Environmental Chemistry.Chapter No 1. Introduction. In Detail For BS Student Of Geography.

1. Environmental
Chemistry
November 18
2018
Environmental chemistry course code 617. Chapter No 1: Introduction
By Awais
Bakshy.

2. Objectives.
 Introduction To Environmental Chemistry.
 Components Of Environmental.
 History And Significance Of Environmental Degradation.
 Environmental Pollutants.
 Impact Of Modern Life Style On Environment Quality.
 Resources Depletion.
 Environmental Conservation And Sustainability.
 Poverty and Environmental Degradation.
 Environmental Education.
 Institution For The Protection Of Environment.
 Energy Resources And Their Environmental Consequences.
 Fossil Fuels Nuclear Energy.
 Synthetic Chemical Fuel.
 Emission From Thermal Units.
 Nuclear Waste And Its Disposal.
Prepared By Awais Bakshy.
❖Introduction to Environmental Chemistry.
➢ What Is Chemistry?
The branch of science which deals with the properties, structure, composition of matter
and interaction between matter and energy.
➢ What is Environment?
Simply environments mean nature. Everything around us is environment. It can be living
or non living things. It includes physical, chemical, and other natural forces. Living things
live in their environment. In the environment there are interactions between animals,
plants, soil, water, and their living and non living.

3. ➢ What Is Environmental Chemistry?
❖ Is the branch of chemistry.
❖ Matter and the environment. i.e. pollution
❖ The Scientific study of chemical and biochemical phenomena that occur natural
places.
❖ Chemical phenomena. => Any natural phenomena involving chemistry.(changes to
atom or molecule.
❖ The study of sources, reaction, transport, effect, and fates of chemical species in
the air, soil, water and the effect of humans activity on these.
➢Components Of Environment.
Environment mainly consists of Atmosphere, hydrosphere, Cryosphere, lithosphere,
Biosphere, Geosphere, But it can be roughly divided into two types such as Micro
environment and Macro environment. it can also be divide in two other types such as
Physical environment(Abiotic environment) and Biotic environment.

4. ➢ What is Atmosphere?
The atmosphere of earth is the layer of gases, commonly known as air, that
surrounds the planet earth and it is retained by earth gravity.
❖ Chemical Composition.
❖ Nitrogen 78%
❖ Oxygen 21%
❖ Other gases 1%
❖ The atmosphere is divided in 5 layers.
❖ Troposphere , Stratosphere , Mesosphere , Thermosphere , Exosphere.
➢ What is Troposphere?
The troposphere is the first layer above the surface of earth and contains half of the
atmosphere. Weathers occur in this layer and its height is 6-10 km.
➢ What is Stratosphere?
The layer of the earth’s atmosphere above the troposphere and below the
mesosphere, its height is 10-50 km above the earth’s surface. Many jets air craft’s fly
in the stratosphere because it is very stable.
➢ Ozone layer.
The ozone layer or ozone shield is a region of earth’s stratosphere that absorbs
sun’s uv radiation. It contains high concentrations of ozone (O3) and it is situated

5. between troposphere and stratosphere. The 90% of ozone layer is in stratosphere
and its height is 10-50 km. the ozone layer was discovered by the French physicists
Charles fabry and henri Buisson.
➢ Startopause.
The boundary between two layers stratosphere and mesosphere .
➢ What is Mesosphere.
The region of the earth’s atmosphere above the stratosphere and below the
thermosphere and its height is 50-80 km. Meteors or rock fragment burn in the
mesosphere.
➢ Mesopause.
The boundary between mesosphere and thermosphere .
➢ What is thermosphere.
The thermosphere is a layer with auroras. The region of the earth’s atmosphere
above the mesosphere and below the exosphere and its height is 90 km to about 500
km.
❖ Auroras.
Auroras produce when the magnetosphere is sufficiently disturbed by the solar wind.
➢ Magnetosphere.
It is created by planets having active hot iron and nickel or metallic cores, whose
motion generated a planetary magnetic field, but such fields can also occur in stars
by the interactions of plasma.

