The future of oil: unconventional fossil fuels.

Microbial Biotechnology 2020; microbiology of fossil fuel resources

This roadmap examines the future of microbiology research and technology in fossil fuel energy recovery. Globally, the human population will be reliant on fossil fuels for energy and chemical feedstocks for at least the medium term. Microbiology is already important in many areas relevant to both upstream and downstream activities in the oil industry. However, the discipline has struggled for r...

Identification and Evaluation of Unconventional Hydrocarbon Reserves: Examples from Zagros and Central Iran Basins

It is notable that over the past decade, proven reserves of natural gas have dramatically increased as higher prices and advances in technology have turned previously unrecoverable resources into major sources of domestic production. Moreover, the decline in crude oil reserves has significantly slowed over the past decade. Therefore, there would be an end to the conventional hydrocarbon resourc...

Microalgal and Terrestrial Transport Biofuels to Displace Fossil Fuels

Terrestrial transport biofuels differ in their ability to replace fossil fuels. When both the conversion of solar energy into biomass and the life cycle inputs of fossil fuels are considered, ethanol from sugarcane and biodiesel from palm oil do relatively well, if compared with ethanol from corn, sugar beet or wheat and biodiesel from rapeseed. When terrestrial biofuels are to replace mineral ...

Hydrogen Production from Fossil Fuels

A review of conventional methods of production of hydrogen from fossil fuels is presented. Some advanced and unconventional methods of production of hydrogen based on fossil fuels are also presented. The general characteristics of the feedstocks used to produce hydrogen are first described. This is followed by the chemistry required to generate hydrogen. Then the chemical process operations and...

Exploitation of Unconventional Fossil Fuels: Enhanced Greenhouse Gas Emissions