Oil shale extracts

Silver is usually found in extremely low concentrations in natural waters because of its low crustal abundance and low mobility in water (USEPA 1980). One of the highest silver concentrations recorded in freshwater (38 pg/L) occurred in the Colorado River at Loma, Colorado, downstream of an abandoned gold-copper-silver mine, an oil shale extraction plant, a gasoline and coke refinery, and a uranium processing facility (USEPA 1980). The maximum recorded value of silver in tapwater in the United States was 26 pg/L — significantly higher than finished water from the treatment plant (maximum of 5.0 pg/L) — because of the use of tin-silver solders for joining copper pipes in the home, office, or factory (USEPA 1980). 

Huuskonen, S.E., Tuvikene, A., Trapido, M., Fent, K. Hahn, M.E. (2000) Cytochrome P4501A induction and porphyrin accumulation in PLHC-1 fish cells exposed to sediment and oil shale extracts. Archieves of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology 38 59-69. 

Simultaneously, we were studying the reactions of methyl- and phenylarsonic acids with substituted catechols. In that study, (29) we discovered that the reaction products, five-coordinate, organoarsenic catecholates, could be gas chromatographed on fused silica capillary columns (30 m x 0.3 nm DB-5) and characterized by mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Therefore, we decided to apply this derivatization technique to the unequivocal identification of methyl- and phenylarsonic acids present in the oil shale extract. 

Figure 1. The HPLC-graphite furnace atomic absorption (GFAA) analysis of Green River Formation oil shale extracted with refluxing methanol...

With the beginning of the industrial revolution around 1800, oil became increasingly important for lubrication and better illumination. Expensive vegetable oils were replaced by sperm whale oil [8002-24-2], which soon became scarce and its price skyrocketed. In 1850 lubrication oil was extracted from coal and oil shale (qv) in England, and ultimately about 130 plants in Great Britain and 64 plants in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Kentucky employed this process. 

Supercritical fluid solvents have been tested for reactive extractions of liquid and gaseous fuels from heavy oils, coal, oil shale, and biomass. In some cases the solvent participates in the reactions, as in the hydrolysis of coal and heavy oils with water. Related applications include conversion of cellulose to glucose in water, dehgnincation of wood with ammonia, and liquefaction of lignin in water. 

Oil Shale Oil shale is nonporous rock containing organic kero-gen. Raw shale oil is extracted from mined rock by pyrolysis in a surface retort, or in situ by steam injection after breaking up the rock with explosives. Pyrolysis cracks the kerogen, yielding raw shale oil... 

The highest surface activity of fraction A3 extracted from shale oil needs to be explored in detail in order to understand this very unique phenomena. The benchmark experiments performed by Lee et al. (22) in studies of dissociation phenomena of Stuart oil shale in an alkaline environment proved the formation of carboxylic acids as it was verified from GC results. In another study by Lee et al. (23), it was shown that the hydroxyl ions from an alkaline solution could decompose the silicate and aluminasilicate structures in oil shale samples, provided that ultrasonic radiation and electrolytic current were simultaneously applied. 

Develop technologies for the improved extraction of conventional fossil fuels, including unconventional sources such as oil shale, tar sands, and deep-sea methane hydrates. 

Petrosix [Named after the oil company Petrobus and the oil shale company Superintendecia da Industrializacao da Xisto] A method for extracting oil and gas from shale. A large demonstration plant was operated in Brazil in the 1970s. 

Pumpherston [Named after the town near Edinburgh, Scotland, where the process was operated] A process for extracting fuel oil from oil shale. The heart of the process was the Pumpherston retort (also called the Bryson retort), down which the shale fell by gravity and up which air and steam were passed. Ammonia was collected as a by-product. Invented by J. Young in 1850 and operated in Scotland between 1883 and 1962. 

Despite the considerable growth of the Canadian oil sands industry in recent years, there are still several difficulties that could impede the future development of this industry for instance, the heavy reliance on natural gas and water, which are necessary for both the extraction of bitumen from oil sands and its upgrading to synthetic oil, as well as the associated high emissions of C02. For nearly a century, the oil shale in the western United States has been considered a possible substitute source for conventional crude oil. If a technology can be developed to recover oil... 

In addition to their energetic value, oil shales have also been used as sources for other materials, such as alumina, ammonium sulphate, phosphate, sodium carbonate, S, U, V, and Zn (Murray 1974). In the early 17th century, potassium aluminium sulphate was extracted from the Alum Shales in Sweden for use in the tanning and textile industry. It was only by the 19th century that hydrocarbons were being extracted from these Alum Shales while, in the 1960s, their content of U and V was being exploited (Dyni 2000). 

Organic contaminants. The concentration of polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) in the particulate phase of flue gases of oil-shale-combusting thermal power plants has been estimated to range from 0.04 to 3.16 mg/m3 (Aunela et al. 1995). The solvent-extractable fraction (<1.5 wt%) from fly ash particles collected from Narva power plant smog chambers included several PAHs (phenanthrene,... 

Bondar, E. Koel, M. 1998. Application of supercritical fluid extraction to organic geochemical studies of oil shale. Fuel, 77, 211-213. 

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