One of the major forms of fossil fuels is coal. There are several forms of coal like anthracite coal, peat, bituminous and lignite. Peat and lignite are not high on productivity as they give off only negligible amount of energy for every unit of fuel.
Lignite is still more useful compared to peat as it may be vaporized to obtain a clean burning fuel. At times lignite is also liquified in order to obtain fractions of liquid petroleum. However these processes are expensive. Anthracite and bituminous coal are processed after being extracted from the mine and then can be used as fuels.
One of the major issues regarding the utilization of coal is that they are very expensive to extract. Besides the various types of structures that need to be constructed and the sophisticated machinery that need to be used for these purposes there are a lot of dangers like dilapidation of the structures as well as explosion.
The laborers who work in these mines may often suffer from respiratory diseases as a result of breathing the poisonous air present in their working environment.
The transportation of coals is also a major issue as a result of the costs involved.
Crude or raw petroleum is yet another fossil fuel as well. It may be described as a combination of several elements like dissolved gases, solids and liquids. Crude petroleum is considered to be more advantageous compared to coal. It is easier to extract raw petrol as it is liquid and thus can be drawn to the surface by putting pressure.
It is also cost effective compared to coal. However there are certain disadvantages of raw petroleum as well as it can be transferred by ships or pipelines. This is also less time consuming compared to the transportation of coal, which has to be done by railroads or ships that are headed towards the oceans.