Fossil Fuels

Current Status and Future Directions

Concerns over energy resources and the environmental impact of energy use will continue to be part of the polical agenda across the globe. World Scientific's unique series of books on Current Energy Issues is intended, in part, as an expansion and update of the material contained in the World Scientific Handbook of Energy but in part each volume will focus on related energy resources or issues that contain a broader range of topics plus more explanatory text than was possible in the Handbook. The authors will also take the opportunity to update the data presented in the Handbook since in many cases the field is rapidly changing.

The Fossil Fuels volume focuses on the main fossil resources, viz. coal, oil and natural gas. Coal is still an extremely important resource especially for electricity production around the world and the book discussed methods for making coal a cleaner resource, including carbon sequestration. There has been a rapid change in the mix of fossil fuels mainly because of hydraulic fracturing which enables oil and gas to be extracted from previously inaccessible formations. The book describes this changing situation including the precautions required to make the production of these fuels safe and environmentally benign. Alternative fossil fuels such as methane hydrates are also discussed.

Contents:

• Coal Resources, Production, and Use Worldwide (Thomas Sarkus and William Ellis)
• Coal Gasification and Advances in Clean Coal Technology (Thomas Sarkus and Adrian Radziwon)
• Geologic Carbon Storage (Thomas Sarkus, Michael Tennyson and Derek Vikara)
• Environmental Impacts of Coal Production (Thomas Sarkus and William Ellis)
• Petroleum Liquids (William L Fisher and Christopher G St C Kendall)
• Unconventional Petroleum Liquids: Tar Sands and Shale Oil (Vello A Kuuskraa)
• Oil Spills: Causes, Consequences, Prevention, and Countermeasures (Jacqueline Michel and Merv Fingas)
• Natural Gas (John B Curtis)
• Hydraulic Fracturing (Randy F LaFollette and Robert Samuel Hurt)
• Methane Hydrates (Yoshihiro Masuda, Tsutomu Uchida, Sadao Nagakubo and Mikio Satoh)

Readership: Scientists, engineers, policy makers, graduate students and researchers on the field of energy studies.
Key Features:

• This is a comprehensive examination of the all fossil fuels including future resource development and the environmental hazards associated with their extraction and use
• The expertise of the authors of the various chapters ensures that the information is reliable
• The information presented is current and forward looking because the authors are actively involved in the technologies discussed in the various chapters