Oil shale tars

The increase in the price of oil and natural gas motivates the chemical industry to develop processes that use alternative raw materials and to develop efficient and economical processes for liquid fuels synthesis from coal and natural gas. An innovative promising approach for producing gasoline from methane is presented in [5]. Other important tasks are development of efficient methods for producing liquid fuels from unconventional sources such as oil shale, tar sands, and deep-sea methane hydrates. 

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

The terms synthetic fuel and alternative fuel are closely related, but not truly synonymous. Synthetic fuel was coined as a term in the middle of the twentieth century to include gaseous, liquid and solid fuels produced from coal, oil shale, tar sands, and biomass. Alternative fuel appeared as a popular phrase during the latter years of the twentieth century which referred to fuels that were not totally based on petroleum and held potential as clean-burning, low-polluting, commercially viable fuel resources. 

On a qualitative basis, the estimates of recovered sulfur from refinery operations appear to be the most secure. Except for district IV, which depends heavily on the ultimate productivity of the Overthrust Belt, estimates of sulfur production from sour natural gas also seem reliable. The heavy crude oil sulfur output estimate is reasonably firm. Oil shale, tar sands, heavy oil and in situ coal combustion will produce little sulfur even under optimistic scenarios. The smelter acid projection is weak. Metal output may... 

Plants to produce low-sulfur fuels from coal, oil shale, tar sands or heavy oil frequently are conceived to use the Claus process to produce byproduct sulfur. Often the plant concept imposes unacceptable technical burdens on the Claus section. This paper points out some of the problems, and some solutions. In particular, the paper discusses a Claus type process recently developed with special application to coal and oil gasification plants. 

Plants to process alternate sources of energy will make low-sulfur fuels from high-sulfur feeds such as coal, oil shale, tar sands, or heavy oil. Elemental sulfur will be a normal byproduct. Nearly all processing schemes first produce H2S from the sulfur compounds in the raw material, and then convert H2S to elemental sulfur. Usually this conversion step is labelled "Claus Process". 

The nation s petroleum resources are not inexhaustible, although its potential energy resources are adequate for centuries to come ( ). These include, in addition to liquid petroleum, natural gas, oil shale, tar sands, and coal. Above and beyond these resources is the basic energy to be derived from the sun, winds, tidal action, and nuclear forces. For the present purpose, no consideration of these ultimate energy sources is required. 

Energy sources and conversion— biomass, batteries, fuel celts and fuel cell technology, hydrogen as a fuel, liquid and gaseous fuels from coal, oil shale, tar sands, nuclear fission and fusion, lithium lor thermonuclear reactors, insulating materials, and solar energy. 

Another 50 years have elapsed during which oil shale, tar sands, and other supplementary fuels have not been fully exploited, despite the fact that this country is facing an energy shortage. It was an opportune time when the ACS Division of Fuel Chemistry decided to sponsor a symposium on Shale Oil, Tar Sands, and Related Fuel Sources in April 1974 at Los Angeles. Many of the papers presented at that symposium have been updated for the present volume. 

Over the past few years, established analytical chemical methodology for crude oil and refined petroleum derivatives has been extended to the rapidly expanding field of coal liquefaction products and has assisted in the substantive reappraisal of such potential liquid fuel sources as oil shale, tar sands, and similar bitumenous deposits. While many of the analytical problems of separation, identification, and characterization are common to all of these fields, each area exhibits distinct requirements calling for specific development of appropriate methodology. Indeed, the added chemical complexity of the nonpetroleum-based liquid fuel sources presents many novel challenges to the chemical investigator. 

Activated carbon fibers made from various precursors have been investigated (i.e., polyacrylonitrile or PAN, coal tar pitch, petroleum pitch, and oil shale tars) and have all exhibited high activity for SO2 conversion [47]. It has also been shown that heat treatment of the fibers can increase the catalytic activity, the extent of change being dependent upon the type of fiber, and the heat treatment temperature and atmosphere [48]. 

R.N. Heistand, Retorted Oil Shale Disposal Research. In Oil Shale, Tar Sands, and Related Materials (H.C. Stauffer, ed.), ACS Sympos. Sen, No. 163. American Chemical Society, Washington, DC, 1981. 

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