Oil shale technology

Congress of United States, Office of Technology assessment, an Assessment of oil Shale Technologies, June 1980 (OTA Report No. OTA-M-118). 

Mitre Corporation (1979). Health and Environmental Effects of Oil Shale Technology, DOE/HEW/EPA-02. Department of Energy, Department of Health, Education and Welfare, U.S. Environ. Prot. Agency, Washington, D.C. 

TABLE 2. Retorted Shale and Air Particulates from the Oil Shale Technology... 

Alternative feedstocks for petrochemicals have been the subject of much research and study over the past several decades, but have not yet become economically attractive. Chemical producers are expected to continue to use fossil fuels for energy and feedstock needs for the next 75 years. The most promising sources which have received the most attention include coal, tar sands, oil shale, and biomass. Near-term advances ia coal-gasification technology offer the greatest potential to replace oil- and gas-based feedstocks ia selected appHcations (10) (see Feedstocks, coal chemicals). 

Air Pollution. Particulates and sulfur dioxide emissions from commercial oil shale operations would require proper control technology. Compliance monitoring carried out at the Unocal Parachute Creek Project for respirable particulates, oxides of nitrogen, and sulfur dioxide from 1986 to 1990 indicate a +99% reduction in sulfur emissions at the retort and shale oil upgrading faciUties. No violations for unauthorized air emissions were issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency during this time (62). 

PETROSIX Operations in Brazil. Petroleo Brasderio (Petrobras) has a dedicated facdity to produce cmde shale oil from the Irati formation in southern Bra2d. The facdity is called the Oil Shale Industriali2ation Superintendency (SIX) and uses the PETROSIX retorting technology (see Table 7 and Fig. 3). 

Pilot-plant studies have been conducted by Petrobras on many of the different oil shales from around the world. Tests indicate that many oil shales could be processed using the PETROSIX retorting technology (67) (Fig. 12). 

Another consideration of petroleum assessment analysts is whether, and to what degree, the vast resources of unconventional petroleum in the world can be captured by advances in petroleum production technologies, thereby converting them into conventional sources of petroleum. It is a simple fact that the ia-place resources of petroleum in tar sands, heavy oils, and oil shale can guarantee the future supply of petroleum for hundreds of years at the current rate of consumption, provided they can be produced at competitive costs. 

Other large-scale coal pyrolysis process developments were carried out by the Tosco Corp., with its TOSCO AT, process (36). Essentially a direct copy of Tosco s rotating kiln technology that was developed for pyrolysis of oil shale, this slow heating scheme achieved tar yields at maximum temperatures of 482—521°C that were essentially identical to those obtained by a Eischer assay. 

As crude oil reserves dwindle, the marketplace will either transition to the electrifying of the transportation system (electric and fuel-cell vehicles and electric railways), with the electricity being produced by coal, natural gas, nuclear and renewables, or see the development of an industry to produce liquid fuel substitutes from coal, oil shale, and tar sands. It might also turn out to be a combination of both. The transition will vary by nation and will be dictated strongly by the fuels available, the economic and technological efficiencies of competitive systems, the relative environmental impacts of each technology, and the role government takes in the marketplace. 

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

HYTORT A process for making gaseous and liquid fuels from oil shale. Developed by the Institute of Gas Technology, Chicago, in 1959. It uses high-pressure hydrogenation, which recovers more of the carbon from shale than does pyrolysis. In 1981 a joint venture of IGT with the Phillips Petroleum Company was formed in order to make a feasibility study. 

PFH [Pressurized fluidized-bed hydroretorting] A process for making fuel gas from oil shale. Developed and piloted by the Institute of Gas Technology, Chicago. 

For nearly a century, the oil shale in the western United States has been considered as a substitute source for conventional crude oil. If a technology can be developed to recover oil from oil shale economically, the quantities would be in the range of... 

Gruson, J. F., Gachadouat, S., Maisonnier, G. and Saniere, A. (2005). Prospective Analysis of the Potential Non-conventional World Oil Supply Tar Sands, Oil Shales and Non-conventional Liquid Fuels from Coal and Gas. Technical Report EUR 22168. European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (IPTS) and Institut Frangais du Petrole (IFP). 

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... 

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