IASbaba ILP: Value Add Material – Coal & Petroleum
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COAL AND PETROLEUM
Inexhaustible natural resources:
Present in unlimited quantity
Not likely to get exhausted by human activities
Like air, sunlight, geothermal energy and water
Exhaustible natural resources:
Present in limited quantity
Can get exhausted by human activities
Like coal, petroleum, wildlife and forests
Fossil fuels:
Formed from the dead remains of plants and animals
Like coal, petroleum and natural gas
COAL
Main component – Carbon
Black solid substance formed
Produces mainly CO2 on burning
Coal is the primary source of energy used for generation of heat and electricity
IASbaba ILP: Value Add Material – Coal & Petroleum
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IASbaba ILP: Value Add Material – Coal & Petroleum
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Coal contains Carbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen, Nitrogen and Sulphur.
The World Coal Association explains that the quality of coal is largely determined by:
o The type of vegetation the coal originated from;
o The coal’s depth of burial;
o Temperatures and pressures at that depth; and
o How long it took the coal to form
Superior quality coal
o High in Carbon content
o Low in Hydrogen and Oxygen content
o Produces more heat
Inferior quality coal
o Low Carbon content
o High Hydrogen and oxygen content
o Produces less heat
IASbaba ILP: Value Add Material – Coal & Petroleum
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PEAT
o Produces smoke while burning
LIGNITE
o Tamil Nadu (Nayveli), Gujrat, Rajasthan
BITUMINOUS
o Produces Bitumen on being heated
o Used to make cooking gas, steam gas, steam coal
o Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, WB, MP, Odisha
ANTHRACITE
o Best quality coal
o Produces blue flame on burning
o Produces maximum heat
IASbaba ILP: Value Add Material – Coal & Petroleum
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PETROLEUM
Petro + ‘lium’ = Rock + Oil
Found between two layers of impervious rocks
Made up of hydrocarbons
Found floating over water
Formed from organisms living in sea
Get deposited under layers of sand after death
High temperature and pressure
Absence of air
Dead remains converted to petroleum and natural gas
Process of separating the constituents of petroleum is called Fractional Distillation.
The constituents separate due to different boiling points
IASbaba ILP: Value Add Material – Coal & Petroleum
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COMPRESSED NATURAL GAS
Natural gas is stored under high pressure
Uses:
o Power generation
o Fuel for vehicles
o Fuel for homes and factories
Cleaner fuel
Can be supplied through pipelines
Saves efforts of storing and transporting
Reserves in Tripura, Rajasthan,Maharashtra and in the Krishna-Godavari delta