Anvil points

Sample. Petroleum crude oil sample from Long Beach Field (TUMS Well C-331, API° 20), California, and shale oil obtained by retorting at 500°C the Green River Oil Shale (Anvil Point Mine) were studied. About 20 g of shale oil was dissolved in 200 ml of THF and then filtered. The sample was recovered by a rotary evaporator. Although the same procedure was done on the other samples, the percent ash was different for each sample. All the samples were evaporated to a constant weight in a vacuum oven at 50°C. 

Data from reference 8, sample 482B B, Anvil Points, CO, organic carbon 13.61%... 

The sample in this study was a 94-L/Mg (22.4-gal/ton) Green River oil shale (marl) from the Anvil Points mine near Rifle,... 

Reagents. Shale oil used in this study was obtained by retorting at 500°C the Green River Oil Shale from Anvil Point, Colorado. Petroleum Crude oil was obtained from Long Beach Field, California. Coal liquid was obtained from the PAMCO process. 

Since it is usually assumed that western shale is similar when taken from the same horizontal strata, it was decided to investigate the mineral reactions which take place in an oil shale drawn from a deep core hole sample. The sample used was from the C-a tract in Colorado (designated "C-a ) Although, as shown in Table I, the elemental analyses of the C-a sample were similar to those for a sample from the Parachute Creek Member in western Colorado (designated "PCM"), X-ray diffraction data indicated that its dolomitic fraction more nearly resembled ankerite as opposed to dolomite. In addition, the total quantity of mineral carbonates was higher in the C-a sample. Also shown in Table I are data reported by Campbell (3) for a sample taken from the Anvil Points area. 

On the basis of the studies conducted here, it is readily apparent that the presence of minerals can drastically alter the reactivity of the residual char on spent oil shale More detailed quantitative studies of the mineral compositions are necessary in order to be able to assess their importance under typical oil shale processing conditions and will be the subject of future manuscripts from this laboratory. However, at this time, there are several conclusions which can be made. First, the combustion of the char in all six of the shales followed first order kinetics with respect to the oxygen partial pressure and the char available For the western shales this is in agreement with previous works which studied PCM and Anvil Points shales, but it does conflict with the results of Rostam-Abadi and Mickelson (9) who reported second order kinetics for Antrim shale. Secondly, we found that CaO has a catalytic effect on char combustion, most likely due to a chemisorption process And finally we found that Na20, as derived from the thermal decomposition of nahcolite, has a pronounced catalytic effect on the char combustion rate of saline zone shale ... 

Sample Preparation and Apparatus. The oil-shale samples used in this study were taken from the Anvil Points mine, Tract C-a, Logan Wash, and the Colony mine. Table I gives the properties of the shale samples. The shale samples were crushed and sieved to less than 841 pm diam. A portion of Sample AP22 was doped with 1 wt% finely ground (<53 pm) pyrite. The sample was mixed thoroughly for several days on a rotating tumbler. 

I. Anvil Points Mine. II. Rio Blanco mine shaft on Tract C-a. 

Figure 2. Rate of H2S evolution from a powdered sample of 61-gal/ton Anvil Points oil shale (AP61) in an argon atmosphere. A gas flow of 1 L/min and a heating rate of 4.8°C/min were used.

Autogenous. Figure 5 shows the rate of H2S evolution in an autogenous atmosphere from Anvil Points samples of 9-, 22-,... 

Figure 5. Rate of H2S evolution from Anvil Points (AP) samples of varying grades (e.g., Sample AP61 is 61 gal/ton). The samples were heated in an autogenous atmosphere at 4.8°C/min. The temperature of the peak evolution rate increases as grade decreases.

Although the organic matter in oil shale, particularly in rich samples, produces H2S by reducing a substantial quantity of the initial pyrite to pyrrhotite, steam can potentially increase H2S production from an oil shale retort by oxidizing both iron sulfides. While investigating the steam-carbon reaction in spent oil shale (15), a noticeable amount of H2S was evolved near and below 500°C. In addition, H2S emissions from LLNL Retort Run L-2 (50% steam 50% air) were about three times higher than from LLNL Retort Run L-l (100% air) (2). These two runs used similar grades of Anvil Points shale. 

Our starting material was oil shale from the Anvil Points Mine near Rifle, Colorado, that had been ground and sieved to <0.84 mm diam. This was then assayed and found to have an oil content of 22 gal/ton. The samples used in our experiments were pyrolyzed and analyzed in the apparatus diagrammed in Figure 1. 

The shale samples used in this work were obtained by screening from a single bulk sample of Colorado oil shale (Anvil Points Mine, courtesy of Development Engineering Incorporated and the U.S. Department of Energy). The Fischer Assay oil yield was 10.5 wt % based on fresh shale (27.5 gallons/ton) for the larger particles and somewhat lower for the finer size cuts, for example, 10.15 wt % for 100 ym particles. 

Solvent Extraction. A sample of the Green River oil shale from Anvil Points, Colorado was crushed to 8-20 mesh size prior... 

Access to shale at the C-a tract was not possible when this study was started. The Mahogany Zone shale from the Anvil Points Mine was used in this study. 

A second objective of sampling at the Anvil Points mine was to obtain a representative sample of a full 60-foot interval. The zone selected was from 20 feet above the Mahogany marker to 40 feet below. This procedure gave us samples of shale from beds G and H, which show a highly cylical grade change with depth in the core analysis histograms. 

Figure 1. Core intervals and mineable beds at Anvil Points mine, Rifle, CO...

Figure 6. Distribution of organic matter in Mahogany zine shale, Anvil Points mine, upper zone, + 20 ft to Mahogany marker...

Figure 9. Relative distribution of shale grade on C-a tract and Mahogany zone, Anvil Points (upper figure,) based on CE-205 core, 2-ft increments, 1050-ft interval (lower figure,) based on A-core, 1-ft increments, 73-ft interval.

Paraho Development Corporation, Box A, Anvil Points, Rifle, CO 81650... 

The retorted shale research studies discussed in this paper were carried out at the U. S. Department of Energy Anvil Points Research Facility located on the Naval Oil Shale Reserves Nos. 1 and 3 near Rifle, Colorado. 

The crude shale was produced by Paraho Development Corp. over the three year period from 1976 to 1978. Paraho s Anvil Point, Colorado works utilizes a vertical direct heat retort to recover the oil from crushed shale (1). 

Figure 4.6. Correlation between TG mass-loss at 500°C with oil yield. Samples are . Anvil Points, Rifle, CO O, Logan Wash, CO , Rock Springs. WY A, Vernol. UT. The error bar denotes maximum mean deviation in TG values (121).

Anvil Points mine near Rifle, Colorado. Some samples from the... 

Let us explain how the molecular anvil operates. When the two molecules are separated at distances greater than the equilibrium distance, an attractive force exists between every pair of molecular contacts. However when they come closer to each other, a repulsive force begins to exert only at the anvil site and the other contact sites remain to be attractive. In such a range of distances attractive forces at the contact sites are focused at the anvil site and high pressure is produced at this point and a high energy state is spontaneously created at this anvil point. This is molecular anvil action. 

FIGURE 13.13 Chromatograms of shale oil produced at 0.03 and 12°C/min. The shale sample came from Anvil Points, Colorado, and contained 92 mL oil/kg shale. Complete identifications available in the original reference. Normal 1-alkenes and alkanes are indicated by a dot, with the 1-alkenes preceding the corresponding n-alkane. (Reprinted with permission from Reference 55, Copyright 1982, Pergamon Press, Ltd.)... 

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