Shale refinery

Petroleum refining, also called petroleum processing, is the recovery and/or generation of usable or salable fractions and products from cmde oil, either by distillation or by chemical reaction of the cmde oil constituents under the effects of heat and pressure. Synthetic cmde oil, produced from tar sand (oil sand) bitumen, and heavier oils are also used as feedstocks in some refineries. Heavy oil conversion (1), as practiced in many refineries, does not fall into the category of synthetic fuels (syncmde) production. In terms of Hquid fuels from coal and other carbonaceous feedstocks, such as oil shale (qv), the concept of a synthetic fuels industry has diminished over the past several years as being uneconomical in light of current petroleum prices. 

The term tar sands is a misnomer tar is a product of coal processing. Oil sands is also a misnomer but equivalent to usage of "oil shale." Bituminous sands is more correct bitumen is a naturally occurring asphalt. Asphalt is a product of a refinery operation, usually made from a residuum. Residuum is the nonvolatile portion of petroleum and often further defined as atmospheric (bp > 350° C) or vacuum (bp > 565° C). For convenience, the terms "asphalt" and "bitumen" will be used interchangeably in this article. 

FIGURE 6.7 Steps in oil shale retorting are shown. Oil shale is erushed and then heated in a retort to drive off the oil that is trapped in the roek. Any oil left behind, as well as partieulates returned to the process as the reeovered oil is processed, is burned to provide heat for the retorting. The oil that is recovered from the shale is chemically treated to produce synthetic crude for further processing in conventional refineries. Courtesy, Amoco Oil Company. 

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). 

Phenol has been detected in the effluent discharges of a variety of industries. It was found in petroleum refinery waste water at concentrations of 33.5 ppm (Pfeffer 1979) and 100 ppb (Paterson et al. 1996), in the treated and untreated effluent from a coal conversion plant at 4 and 4,780 ppm, respectively (Parkhurst et al. 1979), and in shale oil waste water at a maximum of 4.5 ppm (Hawthorne and Sievers 1984). It has also been detected in the effluent from a chemical specialties manufacturing plant at 0.01-0.30 ppm (Jungclaus et al. 1978), in effluent from paper mills at 5-8 ppb (Keith 1976 Paterson et al. 1996), and at 0.3 ppm in a 24-hour composite sample from a plant on the Delaware River, 2 and 4 miles downriver from a sewage treatment plant (Sheldon and Hites 1979). 

Konig Explosives. J.B. Konig patented in 1890 a method of prepn of expls by nitration of high bp hydrocarbons derived from the distn of coal, bituminous shales or residues of petroleum refineries, paraffins and ozokerite Ref Daniel (1902), 395... 

Energy demand, the implementation of sulfur oxide pollution controls, and the future commercialization of coal gasification and liquefaction have increased the potential for the development of considerable supplies of sulfur and sulfuric acid as a result of abatement, desulfurization and conversion processes. Lesser potential sources include shale oil, domestic tar sands and heavy oil, and unconventional sources of natural gas. Current supply sources of saleable sulfur values include refineries, sour natural gas processing and smelting operations. To this, Frasch sulfur production must be added. 

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... 

One of the primary problems to be encountered in energy conversion facilities will be the variability of the feedstock. A coal or oil shale facility will probably see greater variability, day-by-day, than experienced in planned changes in oil refinery crude runs. Even with extensive blending in the feed stockpile, the variation in feed characteristics will be significant. 

On the supply side, sulfur production is now controlled more by the demand for energy through the desulfurization of fuels than by the demand for sulfur per se, and this tendency is increasing. In 1965 involuntary byproduct recovered sulfur amounted to less than 20% of total elemental sulfur production in the United States and Canada, but by 1980 over 60% of all elemental sulfur resulted from refinery and natural gas processing operations. Many future hydrocarbon energy sources (coal, deep gas, heavy oil, shale, etc.) contain considerably more sulfur compared with conventional hydrocarbon fuels, and thus their exploitation will add to the ever increasing supply of by-product sulfur. 

Jet fuel - [PETROLEUM - REFINERY PROCESSES, SURVEY] (Vol 18) -biocide for [DISINFECTANTS AND ANTISEPTICS] (Vol 8) -centrifugal separation of [SEPARATION - CENTRIFUGALSEPARATION] (Vol21) -from oil shale [OIL SHALE] (Vol 17)... 

Hydrogenation tests made on the 600°-1000°F heavy gas oil from in situ crude shale oil showed that a nickel-molybdenum-on-ahimina catalyst was superior to either cobalt-molybdenum-on-alumina or nickel-tungsten-on-alumina catalysts for removing nitrpgen from shale oil fractions. This nickel-molybdenum-on-alumina catalyst was used in the preparation of the synthetic crude oil. A high yield of premium refinery feedstock whose properties compared favorably with those of a syncrude described by the NPC was attained by hydrogenating the naphtha, light... 

Synthetic crude oil (syncrude) a hydrocarbon product produced by the conversion of coal, oil shale, or tar sand bitumen that resembles conventional crude oil can be refined in a petroleum refinery (q.v.). 

Although the first major use of coal liquids will be as boiler fuels, it is clear that in order to make the largest impact on the U.S. liquid fuel demand, products from direct liquefaction have to be upgraded to quality liquid fuels for both transportation and home heating oil uses. The products coming from the all-distillate coal liquefaction processes such as H-Coal Syncrude, SRC-II and Donor Solvent, along with shale oil production will be candidates for use as refinery feedstock. 

Hydrotreated shale oil has an advantage as a refinery feed. In contrast to most petroleum crude oils, it contains essentially no residuum. Properties of the hydrotreated product from whole shale oil are similar to those of distillate fractions from waxy petroleum Arabian or Sumatran crudes. An exception is the sulfur content which is much lower for hydrotreated shale oil than for most crudes. 

The 650°F+ fraction of the hydrotreated shale oil was processed in in FCC pilot plant, and the results show that it is an excellent feed for a conventional refinery. The resulting FCC yields, activity, and product qualities are quite similar to those derived from normal petroleum gas oils. 

The results of this study are, therefore, quite encouraging. Shale oil appears to be an attractive feed for processing in existing refineries that have appropriate hydrotreating facilities. 

In a 1977 test run in Chevron U.S.A. s Salt Lake Refinery, hydro-treating facilities were adequate stable products were produced by coking a mixture of in situ shale oil and crude oil residua (3). 

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