Coal is a readily combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock normally occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure. Coal is composed primarily of carbon along with variable quantities of other elements, chiefly sulphur, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen.
Coal begins as layers of plant matter accumulate at the bottom of a body of water. For the process to continue the plant matter must be protected from biodegradation and oxidization, usually by mud or acidic water. The wide shallow seas of the Carboniferous period provided such conditions. This trapped atmospheric carbon in the ground in immense peat bogs that eventually were covered over and deeply buried by sediments under which they metamorphosed into coal. Over time, the chemical and physical properties of the plant remains (believed to mainly have been fern-like species antedating more modern plant and tree species) were changed by geological action to create a solid material.
Coal, a fossil fuel, is the largest source of energy for the generation of electricity worldwide, as well as one of the largest worldwide anthropogenic sources of carbon dioxide emissions. Gross carbon dioxide emissions from coal usage are slightly more than those from petroleum and about double the amount from natural gas. Coal is extracted from the ground by mining, either underground or in open pits.
Natural gas is a gas consisting primarily of methane. It is found associated with other fossil fuels, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is created by methanogenic organisms in marshes, bogs, and landfills. It is an important fuel source, a major feedstock for fertilizers, and a potent greenhouse gas.
Before natural gas can be used as a fuel, it must undergo extensive processing to remove almost all materials other than methane. The by-products of that processing include ethane, propane, butanes, pentanes, and higher molecular weight hydrocarbons, elemental sulfur, carbon dioxide, water vapor, and sometimes helium and nitrogen.
Natural gas is often informally referred to as simply gas, especially when compared to other energy sources such as oil or coal.
Petroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, toxic, flammable liquid consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights, and other organic compounds, that are found in geologic formations beneath the Earth's surface. Petroleum is recovered mostly through oil drilling. It is refined and separated, most easily by boiling point, into a large number of consumer products, from gasoline and kerosene to asphalt and chemical reagents used to make plastics and pharmaceuticals.
Liquefied Petroleum Gas (also called LPG, GPL, LP Gas, or autogas) is a flammable mixture of hydrocarbon gases used as a fuel in heating appliances and vehicles, and increasingly replacing chlorofluorocarbons as an aerosol propellant and a refrigerant to reduce damage to the ozone layer.
Varieties of LPG bought and sold include mixes that are primarily propane, mixes that are primarily butane, and - most common - mixes including both propane C3H8 and butane C4H10, depending on the season — in winter more propane, in summer more butane. Propylene and butylenes are usually also present in small concentration. A powerful odorant, ethanethiol, is added so that leaks can be detected easily. The international standard is EN 589. In the United States, thiophene or amyl mercaptan are also approved odorants.
LPG is a low-carbon-emitting hydrocarbon fuel available in rural areas, emitting 81% of the CO2 per kWh produced by oil, 70% of that of coal, and less than 50% of that emitted by coal-generated electricity distributed via the grid.[citation needed] Being a mix of propane and butane, LPG emits less carbon per joule than butane but more carbon per joule than propane. As a low-carbon, low-polluting fossil fuel, LPG is recognised by governments around the world for the contribution it can make towards improved indoor and outdoor air quality and reduced greenhouse gas emissions. LPG is widely available and can be used for hundreds of commercial and domestic applications. LPG is also used alongside renewable technologies, as well as with decentralized electricity generation (Combined heat and power systems — See Uses - Rural heating) to help reduce carbon emissions on a local level.
LPG is synthesised by refining petroleum or wet natural gas, and is usually derived from fossil fuel sources, being manufactured during the refining of crude oil, or extracted from oil or gas streams as they emerge from the ground. It was first produced in 1910 by Dr. Walter Snelling, and the first commercial products appeared in 1912. It currently provides about 3% of the energy consumed, and burns cleanly with no soot and very few sulfur emissions, posing no ground or water pollution hazards. LPG has a typical specific calorific value of 46.1 MJ/kg compared with 42.5 MJ/kg for fuel-oil and 43.5 MJ/kg for premium grade petrol (gasoline).[1] However, its energy density per volume unit of 26 MJ/l is lower than either that of petrol or fuel-oil.