6. ➢ Karman line.
The boundary between earth’s atmosphere and outer space and it lies at the height of
100 km.
➢ What is exosphere?
The outermost region of a planet’s atmosphere . And its height is 500-1000 km.
➢ What is Hydrosphere?
Hydrosphere is the layer of a planet that comprises water. The term hydrosphere is
a Greek word that means water and sphere .earth’s hydrosphere includes the water
on its surface such as oceans, lake, pond, river, seas, and steams, it also includes
underground water that is the wells aquifers, as well as water vapor which is present
in the form of clouds and fogs. This layer covers 70% of earth’s surface. This layer
plays a major role in the survival of life forms.
➢ What is Cryosphere?
This layer covers frozen water part of the earth’ surface which include glaciers, ice
and ice bergs. The part of earth’s surface that is made of ice is called Cryosphere.
➢ What is lithosphere?
The lithosphere is the solid, outer part of the earth. The lithosphere is made of the
upper part of mantle and crust.
➢ What is biosphere?
The regions of the surface and atmosphere of the earth where life exist.
The biosphere has existed about 3.5 billion years.

7. ➢ What is Geosphere?
This is the layer of earth’s surface which makes up the crust and the core of the
earth. It includes everything natural and lifeless that makes up the surface of the
earth.
➢ What is Micro environment?
Factors or elements in an organization’s immediate area of operations that affect its
performance and decision-making freedom . These factors include competitors,
customers, distribution channels, suppliers, and the general public.
➢ What is Business environment?
The sum of all external and internal factors that influence business .
➢ What is External factor?
In external factor two types.
These are micro environment and macro environment.

8. ➢ What is Macro environment?
The major external and uncontrollable factors the influence an organization’s
decision making, and affects its performance and strategies. These factors include
the economic factors; legal, political and social conditions; technologies changes.
➢ What is Physical environment or Abiotic environment?
Are the non-living parts of the environment that can often have a major influence on
living organisms .In abiotic environment include water, sunlight, oxygen, soil and
temperature.
➢ What is biotic Environment?
All of the living things in an ecosystem, such as plants and animals . These living
things interact with one another in many ways. Biotic factors and their interactions
can be broken down into three groups:
Producer: All plants, such as grass and trees, are producers .
Consumer: These organisms, mostly animals, eat producers and/or other animals.
They may also eat decomposers.
Decomposer: These organisms break down dead material (such as a fallen tree) into
soil and return nutrients to the soil so they can be re-used by producers to create
food.
➢ What is Ecosystem.
An ecosystem is the sum of all (biotic) and nonliving (abiotic).
➢ Types of ecosystem.
There are two types of ecosystem.

9. ➢ What is environmental degradation .
Environmental degradation is the deterioration of the environment through depletion
of the resources such as air, water and soil the destruction of ecosystem and the
extinction ‘of the wildlife. There are many form of environmental degradation. When
habitants are destroyed, biodiversity is lost, or natural resources depleted, ozone
depletion the environment is hurt. Environmental degradation can occur naturally, or
through human processes.
❖ Following are the main threats to our environment.
❖ Global Warming.
Global warming is the observed increase in the average temperature of the earth’s
atmosphere. An increase in global temperature can cause other changes, including
arising sea level. These changes may increase the frequency and intensity of extreme
weather events, such as floods, droughts, heat waves, hurricanes, tornados, glaciers’
retreat, reduced summer stream flows, species extinctions and increase in the range
of disease vector.
❖ Green house effect.
It is the equilibrium of incoming and outgoing radiation that warm the earth is
referred as green house effect. The earth is constantly bombarded with enormous
amount of the radiation from the sun. These radiation strike the earth atmosphere
in the form of visible infrared and ultraviolet and other types of radiation that are
visible to the human eyes. About the 30% of radiation striking atmosphere is
immediately reflected back to space, by clouds, snow, sand, ice, and other
reflective surfaces. While rest of the 70% radiation is absorbed by the land, ocean,
and atmosphere . These radiation heat up the ocean, land and atmosphere

10. releases heat in the form of infrared radiations. Which passes out of the
atmosphere into the space .
❖ Water degradation.
Water degradation In the misuse of water and also the pollution of water supplies. often
individuals throughout. The world has to deal with either limited water supplies, or
polluted, often causes by human actions.

11. ❖ Acid Rain.
Acid rain occurs when sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides are emitted into the
atmosphere undergo chemical transformation and are absorbed by water droplets
in the clouds. The droplets then fall to earth as rain snow, mist, dry dust, hail, or
sleet. This can increase the acidity of the soil, and affect the chemical balance of
lacks and streams and it can kill the fish in the rivers and acid rain can slow the
growth of forests, cause leaves. In extreme cases trees or whole Ares of forest
can die. Soil biology can be seriously damage by acid.
❖ Soil degradation.
Soil degradation is reducing in soil quality that can be a result of many factors,
especially from agriculture. Soil hold the majority of the world's biodiversity, and
healthy soils are essential good for food production. Common sign of soil
degradation can be salting, water logging, compaction, pesticide contamination,
and reduction in soil structure quality, loss of fertility, changes in soil acidity,
alkalinity, salinity, and erosion. Topsoil is very fertile, which makes it valuable to
farmers growing crops.Soil degradation also has a huge impact on biological
degradation.

