Posted on 07/27/2009 8:28:57 AM PDT by ConservativeMind
The oil and gas that fuels our homes and cars started out as living organisms that died, were compressed, and heated under heavy layers of sediments in the Earth's crust. Scientists have debated for years whether some of these hydrocarbons could also have been created deeper in the Earth and formed without organic matter. Now for the first time, scientists have found that ethane and heavier hydrocarbons can be synthesized under the pressure-temperature conditions of the upper mantle the layer of Earth under the crust and on top of the core. The research was conducted by scientists at the Carnegie Institution's Geophysical Laboratory, with colleagues from Russia and Sweden, and is published in the July 26, advanced on-line issue of Nature Geoscience.
Methane (CH4) is the main constituent of natural gas, while ethane (C2H6) is used as a petrochemical feedstock. Both of these hydrocarbons, and others associated with fuel, are called saturated hydrocarbons because they have simple, single bonds and are saturated with hydrogen. Using a diamond anvil cell and a laser heat source, the scientists first subjected methane to pressures exceeding 20 thousand times the atmospheric pressure at sea level and temperatures ranging from 1,300 F° to over 2,240 F°.
These conditions mimic those found 40 to 95 miles deep inside the Earth. The methane reacted and formed ethane, propane, butane, molecular hydrogen, and graphite. The scientists then subjected ethane to the same conditions and it produced methane. The transformations suggest heavier hydrocarbons could exist deep down. The reversibility implies that the synthesis of saturated hydrocarbons is thermodynamically controlled and does not require organic matter.
The scientists ruled out the possibility that catalysts used as part of the experimental apparatus were at work, but they acknowledge that catalysts could be involved in the deep Earth with its mix of compounds.
"We were intrigued by previous experiments and theoretical predictions," remarked Carnegie's Alexander Goncharov a coauthor. "Experiments reported some years ago subjected methane to high pressures and temperatures and found that heavier hydrocarbons formed from methane under very similar pressure and temperature conditions. However, the molecules could not be identified and a distribution was likely. We overcame this problem with our improved laser-heating technique where we could cook larger volumes more uniformly. And we found that methane can be produced from ethane."
The hydrocarbon products did not change for many hours, but the tell-tale chemical signatures began to fade after a few days.
Professor Kutcherov, a coauthor, put the finding into context: "The notion that hydrocarbons generated in the mantle migrate into the Earth's crust and contribute to oil-and-gas reservoirs was promoted in Russia and Ukraine many years ago. The synthesis and stability of the compounds studied here as well as heavier hydrocarbons over the full range of conditions within the Earth's mantle now need to be explored. In addition, the extent to which this 'reduced' carbon survives migration into the crust needs to be established (e.g., without being oxidized to CO2). These and related questions demonstrate the need for a new experimental and theoretical program to study the fate of carbon in the deep Earth."
Color me unconvinced.
I worked in the oil patch many years ago. I worked for Welex a now defunct subsidiary of Halliburton...gasp!. We were deep well completion experts since our party was the furtherest east in the company. Some of the well we shot into production were 23,000 to 25,000 feet.
I’ve never believed crude oil was formed from plant and / or animal remains. Do the math! How many billions of gallons of crude have been pumped out of the ground since 1859? Sorry, there has never been enough plant material available to form so much crude. Think about; only a tiny fraction would be deposited in the right conditions to be transformed into crude. The over whelming majority rots.
“The oil and gas that fuels our homes and cars started out as living organisms that died, were compressed, and heated under heavy layers of sediments in the Earth’s crust.”
I believe this is a ridiculous, unprovable thing to say. The number of “living organisms” it would take to create the billions and billions of barrels of petroleum we have used or will use is unfathomable. I believe the oil and gas fields - just like other inaminate objects such as water, air, and rocks - were here from the day God created the earth.
So for that reason, “fossil fuels” is a misnomer. “Carbon fuel”? Fine.
Whaddaya know, oil as a renewable resource.
I believe the Russian scientists are correct on this one.
>> Oh, no!
Unlimited amounts of oil and natural gas means unlimited amounts of CO2 pollution. We will fry to death!!!!!!!! (Do I need to put in an /sarc tag?) <<
I have the perfect solution, build vast underground greenhouses powered by geothermal or nuclear energy that suck CO2 rich air from outside down into the green houses than can produce enough food to feed billions of people. Plus you use some of that underground produced food to feed “Vat Beef” to make some tasty artificially grown steaks, yummy yum yum!~
It would certainly give more people jobs than the crazy “green jobs” schemes of the left and we would actually minimize our foot print on nature, but the greens hate it because we have use the “oh so dangerous Nu-KE-LER” energy.
Jobs for digging the Underground caverns, jobs for building the reactors and green houses, jobs for tending the plants and harvesting the plants, etc....
No, windmills and solar cells and unicorn farts are so much better.....
And did the hydrocarbons on Jupiter’s moons come from decaying organic material, too?
^
Forgot to add that underground food production would be immune to asteroid impact events, provided it wasn’t within several hundred miles of an impact site.
>> And did the hydrocarbons on Jupiters moons come from decaying organic material, too? <<
No Satan put them there to confuse us....
I would surmise those Hydrocarbons were formed in star death where there is tons of Carbon from exploding stars and plenty of unburned Hydrogen to combine with.
Tar pits are just another form of hydrocarbon seep.
Does it need to come from plants?
No. This deep Earth theory is one alternative. However, to my knowledge, no geologist has been able to use this deep Earth theory to predict where oil might be found whereas, using classical "squeezed dinosaur" theory, geologists can predict where to look for oil.
Wow - I can’t spell. Lets try that one again...
You are exactly right...
Ive been following these stories for years and it makes way too much sense. Perfect explanation as to how tapped out wells have been refilling....
Nice to see that they are still working on proving it out....
A better explanation may be that oil is often found in porous rock formations. When a pool is drained by being pumped out from a particular well position, it takes some time for it to seep from the surrounding rock to where the well is positioned.
Check out zionoil.com to read about a current application of the abiotic oil theory, in Israel of all places!
So we need to stop calling it “fossil fuel.”
It depends on the rate of production versus the rate of consumption. Even if hydrocarbons are being formed in the mantle, if the rate at which oil reservoirs get replenished is a tiny percentage of consumption, we face the same situation as we would if there was no mantle production.
Jupiter is a ball of hydrogen.
Some of the moons and planets seem to be made of frozen methane.
So I’d say that hydrocarbons are the basic building blocks of the universe. The universe is made of hydrocarbons.
Saturn’s moon Titan has a methane atmosphere, tar like continents, and seas of a kerosene like liquid.
“Do the math...”
Since you worked in the oil patch, I’ll direct this at you. I have a friend whose son works for a major oil company as a geologist. His son stated that what’s killing us on oil is not a lack of it. He said the 3 biggest things were:
1- The easy to get to oil has already been exploited.
2- A lot of the locations where the oil is located are not friendly to the US.
3- We have more oil here in the US, but the “Green” lobby seems to be dead set against any exploitation of any fossil fuel, or even expansion of our refinement capabilities.
The kid has always been pretty level headed and smart. He seems to think if we don’t start getting some kind of rational energy policy - we are going to keep getting bit. He said we need to try to move away from petroleum - it would be better for us if we didn’t use so much - but for the foreseeable future we are going to need all of it we can get, and we better exploit every available resource we have. Is the young man off base?-—JM
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