Geology Reference
In-Depth Information
2.5
x 10
6
3.5
x 10
6
2088
2115
3
2
2.5
1.5
2
1.5
1
1
0.5
0.5
0
0
1900 1950 2000 2050 2100 2150 2200 2250 2300
1900 1950 2000 2050 2100 2150 2200 2250 2300 2350 2400
(a) Aluminium
(b) Iron
Fig. 13.38 The Hubbert Peak applied to aluminium (a) and iron (b) world resources. Data
obtained from USGS (2010)
8
x 10
4
4.5
x 10
4
2068
7
4
2012
3.5
6
3
5
2.5
4
2
3
1.5
2
1
1
0.5
0
0
1900
1950
2000
2050
2100
2150
1900
1950
2000
2050
2100
2150
2200
2250
(a) Reserves
(b) World resources
Fig. 13.39
The Hubbert Peak applied to copper reserves (a) and world resources (b).
Data
obtained from USGS (2010)
13.5.2 Fuel minerals
A comprehensive analysis of the global fuel mineral throughout time requires his-
torical production data of coal, oil and natural gas. Such statistics had to be
reconstructed from different information sources, the most important ones being
those from the BGS and its preceding organisations
15
.
The exergy of these three types of fuel minerals was obtained in the same way
as that of the Australian case study, using an “average” composition of coal, oil and
natural gas, with their properties calculated by Valero and Arauzo (1991). The
exergy of “average” coal, oil and natural gas on Earth is assumed to be 22,692,
45,664 kJ/kg and 39,394 kJ/Nm
3
respectively.
Table 13.5 summarises the results obtained for world fuels throughout the 20th
century.
15
D.13, D.14 and D.15 listed in the Appendix show world production data of coal, oil and natural
gas between 1900 and 2009.
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