Pollution of environment during, petroleum and gas synthesis Essay

Pollution of environment during, petroleum and gas synthesis - Essay Example According to Obadina (2007), oil production in Canada rose from 1.8 million barrels to 3.1 million barrels per day between 1984 and 2003. Appreciating the widespread global use of petroleum and gas products, this paper seeks to outline the environmental pollution resulting from the synthesis of petroleum and gas, giving recommendations on prevention approaches. Environmental pollution would be appreciated as the process of man introducing energy or substances into the environment that could cause hazards to the health of human beings, harm ecological systems and living resources and interfere with or damage the legitimate use of the environment (Walker et al. 2006). The petroleum industry encompasses various activities in exploration, production and transportation of about 3.5 billion tons and 2.5 giga m3 of crude oil and natural gas respectively and other derivatives around the world each year (Walker et al. 2006). After the exploration process identifies a commercially viable reser ve, the extraction of oil and gas would be carried out through drilling by use of special technologies (Vidal 2012). The extracted hydrocarbon product would then be separated into gas and liquids and dehydrated to get rid of excess water. This would then be split into various petroleum and gas products. ... The synthesis process involves exploration and production of the products of natural gas and crude oil. It encompasses the exploration and preparation of well sites, drilling, production of crude oil and gas and on-site processing. The synthesis of petroleum and natural gas products as observed by Kaiser and Pulsipher (2007) starts with the bringing to above the ground crude oil and natural gas which would in turn be processed to various products for distribution to consumers. In the process, the industry contributes to air, water and soil pollution with the components of the resources being processed and the subsequent by-products and products, the latter being the key pollutants. Natural gas would mainly contain methane with water and carbon dioxide as impurities. Crude oils vary widely in viscosity and colour but studies by Kaiser and Pulsipher (2007) indicate 79.5% to 87.3%, 10.4% to 14.8%, 0 to 8%, 0 to 2%, 0 to 0.1% and 0 to 0.005% carbon, hydrogen , sulphur, oxygen, nitrogen a nd metals composition respectively. The main constituents are hydrocarbons of varied types and molecular masses with between 1 and 60 carbon atoms. The synthesis of gas involves processing natural gas by dewatering and removing its acid components such as hydrogen sulphide followed by eventual removal of carbon dioxide. Despite taking appropriate precautions against environmental pollution, Obadina (2007) appreciates that accidents occur periodically in the course of producing petroleum and gas. Air pollution in the process of petroleum and gas synthesis occurs through combustion emissions, fugitive emissions, process emissions, secondary emissions and from handling and storage of petroleum liquids