12 ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF OIL - ENVIRONMENT - 2024

Among the main advantages and disadvantages of oil are its relatively simple extraction and the large number of applications it has, in contrast to the damage to the ecosystem that it can generate and the fact that it is a non-renewable resource.

Oil or crude oil is a combustible substance that is made up of various organic compounds, especially hydrocarbons insoluble in water, sulfur and hydrogen. Various derivatives can be generated from this, such as asphalt, fuel oils, diesel, kerosenes, liquefied petroleum gas, gasoline and naphtha.

Oil extraction machinery. Source: pixabay.com

The mentioned products that can be derived from petroleum allow the production of chemical compounds generally known as petrochemicals, which are used in different industries such as agriculture, textiles, pharmaceuticals and chemicals.

Currently, oil is one of the most important sources of energy used around the world. Approximately 60% of the oil extracted is used to supply gasoline for automobiles and various transports.

Types of crude oil according to its density

The American Petroleum Institute broke down different types of oil according to their density. API gravity measures how heavy crude oil is compared to water.

If the degrees of density are less than 10, oil is heavier than water; otherwise, it is lighter and would float on top of it. It is currently classified in four different ways:

Lightweight

Has a density greater than 31.1 ° API

Medium

It is one whose API degrees are between 22.3 and 31.1 ° API.

Heavy

Its API degrees are less than 22.3 but greater than 10 ° API.

Extra heavy

It is the densest type of crude oil of all, presenting API degrees lower than 10 ° API.

Advantages of oil

It is easy to remove

Currently, thanks to technological advances, the technologies involved in oil extraction and refining processes have been developed in a very good way, and it is very easy to exploit oil deposits regardless of geographical conditions.

In addition to conventional extraction methods, in recent years other unconventional methods have been discovered such as fracking or hydraulic fracturing, which is a technique to recover gas and oil from rocks so deep that their extraction through generally used mechanisms is impossible..

It is easy to transport

Being in liquid form, it can be easily transported and stored. It can be moved from the extraction site to the refinery or power plants through pipelines such as pipelines and multiple pipelines, or by ships or tanks.

Pipelines are pipes in which oil is transported when the distance between the extraction point and the refinery is great, and it is the fastest way to do it.

Multi-pipelines work in the same way as oil pipelines, but in addition to oil, they can also transport other types of hydrocarbons, such as gasoline, naphtha and gas.

Tankers are used when oil must be transported somewhere that is on the other side of the ocean, and this route is used since pipelines cannot do it due to the great danger that this would represent.

In the case of tanker trucks, these are generally used when oil products have to be delivered to final consumers, as well as gasoline to a service station.

Has various applications

In addition to being the main source of energy for power plants that meet the demand for energy received day after day, it is also used as a source of energy for machinery, as well as vehicles.

It is also used to produce synthetic materials, as well as petrochemical products such as pesticides and detergents. With petroleum components such as ethene and propene, various products such as solvents and fuels are also currently produced.

Surprisingly, one of the most important uses of oil is that of a distillate such as phenol, used by the pharmaceutical industry to make aspirin, for example.

Provides constant energy

Unlike solar and wind energy sources, oil supports constant energy production.

For example, solar energy depends on the ambient temperature and solar radiation; the less light there is, the less energy that can be generated. For this reason, in seasons such as winter, energy production is reduced, since this season of the year has fewer hours of sunlight than the others.

On the contrary, once the oil field is discovered, it will be available for extraction regardless of the time of day or season.

Business opportunity

During the boom of the oil industry in the 20th century, it was a very important source of income for those countries that produced it. In fact, it is still the same today, there are several economies around the world that depend on oil in different proportions.

Many countries managed to develop in the last century thanks to this business that was so profitable; That is why it is also known as “black gold”. Its exploitation is not complicated if you have the appropriate technology, and if you compare it with the income it generates, it is not expensive; in addition, it is in great demand worldwide.

High energy density

Energy density is the available energy that we can take advantage of from a resource. Oil is characterized by having a very high energy density of 42,000 Kj / kg, which is 97 times higher than the lithium and phosphate batteries currently used.

Disadvantages of oil

Possible health problems

Some petroleum compounds (such as hydrocarbons) represent a high degree of toxicity to health. Those people who are involved in oil refining or extraction, or who live near a place where these practices occur, are exposed to damage to their health.

According to the NGO Greenpeace, studies have shown that in workers exposed to benzene, this hydrocarbon has entered their body through the skin in 20% or 40% of cases, causing irritation in the skin, in their eyes and in part of the skin. digestive system, as well as depression, nausea and dizziness if the exposure is greater.

Benzene is considered carcinogenic to man and it has been shown in the same way, in studies carried out on workers exposed to this hydrocarbon, an increase in the development of cancer in the blood or leukemia.

As well as benzene, there are other components of oil that cause diseases in those who are exposed to them, such as toluene (causes fatigue, body irritation, mental confusion and muscle weakness), xylene (causes eye and nose irritation, pneumonitis and renal impairment) and benzopyrene (causes skin and lung cancer).

