Chemistry and Energy

From Conventional to Renewable

Mark Anthony Benvenuto

• Publisher: De Gruyter
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN: 9783110662269
• eBook ISBN: 9783110662337
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Physical Sciences
• Subtopic: Environmental Science

This book focuses on the processes and materials behind energy technologies. The author details the underlying chemistry of renewable sources, such as biofuels and wind power, as well as the traditionally used coal and gas. Chapters on energy storage technologies and the connection between energy generation and climate change round off this uniquely concise overview of the relationship between chemistry and energy.

Chapter 1 Introduction

1.1 History

The history of humanity is tied up with the generation and use of energy. The world we live in today still uses some types of energy that it has used since antiquity, such as fire to cook food, even, if only at a summer outdoor gathering. But, obviously, there are numerous energy sources in use today that have only been harnessed and come into use in the past two centuries, and some that are much newer than that.

1.1.1 The earliest conversion of materials to energy

Even before humans had stopped being hunter-gatherers, we had started using and depending on a steady supply of energy beyond that furnished by our own muscles. Taming wood fires, the beginnings of which are lost in some ancient past, allowed people to cook food; and thus a wide variety of woods, grasses, and animal dungs were used in that process, and concurrently in keeping humans warm. In addition, as humans began to herd animals, the warmth of those animals was used to keep people and their dwellings warm in the evenings and in the cold seasons of the year. Importantly, the muscles of animals proved to be useful in doing work that would have been done by humans earlier – work such as pulling a plow, a wagon, or a sled.

By the time humanity had begun to settle into permanent living areas – those communities which would eventually become cities – fire had been harnessed not only to keep people and animals warm but to smelt metals and to fire clay. The invention of both the kiln and the forge, and the use of coal to fire them, allowed advances in human life and the quality of that life precisely because the energy of fire was channeled into the production of specific materials, such as pottery and metal tools or weapons. Some modern artisans and craftsmen still utilize these ancient techniques, an example of which is seen in Figure 1.1. In turn, fire was generated by the combustion of woods and animal dungs – and at times by the hotter combustion of coal. It is not an exaggeration to claim that the use of fire in this manner helped bring certain peoples to the fore, and ultimately helped bring about the rise of city-states and empires.

Figure 1.1: Bronze sword.

The use of fire and its traditional fuels on a large scale had consequences that could not have been seen at the time it began. For example, the use of wood fires to heat homes at the start of the Industrial Revolution meant that some cities had an almost constant haze about them, and smelled as if there was some never-ending bonfire ablaze. Such use also deforested areas, sometimes large ones. In England, for example, for many years, it was against the law to fell large trees for such things as firewood, as these were reserved for use in ship building by the Royal Navy. Farther back, the use of coal to smelt metals rose to a large enough extent during the Roman Empire that it polluted a large swath of Europe, as far away as Greenland. A fascinating study was undertaken in the 1980s, in which ice cores of the Greenland ice sheets were examined to determine pollutant inclusions over a broad period of time. It was found that the by-products of incomplete coal combustion and metal refining were located in strata of the cores that were laid down during the time Rome rose to prominence [1].

But wood, animal dung, and coal were not the only sources of energy used in the distant past. Sailing ships and windmills certainly used the power of the circulating air, and the sun’s rays were harnessed to dry food, produce salt from brine ponds, and aid humans in several other ways. In addition, dams have a long history, both for storing water and for controlling its use [2]. The power of moving water has been used to turn wheels and thus do some needed task for over millennia [3].

1.1.2 Solar

The idea of concentrated solar power is a relatively new one, in terms of producing energy, but also has an interesting historical footnote. According to legend, the famous Archimedes in the third century bc directed the use of polished bronze shields against a fleet of invading Roman ships. Supposedly the shields were directed so that the sun’s rays were concentrated at the ships, which eventually caught fire. The story, while a colorful and impressive example of a possibility for the use of concentrated solar power, is doubted by many historians today.

One chapter in solar energy that is not in doubt is the much more modern first solar collector patent, issued to Alessandro Battaglia, in 1886 [4]. Since then, solar power has continued to find applications, either for generating small amounts of electricity, or large. But this also continues to struggle economically against the prices of coal and oil when it comes to feedstocks for materials that can generate the needed power.

