the leftover
toxins. The most basic explanation is that the C02 is
compressed and then transported via long pipelines to
geologic or oceanic "storage facilities." There, it's injected deep
into the Earth, where it remains for years.

 CCS reduces the number of toxins being spewed into the

atmosphere. As we will see in a bit, hydrogen, a by-product
of CCS, can be used as a zero-emissions source of energy.
One of the major downsides of CCS is energy consumption.
All three processes require a tremendous amount of energy
and are extremely expensive.
4. Hydrogen from Coal
 Hydrogen is one of the cleanest forms of energy out
there. It's efficient, renewable and has zero-emissions.

 The Department of Energy's National Energy

Technology Laboratory (NETYL) is working two
technologies, Central Hydrogen Production and
Alternate Hydrogen Production, which extract pure
hydrogen from gasified coal syngas (synthesis gas).
Syngas is a combination of hydrogen, carbon monoxide
and carbon dioxide.

 A chemical process is used to boost its hydrogen

content while removing all other components, resulting
in a stream of hydrogen.
Central Hydrogen Production is a promising "co-production"
technology. The goal is to produce electricity and hydrogen by
burning clean syngas in gas turbines, and the byproducts are
then converted into pure hydrogen. Central Hydrogen
Production is looking toward membrane technologies
(microporous, metallic or ceramic) to eliminate steps and
reduce costs associated with hydrogen from coal extraction
while achieving a hydrogen purity of 99.9 percent .

Alternate Hydrogen Production uses a technology known

as Fischer-Tropsch to convert clean syngas to liquid
hydrocarbon carries, alcohol or methane that have high
concentrations of hydrogen. These products can help
address the issues of distributing hydrogen on a large-scale,
as they can be transported through our current fuel
distribution channels. This addresses a current issue with
hydrogen: the need to build new infrastructure to transport
it to fueling stations .
 3. Fuel-Cell Cars

 Fuel-cell vehicles are part of the clean car revolution. Why

are they getting so much play in the world of alternative-
energy transportation? In a word: hydrogen. Fuel-cell
vehicles are propelled by a chemical reaction that is clean as
a spring morning on an uninhabited island. And they have
zero emissions.

 Fuel-cell cars look like any standard model you might see on
the roads. But their inner-workings are a bit out of the
ordinary. They contain fuel-cell stacks, where hydrogen gas
and oxygen are converted into electricity, which, in turn,
sends juice to their electric motors. And who doesn't love
electric motors for their efficiency and quiet ride?.
 Fuel-cell cars give themselves a boost with their onboard
regenerative braking system, which improves overall
efficiency by up to 20 percent. If saving some bucks and
driving cleaner isn't enough incentive, here's another reason
for parking one of these in your garage: Qualified fuel-cell
vehicles, which are those powered by one or more fuel-cells
converting hydrogen to electricity, receive a tax credit from the
IRS.

As with any new technology, though, fuel-cell cars aren't

perfect. They're expensive because very few are produced, and
most of the country's hydrogen fueling stations are in
California. That said, fuel-cell cars hold great potential for the
future of clean transportation. Look for them on a road near
you.
 2. Methane Hydrates

 Methane hydrates are unusual. To the naked eye, they appear

to be big chunks of muddy ice, but in reality, what you're
looking at is biogenic methane produced by deep-sea bacteria.
These methane hydrate chunks are found in gigantic deposits
deep in oceans around the world. In fact, it's believed that
trillions and trillions of cubic feet of methane hydrates are
tucked neatly beneath the ocean's floor. As world
consumption of fossil fuels continues to rise -- and deplete
existing stores of natural gas and oil -- it's no wonder that
methane hydrates are receiving serious attention as a
potential source of energy. Figuring out how to tap into
methane hydrates safely and sustainably has become a global
effort. The United States, India, Korea and Japan have joined
forces to form mining research programs.
 So what are the drawbacks? First, getting methane hydrates is
dangerous work. Some scientists fear mining them will leak
methane into the atmosphere, potentially increasing the rate of
global warming. Still others believe methane hydrates play a
vital role in stabilizing ocean floors. Start drilling and we could
create the risk of a landslide on the continental slope. Another
huge factor is cost, not to mention current technologies are
limited and make extraction financially impractical. Significant
research remains to be done to see if methane hydrates are even
an option. If they prove to be stable and sustainable, they could
be a solid alternative to natural gas and oil.
1. Natural Gas Vehicles

 Natural gas vehicles (NGV) are emerging on the green

transportation scene. As of 2010, in fact, there were an
estimated 11 million NGVs on the road [source: Nijboer].
NGVs aren't so different than cars that run on gasoline; the
difference is in how the engine works. Natural gas is mixed
with oxygen and then ignited with a spark plug that moves
the piston up and down. NGVs are efficient and clean, and
also less costly to drive, and gassing them up is convenient.
Currently, there are more natural gas fueling stations than
there are hydrogen cars, and NGV owners can even tap into
their homes' natural gas lines. Plus natural gas burns pretty
clean, which means little engine wear, and relatively easy and
low-cost maintenance over the long haul.
 But, historically the acquisition of natural gas has been a
problem. There was a time when the industry relied on explosive
seismology to find stores deep within the Earth. The
environmental consequences of this type of process go without
saying. By-in-large, the seismic vibrator truck has now replaced
controlled dynamiting. Injecting low-frequency vibrations under
the surface of the Earth, data is collected about the Earth's layers.
This field data allows digital landscapes of subsurface areas, and
enables more precise predictions of natural gas locations.
 Conclusion
 Suffice it to say, we have a long way to go on
most of these technologies. But the good news
is there are new technologies out there.