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Introduction To Carbon in Life

Notes for new curriculum senior two

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41 views2 pages

Introduction To Carbon in Life

Notes for new curriculum senior two

Uploaded by

girabob1995
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Introduction to Carbon in life.

Carbon in life refers to the diversity of materials containing carbon in our day to day life.
These compounds in which carbon form long chains in their structures are called organic
compounds and do not include compounds in which carbon does not form long chains.
Compounds like carbonates, bicarbonates and oxides of carbon are not organic compounds.
Organic compounds are studied in a separate branch of chemistry called organic chemistry.
These compounds include; soap and detergents, alcohols, crude oil, natural gas and biogas.
CRUDE OIL.
Crude oil is a natural resource that is found many meters below the earth and is formed
from remains of living things that lived many years ago and is found under layers of
sedimentary rocks.
The organic matter of the decaying or decomposing bodies of these organisms was slowly
converted by heat and pressure into crude oil.
Crude oil is a thick, dark brown or black liquid or semi solid, it is called petroleum.
It is a fossil fuel because it was formed from the remains of living things that lived many
million years ago through the process of decomposition or decay.
Crude oil is mixture of many hydrocarbon components which are separated to the different
pure components by fractional distillation or refining because the components have
different boiling points.
The different components obtained from crude oil are called fractions and these fractions
include; naphtha, kerosene, diesel and petrol.
Fractional distillation of crude oil takes place in tall and cylindrical containers or columns.
Each of these fractional columns have many plates that look like trays positioned at
different heights.
Each tray collects a different component of crude oil depending on its boiling point.
The crude oil is heated at a very high temperature of about 350 ◦C to produce a gaseous
mixture of components which moves up the column. As it rises to the top of the column,
each component of crude oil cools and condenses at a different temperature and is
collected in the trays.
The components with higher boiling points condense on the lower trays in the column and
the components with lower boiling points condense in the trays positioned higher up the
column.
NATURAL GAS.
Natural gas is formed in the same way as crude oil and is found together with crude oil and
the main gas found in natural gas is mainly methane gas. It is a fossil fuel which is found
deep under the earth between the two layers of impervious rocks, either above or along
with petroleum deposits.
It is produced abundantly in marshy areas. It consists of a mixture of methane gas and
ethane gas. It is stored under high pressure as compressed natural gas (CNG).
It is an efficient and convenient fuel because it does not produce any ash or smoke on
burning. CNG is highly inflammable and is supplied through pipelines.
The composition of the natural gas consists of 95% methane and 5% of a mixture of ethane,
propane and ethylene.
BIOGAS.
Biogas is a gas that is produced by the decomposition of plant and animal waste products.
Biogas is a mixture of different gases which include; methane (60-80%), carbon dioxide (35-
40%), hydrogen sulphide (2%), hydrogen (2-7%), ammonia and nitrogen (0-0.2%).
The ability of biogas to burn is due to methane which constitutes the greatest percentage.
Methane gas is an inflammable gas and shows one of the properties of alkanes. When
alkanes burn, a lot of heat is produced.
Therefore biogas is used as a fuel in cooking and lighting in homes and industries.
Biogas is normally produced by anaerobic micro-organisms living in the digestive system of
ruminant animals like cows, goats and elephants. The faeces of these animals contain micro-
organisms that break down wastes into biogas.
The production of biogas involves the use of animal waste and plant waste materials like
cow dung are put in a bio digester.
The biogas is produced through the process of anaerobic respiration or fermentation. The
residue that remains is called bio-slurry which can be used as an organic fertiliser and for
producing animal feeds.
Biogas can be made at home or farm in four main steps:
 The waste is collected and mixed with a specific proportion of water.
 The mixture is passed into another tank or chamber where bacteria breakdown the
organic substances like carbohydrates, proteins and fats into sugars, amino acids and
fatty acids respectively.
 The sugars, amino acids and fatty acids are then passed inti an anaerobic chamber
where micro-organisms convert them into carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulphide,
nitrogen, ammonia and methane.
 Biogas is used for cooking and lighting. It is a renewable gas because it can be used
continuously without getting exhausted or used up

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