12. ❖ Air degradation.
Air degradation the biggest threat for environment degradation and it affect
everyone humans, plants and others. Air degradation is cause by toxic chemical
which are mainly produce by human activity, i.e. combustion of fuel, emission of
chemicals like carbon mono oxide.

13. ❖ Deforestation.
Deforestation is clearing the Earth's forests on a large scale worldwide and
resulting in many land damages. Deforestation causes the loss of habitat for
millions of species, and is also a driver of climate change. Trees act as a carbon
sink: that is, they absorb carbon dioxide, an unwanted greenhouse gas, out of the
atmosphere. Removing trees releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. When
trees are removed from forests, the soils tend to dry out because there is no
longer shade, and there are not enough trees to assist in the water cycle by
returning water vapor back to the environment. With no trees, landscapes that
were once forests can potentially become barren deserts. The removal of trees
also causes extreme fluctuations in temperature.
➢ Controlling Deforestation.
The deforestation is being caused by humans. They not stopped still they are
deforesting. The control of deforestation is that humans don’t have to cut the trees.
They have to grow other trees and also other generation of tress. It is useful for us

14. because by the help of trees with inhale oxygen. We release carbon dioxide in the air
and trees absorb the carbon dioxide and release oxygen.
❖ Ozone depletion.
Gradually thinning of earth’ ozone layer in the upper atmosphere caused by
releasing of chemical compounds containing chlorine or bromine in the
atmosphere. This thinning of ozone layer is mainly in polar region Antarctica.
Ozone depletion is a big problem in the world because it increase the amount of
ultraviolet radiation which reach the earth surface which is increase in skin
cancer eye disease and mainly effect on our immune system.
❖Population.
Population also have major role in environmental degradation. There many reasons
some of them are given below.
❖ The population of world increasing with rate of 74 million peoples per year.
❖ It means using more resources like oil, petrol, and many others. Using of this
resources give advantage to human but not to environment.
❖ Also humans consumed more resources in the last 50 years than the whole
humanity before us.
❖ The humans are responsible for environment degradation because as we studied
about global warming, green house effect, water degradation, acid rain, soil
degradation, air degradation, deforestation, ozone depletion these all factors are
caused by humans.
➢ Environmental Pollutants
Substances that threaten life or health of individuals or ecosystem . i.e. water
pollutants, Air pollutants, Soil Pollutants, Oil Pollutants, Plastic pollutants, Radioactive

15. Pollutants, carbon mono oxide, nitrogen dioxide, particulate matters sulfur dioxide,
lead, ground level ozone.
➢ What is pollution?
Pollution is anything that makes earth dirty and unhealthy. Land, air, and water are all
affected by pollution. Pollution takes up the space and our land.The presence in or
introduction into environment of the substance which has harmful or poisonous
effects.
➢ Water Pollution
Water pollution is the combination of the water on earth. It includes contamination by
pollutants such as chemical (Sox, Cox, etc), bacterial or particulate that reduces the
purity of the water like oil seepage is one the most common forms of pollution. Water
pollution occurs in lakes, oceans, rivers, and even underground water. Water
pollution is one of the most dangerous forms of pollution as it decreases the amount
of drinkable water that is available. It can also reduce the amount of water that can
be used for irrigation as well as harm the wildlife that depends on the water.

16. ➢ Air pollution.
Air pollution is the contamination of the natural air by mixing it with different
pollution such as harmful fumes and chemicals. This contamination can be caused by
gases emitted by vehicles or from burning material or harmful fumes emitted as a
byproduct of industries. The higher the concentration of air pollution the harder it to
remove it effectively through natural cycles . The higher concentration also results in
breathing problems for living things. Some effects include increase in smog, higher
rain acidity, crop depletion, according to experts, global warming is one of the
biggest side effect of air pollution.
➢ Soil pollution.
Soil pollution it is also known as land pollution is the contamination of the soil or land
that prevents growth of natural life, which includes land used for cultivating, wildlife
as well as habitation. Common causes of the soil pollution include non-sustainable
farming particles, hazardous wastage and seepage into the soil, mining as well as

