Oil is the lifeblood of the world. Everything that is created by human hands can be related back to it in some way. In an age where there is a dwindling supply of oil it is becoming increasingly important to use every last bit of it to its full potential. After crude oil is removed from the ground it goes through a process called fractionation which separates the hydrocarbons found in oil based on their size. When fractionation is completed the separated hydrocarbons can be manipulated to form more useful hydrocarbons. The three major types of manipulation are decomposition, unification, and alteration. As a future chemical engineer I hope to make the world a better place by manipulating substances into more useful products. The changes made to the hydrocarbons in oil by these processes allow for humans to use every last bit of oil to its full potential. When large hydrocarbons are broken down into smaller more useful ones it is called decomposition. The first form of decomposition is thermal cracking, which can be broken up into the sub categories of visbreaking, steam cracking, and coking. Visbreaking is a process of thermal cracking which involves heating heavy crude oil residue to break down the hydrocarbons into more useful middle distillates, heating oil, and diesel. A mix of the residue is pumped into a furnace where it is heated to a desirable temperature; this temperature depends on what products are desired. When this temperature is reached bonds in the
Would you really want to be responsible for destroying the animals home and the environment? The United States has a huge debate whether or not We should drill for oil in Alaska’s wilderness. But the answer seems pretty clear to me because it is not essential for our economy ,it is not valuable for the environment, and it is causing a social disruption. In the background essay, it says that many colonies We're not concerned about protecting our natural resources because they thought they had enough natural resources to last forever; But We don't, We are limited and some day in the not too distant future we may run out of natural resources so we have to circumspect and start protecting it by using other materials such
Most people probably do not think about how much of their lives depend on oil. This profitable commodity is constantly being used around the world, twenty four hours a day and seven days a week. From the scented creams people use on their bodies, to the airline jets soaring above, oils are being used. Oil is one of three major forms of fossil fuels, coal and natural gas being the rest. Fossil fuels began forming millions of years ago in the Carboniferous Period when trees, plants, and small organisms died (DOE, 2015). Eventually the fossils sank to the bottom of many swamps and oceans forming layers of peat (a brown, soil-like, and spongy material). Over thousands of years, peat was covered by clay, sand, and other minerals which turned into a type of rock called sedimentary. Over thousands of years rocks piled on top of the peat creating more pressure. Eventually the pressure managed to squeeze water out of the peat and over millions of years, this mineral rich water turned into the three major fossil fuels that people know and use today (DOE, 2015). Regardless of its proficiency and success, the oil industry has become one of the most unethical businesses in the world. Their blatant disregard for the environment and its inhabitants have continuously put them in the crosshairs of many conservatives and concerned citizens. This paper primarily focuses on the ethical dilemmas that surround the oil industry.
The process of making synthetic crude oil requires an enormous amount of water, especially in the separation process. Each barrel of oil requires two tons of oil sands and up to five barrels of hot water. Water is also needed along with electricity to convert it steam. The steam is pushed by steam injections making bitumen less viscous. It is quite evident that oil sands are not practical in terms of its process. Also three-quarters of the bitumen can be recovered from the sands, leaving behind 25% as waste. With the technology in our present society, oil sands are not entirely practical in terms of efficiency; however, in the future, this may change. To reflect, there are many disadvantages associated with oil sands, especially in the way it is processed.
Oil production is crucial for humans. Overall, 33 out of 48 countries have now hit a peak in oil production, resulting that oil is going to hit a decline in production. This peak is in countries such as Mexico and Russia, potentially signifying the end of the Industrial revolution. However, oil itself is not running out, just the rich, thick oils, that are high quality. In the near future, the only oil that Earth will have will be thin, and not good enough to use in motor vehicles or for electricity. Additionally, cheap and easy to extract oil will be at a decline, and also oil will be in unaccessible places, or within dangerous areas. Oil production needs to stay at pace with the human demand.
Even though the many different modes of transportation are crucial for survival, what happens behind the scenes is the most important attribute in keeping millions of vehicles and all of the world’s population running smoothly everyday, all day. This priceless and valuable commodity is what is commonly referred to as crude oil, and after several steps of refining, useable petroleum products emerge. (How Stuff Works, 2016)
There are many arguments for and against the United States major reliance in foreign oil. Over the years with the vast improvements and technological advances in the petroleum industry, the United States has been able to become increasingly self-sufficient, drastically decreasing its reliance on the import on foreign oil. In Michael Klare’s Book, Blood and Oil: The Dangers and Consequences of Americas Growing Dependency on Imported Oils (2004) he states that,
At the dawn of the Industrial Era, many curative people imagined the future of humans and how we could advance in technology. But as we neared the future they imagined we reared off the line many times. We could have used ethyl, may cars in the early 1900's had engines that used both gasoline and ethyl. The United States of America has been using gasoline for over 100 years and has now as a country we need to change to a new source, sooner or later.
