Nature provides a free lunch, but only if we control our appetites 

Our world today is powered greatly by fossil fuels. Hydrocarbon, a great source of power generation for industries, houses and the growth of our everyday lives. 

The carbon (C) is a prominent source for electric power generation, as a fuel for the production of steel for various industries such as steel or metal, particularly for oil generation.

Despite growing a highly polluting element in the earth’s natural resources, carbon is notably important today, especially when we think that much of the energy and production system is based on its use.

We can use hydrocarbons as plastics, greases, paints, textiles, medicines and also generate electricity. We can’t overlook that hydrocarbon is part of our daily life because hydrocarbon is one of the causes of why we can perform our daily activities. 

Even it can provoke us negative effects, we should look forth to what hydrocarbons can provide to us and how significant was the role of hydrocarbons in our life.

What is Hydrocarbon?

A hydrocarbon is an organic chemical compound formed exclusively of hydrogen and carbon atoms. The carbon atoms combine together to form the structure of the compound, and the hydrogen atoms attach to them in many various configurations. 

These bonds may be single, multiple or hexagonal, and decide whether the hydrocarbon is a liquid or gas at any given temperature. Hydrocarbons are the principal components of petroleum and natural gas. 

They toil as fuels and lubricants as well as raw materials for the production of plastics, rubbers, fibers, solvents, explosives, and industrial chemicals.

Burning hydrocarbons in the presence of adequate oxygen generate carbon dioxide, water, and heat, which is why hydrocarbons are sought-after as fuels. Methane, ethylene, acetylene, benzene, and naphthalene are some of the most common hydrocarbons. (1)

Breaking down of Hydrocarbon:

Methane, the main ingredient of natural gas, is the purest hydrocarbon because of the way it is structured. The four classes of hydrocarbons are aromatics, alkanes, alkenes (olefins) and alkynes (acetylenes). 

The way the hydrogen and carbon atoms are ordered and the types of chemical bonds that connect them decide what product they create. Crude oil, tar, bitumen, and condensate are all petroleum hydrocarbons that are liquids that contain hydrocarbons. Propane, butane, and methane are gas hydrocarbons. (2)

Coal also carries hydrocarbons, but the geological process that creates solid coal press out most of the hydrogen and oxygen atoms, leaving a carbon-rich solid. Although hydrocarbons are technically just some of the molecules enclosed within the oil, natural gas, and coal, these three substances are usually referred to as hydrocarbons in and of themselves.  

Hydrocarbon forms directly from plant and animal that are remain compressed through temperature and pressure over millennia, buried within the earth, in permeable rocks like sandstone, limestone, and shale. 

These types of rock are in large bodies of water, especially oceans, and the natural gas and petroleum slowly rise through the rock and closer to the water’s surface (but still thousands of feet deep) and form a reservoir. 

Oil and natural gas search companies look for these geological configurations to find potential pools to extract. (3)

Extracting Hydrocarbons:

Different techniques are used to extract hydrocarbons depending on their nature and the material they’re contained in. For example, hydraulic fracturing is used to extract natural gas from rock by cracking the rock and using pressurized liquid to press the gas up through a well to the earth’s surface.

Likewise, oil sands are unique deposits of crude that are blended in with sand or partially formed sandstone, challenging the deposit to be mined. A narrow vertical or horizontal well is used when a prolific formation is easily accessed. (4)

The Hydrocarbon Economy:

Hydrocarbons are, of course, the leading source of energy around the world. The uses of hydrocarbons go far away simply providing the fuel that can be converted into energy. Through refining, petroleum has contributed a wide range of derivative materials that play decisive roles in the world economy, including plastics, waters, and lubricants. 

If all machinery were transformed into renewable energy today, hydrocarbon extraction would still be needed for these derivative products. This dependency on fossil fuels has led to the term hydrocarbon economy being utilized to describe the current global economy. (5)

Hydrocarbons and the Environment:

There is an environmental cost of burning hydrocarbons for energy. Greenhouse gasses discharged during combustion are contributing to climate change and the extraction process demands a toll from natural habitats. 

Many claims that the externalities of the hydrocarbon economy are much costlier than any cost savings from their uses as a fuel source. For this reason, alternative energy roots like solar, nuclear, wind and geothermal are being explored. 

Currently, however, the cost competitiveness of these alternative roots is not sufficient to wholly replace hydrocarbons. (6)

Significance of Hydrocarbon:

• In the arts, the main role of hydrocarbons exists in the inks/oil paints and solvents. Hydrocarbon solvents used for paints made of Low Aromatic White Spirit is a solvent of laws resulting from Pertamina refinery in Plaju with a boiling point range between 145 degrees Celsius – 195 degrees Celsius. 
• Natural gas and fuels – Many of the natural fuel sources we use are hydrocarbons. Compounds like methane, butane, propane, and hexane are all hydrocarbons. Their chemical formulas consist of only carbon and hydrogen atoms, in a mixture of ratios and chemical configurations.
• Plastics – Many of the plastics we use in everyday life and in the industry are built from long chains of monomers, formed from petrochemicals. These petrochemicals are only hydrocarbons of different chemical compositions.

• Paraffin – The wax that we use for a variety of industries, everything from candle production and food preservation to medical and industrial uses, contains hydrocarbons.
• Isopropyl alcohol – This common medical chemical is exciting in that it contains a hydrocarbon that is then bonded to further carbon atoms. The primary hydrocarbon, CH3, bonds to other atoms to form (CH3)2CHOH.
• Asphalt – the common element that most people are familiar with is actually a hydrocarbon that has been heated to form the substance tar. It is then mixed with other fundamental industrial ingredients to form the mixture that makes up the road’s surface. (7)

We are all familiar with the use of propane in gas barbecues, lamps, and as a fuel for internal combustion engines and heating systems. Butane is also an easily available fuel, familiar to everyone in the form of the pocket lighter.

With pentane, the saturated hydrocarbons invade the realm of room-temperature liquids. This delivers them useful as organic solvents, cleaners, and transport fuels. Gasoline for civil combustion engines in cars, trucks, tractors, lawnmowers, and so on, is rated in combustion properties related to octane. (8)

Hydrocarbons are very deadly but accept the fact that these hydrocarbons are very essential to each of us. Hydrocarbons are very helpful and it is one of the compounds that assist us to build things that are part of our everyday lives. 

It is very dangerous so we should apprehend what are the safety norms in handling these hydrocarbons. We must look ahead to the things that hydrocarbon can furnish to us and how huge is the enrichment of hydrocarbons to us. 

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