17. littering. Soil pollution can result in reduce growth of agriculture as well as poisoning
of the land.
➢ Noise pollution.
Noise pollution is the loud noises that are created by human’s activity that disrupts
the standard of the living in the affected area. Pollution can stem from things such as
traffic, railroads, concerts, loud music, airplane, fireworks etc. any noise that
disrupts the ability of a person to perfume can be termed as noise pollution.
➢ Radioactive pollution.
This is one of the most dangerous forms of pollution as it extremely harmful and can
even result in death. This type of pollution has risen in the 20th
century with the rise
of atomic physics and nuclear weapons. Radioactive pollution result in the pollution of
the air and land with radioactive poisoning. It can happen from leakages of accidents

18. at nuclear power plants, as well from improper disposal of nuclear waste. This
pollution results in birth defects, cancer, and even death cause.
➢ Thermal pollution.
Thermal pollution in when increase in temperature in a particular area over time.
This heat is often cause by air pollution and release of carbon gasses in the area that
traps more heat on earth. The earth has a natural thermal cycle, but excessive
temperatures can result in long term effects. The rising temperatures can be a
result of deforestation, power plants etc. while, slight changes in temperature is
common in nature, faster changes in the temperature can result in loss of wildlife as
well as reduction o water.
➢ Visual Pollution.
Although not a life threatening form of pollution, it can be considered as unappealing
to eyesight. This form of pollution is when there are obstructions to views caused by
billboards, power lines, construction areas and even high rises. It does not have
immediate health effects but can have slow effects.
➢ Light pollution.
Light pollution refers to the large amount of the light produced by urban and other
heavily-populated areas. Light pollution prevents citizens from seeing features of the
night.

19. ➢ Impact of modern life style on environment quality.
In environment the impact of modern life style takes a big role. The question is how?
As all known that environment is dreading by human beings, because human is
developing itself. The humans using natural resources and the reverse of these
resources damage the environment. And many other reasons like deforestation,
water pollution, air pollution, light pollution, etc.
➢ Resources depletion.
Resources depletion is the consumption of a resource faster that it can be
replenished. Natural resources commonly divided in two types renewable resources
and non renewable resources.

20. ➢ Renewable resources:
Renewable resources are those resources which can be used again and again. These
can renew themselves and are never depleted. Take for instance soil, sunlight,
water. However, in some situations, even these not easily renewed. Water is not
easily renewable in some circumstances. Soil is also easy to renew if it blows away.
➢ Non-renewable resources.
Non-renewable resources’ are those which does not grow back, or a resource that
usually takes a very long time to renew. These resources when exhausted once
cannot be renewed like fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas) cannot be recycled.
➢ Water depletion.
Depletion of water resources is an environment problem serious consequences in
the years to come, it is seems to be unimportant a thoroughly neglected issue. It is
impotent to remember that water in an indispensible part of our life. Our survival
depends on water.
➢ Causes.
Excessive demand of water: due to over population the demand of water has
increased considerably. More quantities of water are used and wasted over the time.
Evaporation: due to global warming and change in the climate, more amounts of
surface water and ground water is being evaporated due to excessive heat.
Pollution: most of the industrial waste water are dumped to these water sources.
This in turn pollutes and contaminates water. This can be considered another reason
for depletion of water resources.
Deforestation: This can be considered a major cause for water depletion. Large
scale deforestation considerably lowers the capacity of the soil to retain water and
this affects the water table.
Low rainfall: rainfall has reduced considerably over the years. This is mainly
because of large scale deforestation and drastic climatic changes. These add to the
reduction in water resources.

21. Urbanization: the government and the people have behind urbanization. This has
really affected the water resources because of mass deforestation.
➢ Effects.
Deep wells: as a result of water depletion, deep wells need to be dug because of the
water shortage. Pumps will have to be put deeper and deeper to extract water.
Expensive resource: water being a renewable resource, it will become very
expensive due to limited availability. If this resource is used, wasted, polluted and
depleted, it will become a non-renewable resource.
Marine life: due to the depletion, contamination and evaporation of surface water,
the marine life gets affected. This is a threat to the fishes, flora, fauna and all the
creature of the sea.
Agriculture: agricultural productivity depends on the availability of water.
Agriculture cannot exist without adequate supply of water. Due to the depletion of
water resource, the output or the productivity of agriculture reduces which affects
the food supply of the country.
Aquifers: an aquifer is a permeable rock that holds ground water. This can be used
for water supply for agriculture and other human activities. An aquifer can be at
different depths depending on a lot of natural factors. So as a result of depletion, the
aquifers also get depleted.
➢ Hydro power.
Hydropower, or Hydro energy, is a form of renewable energy that uses the water
stored in dams, as well as flowing in rivers to create electricity in hydropower
plants.