It is a non-renewable resource

Like all natural fossil fuels, it is not renewable. In other words, it cannot be regenerated, and as it continues to be used as the major source of energy and continues to be exploited, the fewer reserves that will remain in the future. Nothing ensures how much time remains for it to run out.

For this reason, it is extremely important to continue with the implementation of the use of other sources of energy such as solar or wind, through which no damage to the environment is generated. Both use inexhaustible natural resources, and help promote technological innovation.

Possible hydrocarbon spills

When oil is transported, spills can occur due to accidents or improper practices in bodies of water, for example, wreaking havoc on marine fauna if the spill is very extensive, such as the death of millions of fish and other organisms.

The first thing that happens in an oil spill is that a film is generated on the surface of the water that prevents light from entering through it and spreads rapidly thanks to the sea currents and the wind. This generates an extremely high level of contamination, since the components of the oil are very toxic.

Most alarming is the amount of time it takes for an ecosystem to recover. The recovery time will vary depending on the ecosystem, the size of the spill and the type of oil according to its grade; however, it is normal for the ecosystem to take between 10 and 20 years.

Supports the growth of corruption

As the philosopher Leif Wenar puts it in his book Blood Oil, most of the international conflicts of the last 40 years were due to the control of oil. He also points out that most of the oil states are not in better condition than in the 1980s; this is credited to the governments in those countries.

Many of these governments have been characterized by their poor performance in terms of managing public revenue and corruption, which is why Wenar in his book suggests that more than half of the oil traded worldwide is a “stolen good”.

Dependence

The benefits of black gold for society are so many that it has become dependent on it. Suffice it to say that practically everything that surrounds us is made of oil or has required it for its production, a situation that makes it necessary in almost all our daily activities.

Furthermore, the global economy relies on steady growth sponsored primarily by oil. The world consumes 30 billion barrels a year to generate 40% of the world's energy and 97% of the energy for transportation comes from oil.

If we eliminated only transportation (gasoline and asphalt) we would be in serious difficulties, since many of the things that are basic for daily life, such as food or clothing, require long distances to travel from their place of production.

According to Murphy and Hall (2011), there is no substitute for conventional oil that is of the same quantity, quality and availability for the same price. If we wish to opt for alternative energy sources, we realize that we are still dependent on oil. We need it, for example, in the manufacture of solar panels and in the production, transport and installation of wind turbines.

Damage to the ecosystem

Oil extraction and combustion, in addition to being highly complex, is also highly polluting for the environment. These processes generate greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming.

In the same way, the use of its derivatives (such as gasoline) also contributes to pollution since, with the combustion of this, harmful gases such as carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxide and carbon monoxide are generated.

The same happens with diesel, also known as diesel. A report by the Paul Scherrer Institute (Switzerland) revealed that cars that use this derivative as an energy source emit more nitrogen oxide - a cause of acid rain and smoke - than those who consume gasoline.

Marine contamination

Disaster of the «Prestige» in Galicia (2002)

Since oil extraction occurs mainly at sea, many oil accidents have occurred over the years causing strong impacts on ecosystems.

Land pollution

Petroleum-derived agrochemicals include inorganic fertilizers and pesticides. The excessive use of these chemicals has serious effects on the environment that can be immediate or long-term (Bhandari, 2014).

Only 0.1% of the applied insecticides reach pests, while the rest are dispersed in the environment, contaminating soils, water and affecting living beings. (Torres and Capote, 2004).

Currently, it is considered that of the 6 million potentially toxic agrochemicals for humans, approximately 100 thousand have carcinogenic effects and only in 10% of these are their medium-term effects on health known (Riccioppo, 2011).

Land pollution also occurs in oil extraction processes. Canada is one of the countries with the most reserves in the world, but the problem is that these reserves are not conventional, since the oil is dissolved in tar sands.

The Canadian extraction and refining process requires the implementation of open-pit mining and large amounts of water to separate the oil from the sand, which involves the removal of vegetation, the use of significant amounts of water, and very heavy pollution. high of hydrological basins.

Atmospheric pollution

In addition to ground pollution, the process for the extraction of bituminous oil also leads to a significant release of greenhouse gases that pollute the atmosphere.

The large amounts of energy required to process oil shale, combined with the thermochemistry of the process, produce carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions.

This process generates 1.2 to 1.75 more greenhouse gases than conventional oil operations (Cleveland, and O'Connor, 2011).

In general, the combustion of petroleum products generates particles of carbon dioxide (CO2), sulfur oxides (SOx), nitrous oxides (NOx), carbon monoxide (CO), which contribute to accelerating global warming and generating acid rain.

Measurements of the acidity of rain and snow reveal that in parts of the eastern United States and western Europe, precipitation has changed from a nearly neutral solution 200 years ago to a dilute solution of sulfuric and nitric acids today.

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