1.1.3 Water wheels

Curiously, the idea of using a water wheel to produce and harness the power of flowing water goes far back before the use of it to generate electricity. Archaeologists and historians believe that the earliest water wheel, one driven by tidal water power, was at the Nendrum Monastery mill in Northern Ireland, and was in use as early as the year 787 ce. This remains a subject of debate, as water wheels have been mentioned in the writings of the ancient Greeks and Romans. Perhaps obviously, the use of any configuration of water wheel to generate electricity is a much more recent accomplishment [3].

1.1.4 Wind

Wind power has a very old history as well, but for most of it wind was only used for some single mill or for a sailing ship. Much more recently, wind has been used to generate power for a larger, integrated power grid. Figure 1.2 shows part of a modern wind farm in southwest Ontario. Each tower rises several stories higher than the average home, and all are linked to the local power grid. The construction of such windmills and their internal mechanisms requires materials that have never before been required in such large quantities. An example is lanthanides, such as neodymium, which are used in motors of such windmills.

Figure 1.2: Wind farm.

1.2 The industrial revolution

There have been only a few points in history that one specific event or change in thinking has affected the world in large and all-encompassing ways. One can argue that the invention and spread of laws is one such event – a means by which all people in a community are expected to act and behave in the same manner, and for which standard punishments are meted out for transgressions. The initial use and continuous spread of coins may be another – the idea that some object or thing can be used as a common means of value for a variety of other objects of value, even when those objects are not located in the same place. But by far, the inception of what we now call the Industrial Revolution is one of those events that have changed history, on par with the long-term storage of different foods, taming of the horse, and even the rise of the Roman Empire.

The Industrial Revolution appears to have its origin in Great Britain. There remains debate as to what the dominant factor or factors were that started it, whether it was a surge in human population, or changes in farming, or changes in climate that brought about these just-mentioned two, some combination of the above three, or some other factors that we have not mentioned. What is not in doubt is that England sits geologically on one enormous bed of coal, one that could be reached with mining techniques that were known three centuries ago [4]. This buried material did become a source of power when it was burned in order to heat water, and the resulting steam is used to obtain useful work from steam turbines. One other source of power at the time was the water wheel.

Textiles were one of the markets that rapidly expanded during the Industrial Revolution, and the new mechanical looms and other machinery that produced larger amounts of thread, cloth, and finished products all required energy. And while it may seem odd that this was all needed even though the size of the British population, and thus the consumers for such goods, had not increased dramatically, it is critical to remember that Britain was the center of an enormous, world-spanning empire. Products made there were sold to people throughout the British Empire, as well as to businesses and people in other countries. Bigger markets were therefore accommodated, and thus more energy was required.

Certainly, other commodities were involved in the expanding of production during the Industrial Revolution, including several commodity chemicals. But one of those that has been tracked and studied extensively is the production of iron.

Iron had been produced in relatively small quantities since ancient times, but the Industrial Revolution both expanded this production and at the same time expanded the uses for it. Important developments were made in forges and furnaces, including a wider spread use of Bessemer furnaces, and in the use of coke as a reducing agent as opposed to charcoal. The adoption of coke for the production of reduced iron is a chemical development that remains with us and the iron and steel industry today.

Along with these developments came improvements in transportation related to moving large volumes of products and materials to markets. These too require energy, such as that needed to drive locomotives, and that required to dig canals – and then to harness the power of moving and falling water. Although large-scale transport of goods via canal has certainly declined to essentially nothing, the continued use of railroads remains an area for which energy is required, and for which it is linked to other industries.

1.2.1 The human potential and cost

There have undoubtedly been costs associated with the inception and expansion of the Industrial Revolution, some of which have been horrible – such as working conditions for em...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Chapter 1 Introduction
• Chapter 2 Coal
• Chapter 3 Oil and natural gas
• Chapter 4 Biofuels
• Chapter 5 Nuclear power
• Chapter 6 Hydropower
• Chapter 7 Geothermal energy
• Chapter 8 Solar power
• Chapter 9 Wind power
• Chapter 10 Energy storage
• Chapter 11 Energy harvesting
• Chapter 12 Energy and climate change
• Index