22. ➢ Advantage of Hydropower.
Hydropower is a fueled by water, so it's a clean fuel source. Hydropower doesn't
pollute the air like power plants that burn fossil fuels, such as coal or natural gas.
➢ Disadvantage of Hydropower.
❖ Fish populations can be impacted.
❖ Hydropower plants can cause low dissolved oxygen levels in the water.
❖ Hydropower can impact water quality and flow.
➢ Thermal power.
It is heat energy which is converted in to electricity for urbanization.
➢ Advantage of thermal power.
❖ Coal thermal power plant provide the cheapest electricity worldwide
❖ Coal/lignite/peat is readily available all over the world.
❖ Easy and simple to maintain and operate.
➢ Disadvantage of thermal power.
❖ Needs large amount of Coal it can vanish the natural resource.
❖ It is the prime contributor to CO2 emissions all over the world. With the Climate
change a restriction is now placed on all countries in this regard.
❖ Nearly 20% to 30% of coal is rejected as Ash, which is a waste and needs to be
dumped.
❖ Apart from CO2, other harmful gases like Nox and Sox are also generated lead to
Acid Rain

23. ❖ A large quantity of ash is released from the Chimney and the coal dust that lead to
a high particulate matter in the surrounding areas.
➢ Solar Power.
Solar power is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity, either
directly using photovoltaic’s (PV), indirectly using concentrated solar power, or a
combination. Concentrated solar power systems use lenses or mirrors and
tracking systems to focus a large area of sunlight into a small beam.
➢ Advantage of solar power.
❖ Solar power is pollution free and causes no greenhouse gases to be emitted after
installation.
❖ Reduced dependence on foreign oil and fossil fuels
❖ Renewable energy that is available every day of the year, even cloudy days
produce some power.
❖ Safe the traditional electric current.
➢ Disadvantage of solar power.
❖ Needs lots of space.
❖ No solar power at night so there is a need for a large battery bank.
❖ Devices that run on DC power directly are more expensive.
❖ Cloudy days do not produce much energy.

24. ➢ Environment conservation and sustainability.
Humans have to use less resources and they don’ have to crate pollutants.
And many other resources like deforestation, oil depletion etc .
➢ Environmental Education.
Environmental education is a process that allows individuals to explore
environmental issues, engage in problem solving, and take action to improve the
environment. As a result, individuals develop a deeper understanding of
environmental issues and have the skills to make informed and responsible
decisions.
➢ Poverty and Environment degradation.
Poverty and environmental degradation are linked in a vicious circle, that forces
poor people to engage in practices that have an adverse impact on the
environment as they seek basic provisions to improve their livelihood. A degraded
environment produces less, so people become more vulnerable.

25. ➢ Institution for the protection of environment.
• In the world there are many institutions for the protection of environment
❖ Like earth system governance project (ESGP)
❖ Global growth green institution GGGI)
❖ Intergovernmental panel on climate change (IPCC)
❖ International union for conservation of nature (IUCN)
❖ United nations environmental protection (UNEP)
❖ European environment agency (EEA)
❖ Partnership in environmental management for the seas and East Asia (PEMSEA)
❖ Environmental protection agency (EPA)
❖ Waste disposal authority (WDA)
❖ The Institution of environmental protection-national research institution (ICO-PIB)
❖ National research institution (NRI)
➢ Energy resources and their environment consequences.
Humans need energy for just about any type of function they perform. Houses
must be heated, energy is required for industry and agriculture and even within
our own bodies a constant flow of energy takes place. All processes that provide
us with the luxuries of every day live we can no longer live without require energy
generation. This is an industrial process that can be performed using various
different sources. These sources can be either renewable or non-renewable.
Renewable energy sources. However, non-renewable energy sources are
threatening to run out if our standard of usage becomes too high. Nowadays many
renewable energy sources are available for use, for example solar and wind
energy and water power. Ironically, we still gain most of our energy from non-
renewable energy sources, commonly known as fossil fuels.
➢ What is fossils fuel?
Fossil fuels are the remains of plants and animals from the prehistoric era, which
have now reduced to mere hydrocarbon chains. These hydrocarbons are in the
form of solids or liquids. Fossil fuels have a very high combustion rate and they
release tremendous amount of energy. Most of our fuel and energy demands are
met by the fossil fuels.

