Water, retort

Very little information regarding the release of individual isomers was located in the literature. A coal liquefaction waste water effluent contained o- cresol at a concentration of 586 mg/L (Fedorak and Hrudey 1986). o-Cresol was detected at an average concentration of 1.1 pg/L for three samples of retort water from a shale oil production facility (Hawthorne and Sievers 1984). 

Dobson KR, Stephenson M, Greenfield PF, etal. 1985. Identification andtreatability of organics in oil shale retort water. Water Res J 19 849- 856. 

The mixture is allowed to stand in the closed retort for several days, and then slowly heated and distilled, a gas-ring being used to heat the retort. Water first distils, then the contents of the retort swell considerably, and acrolein mixed with water and sulphurous acid passes over. The distillation is continued till, after several hours, practically no more liquid distils. 

The nitrophenols have been identified in effluents from several industries. 2-Nitrophenol has been detected in effluents from photographic and electronics industries (Bursey and Pellizzari 1982). Nitrophenols (isomer unidentified) at a concentration of 5 mg/L was detected in oil shale retort water (Dobson et al. 1985). Nitrophenols have been identified in effluents from other chemical plants, as well. 4-Nitrophenol has been identified in effluent from a pesticide plant (EPA 1985). Both 2-nitrophenol and 4-nitrophenol were detected in the final effluent from the waste water of a petroleum refining industry (Snider and Manning 1982). Nitrophenols have also been identified in primary and secondary effluents of municipal waste water treatment plants. For example, both nitrophenols were identified in the secondary effluent from a waste water treatment plant in Sauget, Illinois, (Ellis et al. 1982), and 4-nitrophenol was detected in both primary and secondary effluent... 

Some of the apparatus and utensils which are the tools of the chemist of our scientific laboratories were first introduced by alchemists—cupel, distilling flask, retort, water bath and even the balance in its crude form. The extraction of gold by amalgamation with mercury, the preparation of caustic alkali from the ashes of plants, and other new processes of manipulation and methods of manufacture were developed by the gold cooks in their manifold operations. 

A Fischer assay simulates the conversion of oil shale to usable fuels in an above-ground retort. The results of an extensive program of chemical analysis of major and trace elements in spent shale, oil, and water collected from the Fischer assay of a standard oil shale are presented. The concentration of major elements in raw and spent shale can be determined only to 10% in this study. Two criteria show that fluorine and zinc may have been mobilized during the assays. The concentrations of arsenic and selenium in the Fischer assay retort water exceed the maximum permissible concentrations for drinking water. 

Retort water collection and preservation poses special problems because of its unusual chemical characteristics. For example, the electrochemical properties of the Fischer assay water collected in this study were pH = 8.95, conductivity = 29,000 fjmho/cm at 25°C, and Eh = —310 mv. The major species in the water are NH4 and HCOa". Con-... 

If the retort water is considered for domestic or irrigation uses, it would have to be treated to remove a number of contaminants. Of the major constituents in retort water, the NH4, HCOa", and organic compounds in the water clearly make it unsuitable for other uses (18). Of the trace constituents, the arsenic and selenium concentrations listed in Table IV are above the maximum permissible concentrations for drinking water (36). The boron concentration may make water unsuitable for irrigation (22). Other studies have found silver and lead concentrations in retort waters have exceeded the maximum permissible concentrations for drinking water (1,2,36). Numerous studies for the treatment of the retort water have been initiated (37). The objectives of these studies are usually to find a method to recover the ammonia and organic material from the water so that treatment costs will be lowered through by-product recovery. 

Aqueous samples contained alkanes at the ppb level as might be expected. Shale oil retort water, produced in intimate contact with the... 

Unfortunately, retort waters themselves are a major source of a great variety of organic compounds whose subsequent fate at the dumpsite raises additional questions with regard to both ground and air pollution. Our interests center on the latter problem of air emissions. The identification of the volatile components and their frequency of occurrence among waters from different processes is the subject of this report. 

Previous studies have established the presence of NHCs in several retort water samples. Leenheer et al. [2] fractionated compounds into hydrophobic/hydrophilic basic and acidic fractions and demonstrated the presence of a number of alky 1-pyri dines and -quinolines by bigh-performance liquid chromatography. Hawthorne and Sieveis [ 3 ] used gas chromatography/mass spectrometry to identify, in 3 retort water/gas condensate sample pairs, a limited number of NHCs in tbe ambient headspace, and many more sucb compounds by an exhaustive purge and trap technique. Also reported in retort water have been a series of Cg to alkyIpyridines t 7 ]. 

The following retort waters were used in this investigation Oxy-6 gas condensate, Oxy-6 retort water, and Oxy-7 and 8 gas condensate (Occidental Oil Shale, Inc.),... 

Pyridine and quinoline added as index markers their presence in the retort waters therefore could not be confirmed in each retort water, however, pedes were obseryed at the pyridine and quinoline positions prior to their addition as madeers. 

Tab. 2.Proportion of N-containing compounds common among 8 retort waters...

Retort water Number of nitrogen-containing peaks Fraction common to all waters,... 

J. A. Leenheer, T. I. Noyes, and H.A.Stuber, Determination of Polar Organic Solutes in Oil-Shale Retort Water, Environ. Sci.Technol. 1982,16, 714-723. 

In the five deposits under review the demonstrated in situ shale oil resource exceeds 17 billion barrels (at a cut-off grade of 50 litres/tonne at 0% retort water (LTOW) over a 4 metre minimum mining thickness. This cut-off grade is used herein when resource dimensions are specified). 

Development of Water Treatment Systems. In situ processes produce approximately one barrel of retort water contaminated with carbonaceous residues for each barrel of shale oil recovered. Surface processes also produce retort water but in lower quantities. Although current plans do not call for discharge of wastewater, it much be cleaned for reuse in the process and other uses, such as dust control and solid waste management. 

Daughton C.G., Jones B.M., and Sakaji R.H. 1985. Organic nitrogen determination in oil shale retort waters. Anal. Chem. 57 2326-2333. 

Lebsack, M.E., A.D. Anderson, K.F. Nelson, and D.S. Farrier. 1980. Sublethal effects of an in situ oil shale retort water on rainbow trout. Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology 54 462-468. 

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