The book, Crude World: The Violent Twilight of Oil is a warning to the world about the great harms that have been imposed on people and the earth by our need and dependence on petroleum products. The story is much darker than most people know and Maass is hoping to change that.
New and improved methods for extracting oil were being developed. Billions of dollars would be poured into the discovery of new wells and the hunt wasn’t slowing down. Governments were willing to do anything to secure a steady supply of oil, even if that meant fighting for it. Some of the most destructive world conflicts all started from the desire of that sticky liquid that comes from the ground. But on the positive side, oil has been at the base of some of the most important developments in modern history. Due to the speedy development of oil, a byproduct of the drilling process kick started the agricultural revolution, resulting in the rapid growth of the earth’s population. Millions of people can now eat due to the advancements of fertilizers, which main ingredient ammonia is produced from oil drilling. Oil became a huge part of society’s advancement in technology, and is still a driving force in the world of science and
The United States is the largest import of oil, which produces over 10 million barrels of oil each day. That a lot of oil that they are producing in my opinion. As the years have passed by we have gotten oil for our foreign country this happen in the Gulf War. We also need oil from other countries so in all reality we have to reserve all the oil that we get and make sure we keep up the rapport that we have with the other countries in order to keep the United States out of finically situations. In all we have to be safe about who we deal with and how we react, because we don’t want to cause any infractions with other people or countries and then have to pay for what we have done. “Even as Saudi Arabia diverges from U.S. foreign policy objectives
The oil and gas industry is crucial to the U.S. economy and plays a central role in its environment, society, and economic development . The U.S. consumes more oil than any other country. Products derived from oil include medicine, recreational sports items, cosmetics, plastic, chemicals, transportation liquids, etc... This is to say, crude oil is the most important natural resource of the industrialized nations, as it has assisted in the technical expansion and discovery of new sources and production of existing oil fields (Wintershall, 2015).
When breaking down the oil components, bacteria store the energy released to fuel their own cellular processes. Over millions of years, bacteria have evolved enzymes that are specific for the particular degradation reactions to break down the many types hydrocarbons. Some of the simpler compounds can be degraded by a very wide variety of bacteria, but the ability to degrade other compounds such as aromatic hydrocarbons is found in fewer species. No one bacterium can make all the different enzymes. Each kind of bacterium specializes in only a few hydrocarbons as preferred food sources. Most microbial oil degradation occurs by aerobic respiration, meaning that the oil-degrading microbes take in oxygen and burn oil hydrocarbons for energy. In the absence of oxygen, microbes have other mechanisms to degrade hydrocarbons for energy. Biodegradation of oil constituents without oxygen (i.e., under anoxic conditions) is much slower but anoxic processes may be relevant to the long-term restoration
The Importance of Oil in U.S. Foreign Policy During the oil and energy crisis of the mid-1970s Americans became painfully aware of the consequences of the United States dependence on foreign sources of oil. Unfortunately, research and exploration for alternative sources of oil in North America has not been pursued vigorously enough to cease such foreign dependence. As a result, in the mid-1990s Americans find themselves in the same precarious position as they were during the 1970s. The Persian-Gulf War in 1991 was all the proof needed to convince the United States of how strongly oil still influences our foreign policy and international relations in general. Oil and U.S. Foreign Policy: Historical Issues The United
Another type of refining is called polymerization, which is the opposite of cracking in that it combines the smaller molecules into bigger ones that then could be used as liquid fuels.
Since the past few decades, owning a car has become a necessity in order to commute from one place to another. However, cars do not work automatically, they require fuel. Since the past decade, the petroleum industry has become one of the leading industries impacting the nation’s economy. Oil has become an essential commodity as it is utilized in transportation vehicles, serves as a raw material for manufacturing plastics, and is utilized in homes for cooking. America’s economy is greatly dependent on petroleum as it is the “black gold” of the nation. The considerable significance of oil has led to the drilling of it, which is not only limited to land, but also the oceans. Offshore drilling is a method in which petroleum is extracted from underneath the seabed. It is one of the significant technological advancements in the past few decades. However, the ones who are involved in the process of offshore oil production are humans, and humans tend to make mistakes. In 1969, due to a human error, an oil spill occurred and natural gas, oil, and mud shot up the well and oozed into the ocean (“Offshore Drilling”). The oil spilled led to an environmental disaster which killed thousands of marine animals and distorted the environment. In order to prevent the same error, the government passed a moratorium in 1981, banning more than 85 percent of the country’s oil drilling sites (“Offshore Drilling”). The moratorium restricted the United States to mass-produce its natural resource.