26. ➢ Advantage Of fossil fuel.
1. Fossil fuels have a very high calorific value. Thus, burning 1 gm of fossil fuel
releases tremendous amount of energy. Thus, the energy produced by
fossil fuels is greater than that produced by an equivalent amount of other
energy resource.
2. The reservoirs of fossil fuels are pretty easy to locate with the help of
advanced equipment and technology.
3. Coal is a fossil fuel that is found in abundance. It is used in most power
plants because it reduces the production cost to a great extent.
4. Transportation of fossil fuels that are in liquid or gaseous forms is very
easy. They are simply transported through pipes.
5. Construction of power plants that work on fossil fuels is also easy.
6. Petroleum is the most predominantly used form of fossil fuels for all types
of vehicles.
7. Fossil fuels are easier to extract and process, hence are cheaper than the
non-conventional forms of energy.
➢ Disadvantage of fossil fuel.
1. The hydrocarbons present in the fossil fuels, release greenhouse
gases, such as methane, carbon dioxide etc., which are capable of
damaging the ozone layer.
2. Besides, other harmful gases such as carbon monoxide and sulfur
dioxide are responsible for acid rain, which has spelled disaster for
the ecology.

27. 3. Extraction of fossil fuels has endangered the environmental balance
in some areas. Moreover, coal mining has jeopardized the lives of
several mine workers.
4. The depletion of reservoirs has made the extraction of fossil fuels
an expensive affair. This is likely to affect the fuel prices in near
future.
5. Leakage of some fossil fuels, such as natural gas, crude oil can lead
to severe hazards. Hence, transportation of these fuels is very
risky.
6. Fossil fuels have contributed in more than one way for global
warming, the issue that is being combated all over the world.
➢ Coal Energy.
Most people know coal as a fossil fuel which is used to produce around 40 percent of
the world's electricity.It’s a flammable black or brown sedimentary rock, and is
made mostly of organic carbon.
➢ Advantage of Coal Energy.
Affordability. Energy produced from coal fired plants is cheaper and more
affordable than other energy sources
Abundance. There are approximately over 300 years of economic coal deposits still
accessible. With this great amount of coal available for use, coal fired plants can be
continuously fueled in many years to come.
➢ Disadvantage of Coal Energy.
Greenhouse gas emissions. It cannot be denied that coal leaves behind harmful
byproducts upon combustion. These byproducts cause a lot of pollution and

28. contribute to global warming. The increased carbon emissions brought about by coal
fired plants has led to further global warming which results in climate changes.
Mining destruction. Mining of coal not only results in the destruction of habitat and
scenery, but it also displaces humans as well. In many countries where coal is
actively mined, many people are displaced in huge numbers due to the pitting of the
earth brought about by underground mining. Places near coal mines are unsafe for
human habitation as the land could cave in at anytime.
Mining destruction. Mining of coal not only results in the destruction of habitat and
scenery, but it also displaces humans as well. In many countries where coal is
actively mined, many people are displaced in huge numbers due to the pitting of the
earth brought about by underground mining. Places near coal mines are unsafe for
human habitation as the land could cave in at anytime.
Emission of harmful substances. Thermal plants like coal fired plants emit harmful
substances to the environment. These include mercury, sulfur dioxide, carbon
monoxide, mercury, selenium, and arsenic. These harmful substances not only cause
acid rain but also are very harmful to humans as well.
➢ Oil Energy.
Crude is a non-renewable energy fossil fuel. It is formed when heat and pressure
compressed the remains of prehistoric plants, animals, and aquatic life under the
bed of the sea or lakes for millions of years, thus becoming fossil fuel. Oil is drilled
and pumped from giant underground pockets, or oil wells, and processed through a
system called distillation. Distillation separates the by-products of the crude oil. This
process forms multiple fuels and other useful products, including gasoline and diesel
for transportation fuel, kerosene and natural gas for heating and electrical
generation, and oil for machinery lubricants.

29. ➢ Advantage of oil energy.
❖ Oil can easily be transported by a network of pipelines.
❖ Oil-fired power stations can, in theory, be built almost anywhere.
➢ Disadvantage of oil energy.
❖ Oil is a non-renewable source of energy. This means that one day we will
probably run out of crude oil.
❖ Burning oil produces carbon dioxide gas. This is a greenhouse gas that
contributes towards climate change.
❖ Burning oil can pollute the air.
❖ Much of our oil has to be imported and it is becoming more and more
expensive as reserves reduce and imports increase.
❖ Producing electricity from crude oil is expensive compared to other fossil
fuels such as coal or gas.
➢ Natural Gas.
Natural gas occurs deep beneath the earth's surface. Natural gas consists mainly of
methane, a compound with one carbon atom and four hydrogen atoms. Natural gas
also contains small amounts of hydrocarbons liquid gas and non hydrocarbon gases.
We use natural gas as a fuel and to make materials and chemicals.

