http://www.geosciences.unl.edu/~rkettler/wordpress Minerals, Rocks, Geological Fluids, and Energy Sat, 21 Nov 2009 18:27:09 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Uranium deposits can be viewed as products of the rock cycle. Uranium occurs in small amounts in the Earth's crust.  This uranium typically occurs as the mineral uraninite (UO2) or is present in other minerals as a trace component.  The mineral zircon (ZrSiO4), for example, may contain uranium in ... http://www.geosciences.unl.edu/~rkettler/wordpress/index.php/2009/11/21/lectures_34_36-uranium-deposits/ We can't get into the details of nuclear physics in this class but we can discuss some important points and view some interesting videos! All matter consists of atoms.  A nuclide is a species of atom.  The chart of the nuclides is an graphical presentation of all the different species of ... http://www.geosciences.unl.edu/~rkettler/wordpress/index.php/2009/11/19/lecture-33-fundamentals-of-nuclear-fission/ The point of this lecture was to discuss a way to convert solid fuels (or stranded gas) into fuels that society values more highly. The fuel that society values most is gasoline. We can convert reduced carbon compounds into gasoline by using several sets of reactions For our purposes we will ... http://www.geosciences.unl.edu/~rkettler/wordpress/index.php/2009/11/19/lecture-32-xtl/ Because coal is a solid we can't extract it from the ground through a pipe, we have to go get it. Coal mines are like very large construction projects; large amounts of material must be moved, massive equipment is used, and the "footprint" of the operation is considerable. More ... http://www.geosciences.unl.edu/~rkettler/wordpress/index.php/2009/11/19/lecture-31-coal-mining-methods/ When we were dealing with oil, heavy oil, or oil shale we were discussing fossil fuels that are derived largely from lipid-rich organisms that lived in water. Coal on the other hand is derived almost exclusively from ancient land plants. Thus oil(and much gas), heavy oil, and oil shale, ... http://www.geosciences.unl.edu/~rkettler/wordpress/index.php/2009/11/18/lecture-30-coal/ Oil shale is a petroleum source rock that has not yet generated oil. So far we’ve considered several non-conventional hydrocarbon resources that contain enormous amounts of energy.  Methane hydrates are distributed over much of the cold regions of the Earth and may contain more energy than all the combined conventional fossil ... http://www.geosciences.unl.edu/~rkettler/wordpress/index.php/2009/11/07/lecture-29-oil-shale/ We have considered the problems inherent in preserving petroleum at great depth; the stable forms of carbon at shallow levels in the crust are methane, carbon dioxide, or graphite.  The hydrocarbons in oil are trying to become one of those species depending on the chemistry of the system.  The speed ... http://www.geosciences.unl.edu/~rkettler/wordpress/index.php/2009/11/07/lecture-27/ The truly large unconventional gas accumulations are methane hydrates. Methane hydrates were laboratory curiosities until they were found to clog pipelines in cold climates and in deep water. This phase diagram has been scaled in depth rather than pressure by assuming a hydrostatic pressure gradient (roughly 0.5 psi/ft). You ... http://www.geosciences.unl.edu/~rkettler/wordpress/index.php/2009/11/02/lecture-26/ Natural gas comprises largely methane. It can be thermogenic in origin; meaning that it is produced by the same processes that produce oil. Organic matter is exposed to heat and methyl groups break off the larger organic molecules while combining with hydrogen to form methane. Natural gas ... http://www.geosciences.unl.edu/~rkettler/wordpress/index.php/2009/10/24/lecture-25/ Every President since Nixon has sought the holy grail of U.S. energy independence.  Some have stated this goal more explicitly than others.  Implicit in this goal is the suggestion that the declining US production trend can be reversed. The Hubbert analysis suggests that it can't, at least for conventional petroleum ... http://www.geosciences.unl.edu/~rkettler/wordpress/index.php/2009/10/24/lecture-2-2/