Posted on 03/07/2015 5:04:56 AM PST by Kaslin
Yep. Heat and pressure turn the carbohydrates into hydrocarbons, basically chasing oxygen out of the compound. But this process starts with carbohydrates, (sugars and cellulose from plant growth).
The point being, on Earth at least, life gets the petroleum process going. That's what makes it a "fossil fuel".
And that means that it accumulates slowly, but can be extracted and processed more quickly than it can naturally accumulate.
This is not worrisome, at least to me, because normal economics make petroleum as a fuel more expensive over time (over the long run, of course), and really incentivizes us to find adequate alternatives and processes.
Just don't let the politicians be the ones leading us in that development; they don't know wind power from fart power.
Heat and pressure turn the carbohydrates into hydrocarbons, basically chasing oxygen out of the compound.
Well, either that or some deep ocean microbe scavanger that assists in the decomposition of plankton...or a combination that provides the necessary environment.
But this process starts with carbohydrates, (sugars and cellulose from plant growth).
That would be the algae I referenced.
If I'm right, considering how long the Sun has been shining on all the oceans, and the yet to be discovered "oceans of petroleum" in the depths...I doubt we could ever use it all up or even keep up with its production.
It is not a theory that oil is only found sourced to sedimentary basins, or that it contains microfossils from the organisms laid down in the layers where oil is found, or that it is so old we cannot measure its age with radiographic carbon dating.
Crude oil is far more complex than the simple methane, ethane found on planets/moons without sufficient oxygen.
Of course you're right.
Yep.
.
Absolutely.
.
However, the costs of extraction will still rise.
What this means is that eventually, economic pressures will push alternative technologies or fuel substitutes forward to compete with fossil fuel technology. This is not a bad thing, it is a good thing.
Now, what I want to see is more development of nuclear technology; fission, fusion, laser implosions, oh my yes!
Ahem. Of course, I can also accept such things as the nitro-hydrogen economy, or improved battery technology which allows a solar mirror to fire up a battery/capacitor hybrid to Star Trek phaser power levels.
I'm not picky. I just want my Flying Car.
It might, or not. Depends on government interference.
I doubt floating rigs will be the answer, but rather those submerged in the stable water below the waves and storms, aided by the type of robotic diving drones we saw performing at the Deepwater Horizon spill.
I had no idea such things had even been developed yet until I saw them in action. Just like fracking/horizontal drilling. Once a field gets started, it's very likely the floodgates will spring open.
So...what are they?
Right. 42 metric gallons.
Your math is kind of messed up.
How do you go from saying that the U.S. has a break even price of $60-65 per BARREL and then determine that means the break even price is actually $3000 per BARREL?
Wrong. 42 US gallons (35 Imperial gallons)
A drum is 55 gallons.
Plus, I've already been corrected several times so at this point I'm just yanking people's chains.
There are three groups which are of particular importance to hydrocarbon exploration. (The uses of microfossils in developing oil fields are analogous to those in exploration and so for brevity I will use the term exploration, which is looking for new resources, without the addition “development” or “exploitation” which refer to the drilling of wells to develop a field found by exploration.) The three microfossil groups most commonly used are: foraminifera, calcareous nannofossils, and palynomorphs. A brief introduction to each of these groups is included {at the link}
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/fosrec/ONeill.html
So I read the article, and in virtually every case, these nannofossils are "marine" organisms....and I don't mean Semper fi here.
(free-floating in the oceans/they lived floating in the water column/golden-brown algae that are very abundant in the world's oceans/the red algae which make up the "red tides" in modern oceans)
Keep in mind, it took a l.o.n.g time for the dry land area to be colonized by life on the primordial Earth. All life was in the sea for quite a while. If you want a huge build-up of tiny bodies, the oceans of a primitive Earth are a good place to find them.
The Carboniferous Era gave rise to an entirely different class of carbon-sequestering procedures, but who wants coal anymore?
And they use these fossils as a marker in their exploration...where there are fossils, oil is likely to be found.
They can make petroleum from algae in a facility and it doesn't take a million years (30 minutes in a pressure cooker). I don't know why it's hard to imagine those conditions could not occur naturally in the depths and beneath the sea floor as a "continual feed" process.
The advantage, of course, is that these “tiny bodies” do not come encumbered by concrete galoshes. (Unless you count shells. I don’t know if they count.)
Sedimentary basins are formed underwater. As the earth cycles from ice age and melted glaciers, over millions of years, oceans rise and fall. The algea, plankton and the like gets trapped away from oxygen. Lakes as well but tend to be smaller.
Exactly. I’m sure that heat and pressure are only part of the equation, there’s no way some anaerobic bacteria can’t be at work in the conversion of the soft tissue of these organisms to black muck to crude oil.
Alcohol, vinegar and ammonia are also just biological waste by-products. We do see methane bubbling up from swamp muck and probably the ocean floor. (What’s going on down there?)
We know algae and other plant/animals make oils/fats. Trapped in sediment where there is not sufficient oxygen to fully decompose, hydrocarbons remain unable to oxidize and fully decompose like they would on the ground in the air.
If you want a huge build-up of tiny bodies, the oceans of a primitive Earth are a good place to find them.
- - - -
The process continues today, but the earth got several million years head start on us consuming them.
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