30. ➢ Advantage of Natural Gas.
❖ Cheap than Other Energy Resources: The price of natural gas almost
always remains constant even when prices of gasoline spike.
❖ Natural gas is reliable: Natural gas occurs underneath the surfaces of the
earth, which means, when storms come, the delivery will not be impacted in
any way. Other energy resources like electricity can be interrupted for days
in case of severe storms.
➢ Disadvantage of natural gas.
❖ Greenhouse effects: The biggest downside to natural gas is that it emits
carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which contributes to climate change and
global warming.
❖ Non-renewable energy source: Some experts consider natural gas a non-
renewable energy source because its true reliability cannot be quantified.
These experts believe that it would get depleted at some point, and so, it
doesn’t rank among man’s quest for sustainable energy source.
➢ Biomass Energy.
Biomass is fuel that is developed from organic materials, a renewable and
sustainable source of energy used to create electricity or other forms of power.
➢ Advantage of Biomass energy.
1. Biomass used as a fuel reduces need for fossil fuels for the production of heat,
steam, and electricity for residential, industrial and agricultural use.
2. Biomass is always available and can be produced as a renewable resource.
3. Growing Biomass crops produce oxygen and use up carbon dioxide.

31. ➢ Disadvantage of biomass energy.
1. Agricultural wastes will not be available if the basic crop is no longer grown.
2. Additional work is needed in areas such as harvesting methods.
3. Is in some cases is a major cause of pollution.
4. Carbon Dioxide which is released when Biomass fuel is burned, is taken in by
plants.
➢ Wind Energy.
Wind Energy is the most mature and developed renewable energy. It generates
electricity through wind, by using the kinetic energy produced by the effect of air
currents. It is a source of clean and renewable energy, which reduces the emission
of greenhouse effect gases and preserves the environment.
➢ Advantage of Wind energy.
Renewable & Sustainable: Wind energy itself is both renewable and sustainable. The
wind will never run out, unlike reserves of fossil fuels (such as coal, oil, and gas.) This
makes it a good choice of energy for a sustainable power supply.
Environmentally Friendly: Wind energy is one of the most environmentally friendly
energy sources available today. This is based on the simple reason that wind turbines
don’t create pollution when generating electricity.
Wind Energy is Free: Unlike most non-renewable energy sources, wind energy is
completely free. Anyone can make use of the wind and it will never run out. This
makes wind energy a viable option for generating cheap electricity.
Low Running Costs: As wind energy is free, running costs are often low. The only
ongoing cost of wind energy is for the maintenance of wind turbines, but they are low
maintenance in nature anyway.

32. ➢ Disadvantage of Wind energy.
Threat to wildlife: Birds have been killed by flying into spinning turbine blades.
Noise and aesthetic pollution: Wind turbines generate noise and visual pollution. A
Single wind turbine can be heard from hundreds of meters away.
➢ Synthetic Fuel Of Synfuel.
Synthetic fuel or Synfuel is a liquid fuel, or sometimes gaseous fuel, obtained
from syngas, a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, in which the syngas was
derived from gasification of solid feedstock such as coal or biomass or by reforming
of natural gas.
1. Gas to Liquid (GTL)
Producing gas-to-liquids fuels (or GTL) involves a process of converting natural
gas into liquid, petroleum-based fuels. Unlike syncrudes, GTL products are closer
to the final stage of production. They don't need to be processed by a refinery
before they are used as fuel. The most widely used method for converting gas to
liquid fuels is the Fischer-Tropsch process (F-T synthesis).
2. Coal to Liquid (CTL)
Like GTL, coal-to-liquids (CTL) fuels are produced by isolating the hydrocarbons in
existing fossil fuels and converting them to a form of synthetic fuel that can be
used in existing vehicles' engines

