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Energy & Fuels 1998, 12, 662
Book Reviews Fossil Hydrocarbons: Chemistry and Technology. By Norbert Berkowitz. Academic Press: San Diego, CA. $89.95. This book covers, in 11 chapters, origins, composition and properties, and aspects of processing or conversion of the entire range of fossil hydrocarbons, from natural gas through petroleum and the heavy hydrocarbons to coals. The final chapter discusses some environmental issues, and legislative or technological responses to them. Readers familiar with Professor Berkowitz’s fine earlier book, An Introduction to Coal Technology 2nd ed.; (Academic Press: New York, 1994; first published in 1979) will find the present book generally similar in format, style, and sequencing of chapters. One of the distinctions between the two books is that Fossil Hydrocarbons contains virtually no information on combustion. A much more significant distinction is that, in Fossil Hydrocarbons, Professor Berkowitz argues the importance of recognizing that all of these materials are a single, large family of substances. As he quite correctly puts it, they “form a continuum of chemically related substances that extend from methane to anthracite.” The fields of coal science and technology and of petroleum (or petroleum and gas) science and technology have evolved to a point at which they seem to be dealing with totally unrelated substances. Each has its own classification schemes and its own jargon; they may be treated in totally different departments or schools in academia; there are even two Divisions within the American Chemical Society. This book shows how materials from methane to anthracite can indeed be regarded as a continuum, with gradations, e.g., by gravity or by H/C ratio, that are then reflected in systematic changes in chemical composition, molecular structure, and chemical and physical properties. That position established, the book then shows the common concepts in preparation, processing, and conversion of the various fossil hydrocarbons. Merging aspects of composition, structure, and utilization of these superficially disparate materials into a coherent discussion is a praiseworthy endeavor indeed. Professor Berkowitz is a fluent and lucid writer. Most of this book is a genuine pleasure to read. There are a number of minor typographical errors or grammatical slips, most of which are not intrusive and cause no difficulty for the reader. About the only exception is the unfortunate use of the same schematic diagram in Chapters 9 and 10 to represent both catalytic reforming and steam reforming. A reader without some experience in the field would benefit from an instructor or a good scientific dictionary. For example, there are cases where terms, such as cloud point or API gravity, are introduced and used early but not defined until several chapters later. Each chapter is supplemented with numerous short notes that provide some additional information on specific points in the main text. They are gathered at the end so as not to introduce disruptive digressions. Most are interesting and
useful, but the reader who is so inclined can ignore them, or read only ones of particular interest, without sacrificing understanding of the material in the chapter or losing the ability to follow the principal arguments. Each chapter is also supplemented by citations to the primary literature. Many are to what is now fairly old literature, done deliberately to provide a sense of historical development and to cite original works, not more recent studies that, in the author’s judgment, have not added much new. This practice is a double-edged sword. It is most worthwhile to seize opportunities to get across the message, especially to students and newcomers to the field, that there is a large and very competent body of work in fuel science and technology that the predates the 1970s. It is also worthwhile for students, newcomers, and present practitioners alike to develop an appreciation for the history and development of our field. However, as an example of the other edge, few readers likely will have access to Potonie´’s 1908 paper in a Prussian geological journal on diagenesis, and one would like to think that some new knowledge of diagenetic processes has been accumulated in the past 90 years. Much more seriously, some topics suffer greatly from this, an example being the discussion of high-resolution 13C NMR, which appears to end with a 1979 paper by Zilm and colleagues, and ignores the substantial progress in the field since then. The only singularly weak part of the book is section 5.1, which attempts a five-page overview of “chemical systematics,” an introduction to organic nomenclature, structural formulas and functional groups. For the novice reader, this comes far too late in the book. Even worse, this section is riddled with obsolete nomenclature, combinations of different nomenclature systems, and outright errors in structures and names. It is far below the generally high standard of the remainder of the text. Who should buy this book? If I were teaching fuel chemistry to seniors or beginning graduate students, I would seriously consider it as a text. I would also recommend it as an introduction for practicing scientists or engineers new to the hydrocarbon fuel field, and recommend it for library acquisition. The book will likely prove useful as a reference, though not nearly so detailed as other, more specific works. I would be loathe to trade my copy of van Krevelen’s Coal or Speight’s Chemistry and Technology of Petroleum in exchange for Fossil Hydrocarbons. Nevertheless, this is a good, solid book, and most particularly commendable for its effort to bring together and show the common bases of all the fossil hydrocarbons, methane to anthracite. Harold H. Schobert, The Pennsylvania State University
S0887-0624(97)00186-2 CCC: $15.00 © 1998 American Chemical Society Published on Web 03/12/1998
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