Fundamental Biochemical and Biotechnological Principles of Biomass Growth and Use 3
pumping (secondary recovery) and more sophisticated methods (tertiary recovery)
more oil and gas can be extracted. Obviously exploiting an oil and gas deposit is easy in
the beginning but becomes more and more technically complex and costly with time.
Lignite has a similar origin as black coal. It has been exposed to the harsh geological
conditions for up to 65 million years and can be extracted by open-cast mining. The
carbon content is lower than that in black coal, but extraction costs are in average more
beneficial.
Peat is another fossil resource. It is as well formed from terrestrial plants under aplent
moor conditions when the biomass decays for several 1000 years under low-oxygen
conditions. Peat contains the lowest carbon and highest water share under fossil
resources. It is recovered from ground.
All fossil resources have the following common characteristics: (i) they are rich in
carbon and energy; (ii) their composition is not very complex and quite homogeneous;
(iii) they can be produced at moderate, though growing cost; and (iv) fossil resources
can be shipped easily by railway, tankers, and pipelines.
1.2.2 Industrial Use
1.2.2.1 Energy
All fossil feedstocks are characterized by high energy content. By oxidation (adding
oxygen) the chemical energy stored in the molecules is released in the form of heat – a
process called burning in everyday language. Therefore, fossil feedstock is an efficient
and easy material to produce energy. In 1709, it was used for the first time in England
for industrial purposes when black coal instead of wood-based charcoal was used for
iron melting in a coke blast furnace. Discovering this energy source came just in time
to start metal-based industrialization because charcoal production had significantly
decimated the area under forests. Since then black coal is one of the most relevant
primary energy carriers. In 1859, the Pennsylvania Rock Oil Company drilled the first
oil well in Titusville (Pennsylvania, USA). Only 10 years later, John. D. Rockefeller
founded the Standard Oil Company in 1870, thus starting the era of multinational
companies serving the global energy markets. Gas exploitation followed in 1920 in the
United States and in 1960 in Europe. Table 1.2 shows the share of fossil material use in
different global regions.
In summary, production of heat, fuel, and electrical power from fossil resources
has been the starting point of industrialization and is still today by far the dominant
application. Ninety-three percent of oil, 98% of gas and coal, and 100% of peat are going
into energy markets (Höfer, 2009a; Ulberet al., 2011b). It is estimated that even in 2040
Table 1.2Use of fossil feedstock in different
global regions (%) (EKT Interactive Oil and Gas
Training, 2014).
North
America Europe
Asia
Pacific
Mineral oil 55 40 37
Natural gas 30 38 12
Coal 15 22 51