33. 3. Biomass to Liquid (BTL)
Biomass-to-liquids fuels work according to the same theory, except that the
hydrocarbons come from freshly dead organic material, not organic material that
has been decomposed and compressed over millions of years. BTL fuels can be
made from wood, crops, straw and grain. The advantage of BTL is that it can be
made from parts of those plants that are not useful for food or manufacturing.
4. Extra heavy oil.
Extra-heavy oil is one of several sources of syncrude, a type of synthetic fuel that
closely resembles crude oil. Extra-heavy oil occurs naturally, and forms when oil
that was once buried deep in the Earth is exposed to bacteria that breaks down
the hydrocarbons and changes the oil's physical properties.
5. Fuel from Waste.
For the same reasons plants and plant waste can be used to make feedstock for
Synfuel production, solid waste can also feed the process. Usable solid waste
includes old tires, sewage and waste from landfills.
➢ Fossil Fuel Nuclear Energy,
Nuclear and fossil fuel-burning power plants differ mainly in where their energy
comes from; a nuclear reactor produces heat from radioactive metals, and a
fossil-fuel plant burns coal, oil or natural gas. In addition to the technical
differences between the two approaches, they affect the environment differently:
Fossil-fuel plants are notorious for greenhouse gas emissions, whereas nuclear
reactors are known for radioactive waste, which can remain hazardous for
thousands of years.
➢ Nuclear Energy.
Everything around you is made up of tiny objects called atoms. Most of the mass
of each atom is concentrated in the center (which is called the nucleus), and the
rest of the mass is in the cloud of electrons surrounding the nucleus. Protons and
neutrons are subatomic particles that comprise the nucleus. Under certain
circumstances, the nucleus of a very large atom can split in two. In this process,
a certain amount of the large atom’s mass is converted to pure energy following
Einstein’s famous formula E = MC2
, where M is the small amount of mass and C is
the speed of light (a very large number).

34. ➢ Advantage of Nuclear energy.
1. The generation of electricity through nuclear energy reduces the amount of
energy generated from fossil fuels (coal and oil). Less use of fossil fuels
means lowering greenhouse gas emissions (CO2and others).
2. Currently, fossil fuels are consumed faster than they are produced, so in the
next future these resources may be reduced or the price may increase
becoming inaccessible for most of the population.
3. The production of electric energy is continuous. A nuclear power plant is
generating electricity for almost 90% of annual time. It reduces the price
volatility of other fuels such as petrol.
➢ Disadvantage of Nuclear Energy.
1. Nuclear power plants are objectives of terrorist organizations.
2. Nuclear power plants generate external dependence. Not many countries
have uranium mines and not all the countries have nuclear technology, so
they have to hire both things overseas.
3. One of the main disadvantages is the difficulty in the management
of nuclear waste. It takes many years to eliminate its radioactivity and
risks.
4. Current nuclear reactors work by fission nuclear reactions. These chain
reactions are generated in case control systems fail,
generating continuous reactions causing a radioactive explosion that
would be virtually impossible to contain.

35. ➢ Nuclear Waste and its Disposal
There are a total of four nuclear power plant units in the two Finnish nuclear
power plants at Eurajoki and Loviisa. The fifth is under construction. When
electricity is produced in a nuclear power plant, this generates nuclear waste,
which – due to its radioactivity – demands special treatment.
Nuclear Waste: Low-level and intermediate-level waste, also known as
reactor waste, is generated during the operation and maintenance of a
nuclear power plant. Some nuclear power plant structures also become
radioactive during operation, and these structures have to be disposed of
when the plant is closed down. Nuclear power plants use uranium as their fuel.
This becomes radioactive during operation and turns into waste that has to be
disposed of. Before the final disposal, spent nuclear fuel is stored in the
interim storage for spent nuclear fuel.

36. ➢ Nuclear waste management.
The responsibility for nuclear waste management lies with the nuclear power
companies, who must take care of the measures associated with the management of
the nuclear waste they have generated, and bear the costs for these measures.
According to the Finnish Nuclear Energy Act, all nuclear waste must be treated,
stored and disposed of within the Finnish borders, and no nuclear waste from other
countries shall be imported into Finland.The Finnish power companies take care of
their own reactor waste as well as of the decommissioning waste from nuclear
power plants. Both reactor waste and decommissioning waste are disposed of in the
reactor waste repository. The power companies takes also care of the interim
storage of spent nuclear fuel.
➢ Fission And Fusion.
➢ Fission: Nuclear fission is the splitting of a heavy nucleus into two lighter ones.
Fission was discovered in 1938 by the German scientists Otto Hahn, Lise Meitner, and
Fritz Strassmann, who bombarded a sample of uranium with neutrons in an attempt
to produce new elements with Z > 92. They observed that lighter elements such as
barium (Z = 56) were formed during the reaction, and they realized that such
products had to originate from the neutron-induced fission of uranium-235:

37. Fusion: Nuclear fusion, in which two light nuclei combine to produce a heavier,
more stable nucleus, is the opposite of nuclear fission.