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News tagged with petroleum

The great gas hydrate escape

For some time, researchers have explored flammable ice for low-carbon or alternative fuel or as a place to store carbon dioxide. Now, a computer analysis of the ice and gas compound, known as a gas hydrate, ...

Chemistry / Materials Science

created Jan 18, 2012 | popularity 4.1 / 5 (7) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

A new genre of tires: Call 'em 'sweet' and 'green'

Motorists may be driving on the world's first "green" tires within the next few years, as partnerships between tire companies and biotechnology firms make it possible to produce key raw materials for tires from sugar rather ...

Chemistry / Materials Science

created Dec 14, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 1

Building a sustainable hydrogen economy

The concept of the hydrogen economy (HE), in which hydrogen would replace the carbon-based fossil fuels of the twentieth century was first mooted in the 1970s. Today, HE is seen as a potential solution to the dual global ...

Technology / Energy & Green Tech

created Dec 08, 2011 | popularity 3.7 / 5 (3) | comments 18

Petroleum-eating mushrooms

Take a Petri dish containing crude petroleum and it will release a strong odor distinctive of the toxins that make up the fossil fuel. Sprinkle mushroom spores over the Petri dish and let it sit for two weeks ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Nov 30, 2011 | popularity 4.2 / 5 (5) | comments 2

Good preparation is key -- even for plant cells and symbiotic fungi

Not only mineral oil and petroleum gas, also phosphorous is a scarce resource. According to well-respected scientists who gathered together for a conference in Cambridge this August, we will face significant problems relating ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Nov 14, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Plastic fantastic – the future of biodegradables

Poly-3-hydroxybutyrate (PHB) is a thermoplastic polyester which occurs naturally in bacteria as Ralstonia eutropha and Bacillus megaterium. Even though PHB is biodegradable and is not dependent on fossil resources, this bioplast ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Oct 17, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

New startup believes it has a way to cheaply convert methane to ethylene

(PhysOrg.com) -- When people think of uses for petroleum, they generally think of oil and gasoline, but doing so means ignoring the production of ethylene, a compound used to make many of the products most ...

Technology / Energy & Green Tech

created Oct 04, 2011 | popularity 3.3 / 5 (4) | comments 0 | with audio podcast report

Iran, Iraq pay $1.2 bn to battle sandstorms

A top Iranian environment official said on Monday Tehran and Baghdad will jointly pay $1.2 billion in a project to reduce the number of sand dunes in a bid to cut the number of sandstorms from Iraq.

Space & Earth / Environment

created Oct 03, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 1

Solar rays could replace petroleum fuels, research shows

(PhysOrg.com) -- Alternative fuel sources for cars may have a glowing future as a Kansas State University graduate student is working to replace petroleum fuels with ones made from sunlight.

Chemistry / Materials Science

created Sep 13, 2011 | popularity 4.2 / 5 (13) | comments 13 | with audio podcast

Sewage-tainted floodwaters threaten public health

(AP) -- Nasty floodwaters from the remnants of Lee and Irene - tainted with sewage and other toxins - threaten public health in parts of the Northeast by direct exposure or the contamination of private water ...

Space & Earth / Environment

created Sep 09, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Pentagon is investing in a greener military

Think your fuel bill is too high? Have a look at the U.S. military, which spent a whopping $13 billion on petroleum last year to keep its ships, planes and combat vehicles running.

Technology / Energy & Green Tech

created Aug 25, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 4

Going with the flow: Researchers find compaction bands in sandstone are permeable

When geologists survey an area of land for the potential that gas or petroleum deposits could exist there, they must take into account the composition of rocks that lie below the surface. Take, for instance, ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Jun 06, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

New thermal battery manufacturing method to be industrialized

(PhysOrg.com) -- A new thin-film coating process for manufacturing thermal batteries used in nuclear weapons and other munitions that was invented at Sandia National Laboratories will be industrialized under ...

Technology / Engineering

created Jun 02, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Silver ionic liquids are powerful solvents for oil industry

(PhysOrg.com) -- The separation of olefins and paraffin, two hydrocarbon compounds in petroleum waste streams, is a heavy expense for the petrochemical industry. The existing technology consumes a lot of energy ...

Chemistry / Materials Science

created May 17, 2011 | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Conventional fossil fuels sometimes 'greener' than biofuels: study

There’s a race afoot to give biofuel wings in the aviation industry, part of an effort to combat soaring fuel prices and cut greenhouse gas emissions. In 2008, Virgin Atlantic became the first commercial ...

Technology / Energy & Green Tech

created May 11, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 6 | with audio podcast

Petroleum

Petroleum (L. petroleum, from Greek: petra (rock) + Latin: oleum (oil)) or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and other liquid organic compounds, that are found in geologic formations beneath the Earth's surface. Petroleum is recovered mostly through oil drilling. This latter stage comes after the studies of structural geology (at the reservoir scale), sedimentary basin analysis, reservoir characterization (mainly in terms of porosity and permeable structures). It is refined and separated, most easily by boiling point, into a large number of consumer products, from petrol and kerosene to asphalt and chemical reagents used to make plastics and pharmaceuticals. Petroleum is used in manufacturing a wide variety of materials.

For more information about Petroleum, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.