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A fossil fuel [a] is a carbon compound - or hydrocarbon -containing material such as coal, oil, and natural gas, [2] formed naturally in the Earth's crust from the remains of prehistoric organisms (animals, plants and planktons ), a process that occurs within geological formations. Reservoirs of such compound mixtures can be extracted and ...
Natural gas. Natural gas (also called fossil gas, methane gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane (95%) [ 1] in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Traces of carbon dioxide, nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide, and helium are also usually present. [ 2]
Petroleum is a fossil fuel that can be drawn from beneath the Earth's surface. Reservoirs of petroleum are formed through the mixture of plants, algae, and sediments in shallow seas under high pressure. Petroleum is mostly recovered from oil drilling. Seismic surveys and other methods are used to locate oil reservoirs.
Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. [ 1] Coal is a type of fossil fuel, formed when dead plant matter decays into peat which is converted into coal by the heat and pressure of deep burial over millions of years. [ 2]
Petroleum products are materials derived from crude oil ( petroleum) as it is processed in oil refineries. Unlike petrochemicals, which are a collection of well-defined usually pure organic compounds, petroleum products are complex mixtures. [ 1] Most petroleum is converted into petroleum products, which include several classes of fuels.
Kerogen is solid, insoluble organic matter in sedimentary rocks. It consists of a variety of organic materials, including dead plants, algae, and other microorganisms, that have been compressed and heated by geological processes. All the kerogen on earth is estimated to contain 10 16 tons of carbon.
Natural-resource meaning [:] An actual or potential form of wealth supplied by nature, as coal, oil, water power, timber, arable land, etc. A material source of wealth, such as timber, fresh water, or a mineral deposit, that occurs in a natural state and has economic value. Something, such as a forest, a mineral deposit, or fresh water, that is ...
Chemical fuels are substances that release energy by reacting with substances around them, most notably by the process of combustion . Chemical fuels are divided in two ways. First, by their physical properties, as a solid, liquid or gas. Secondly, on the basis of their occurrence: primary (natural fuel) and secondary (artificial fuel).