Related Research Articles
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is a federal research facility in Livermore, California, United States. The lab was originally established as the University of California Radiation Laboratory, Livermore Branch in 1952 in response to the detonation of the first atomic bomb by the Soviet Union during the Cold War. It later became autonomous in 1971 and was designated a national laboratory in 1981.
Oil shale is an organic-rich fine-grained sedimentary rock containing kerogen from which liquid hydrocarbons can be produced. In addition to kerogen, general composition of oil shales constitutes inorganic substance and bitumens. Based on their deposition environment, oil shales are classified as marine, lacustrine and terrestrial oil shales. Oil shales differ from oil-bearing shales, shale deposits that contain petroleum that is sometimes produced from drilled wells. Examples of oil-bearing shales are the Bakken Formation, Pierre Shale, Niobrara Formation, and Eagle Ford Formation. Accordingly, shale oil produced from oil shale should not be confused with tight oil, which is also frequently called shale oil.
Petrosix is the world's largest surface oil shale pyrolysis retort with an 11 metres (36 ft) diameter vertical shaft kiln, operational since 1992. It is located in São Mateus do Sul, Brazil, and it is owned and operated by the Brazil energy company Petrobras. Petrosix means also the Petrosix process, an externally generated hot gas technology of shale oil extraction. The technology is tailored to Irati oil shale formation, a Permian formation of the Paraná Basin.
The oil shale industry is an industry of mining and processing of oil shale—a fine-grained sedimentary rock, containing significant amounts of kerogen, from which liquid hydrocarbons can be manufactured. The industry has developed in Brazil, China, Estonia and to some extent in Germany and Russia. Several other countries are currently conducting research on their oil shale reserves and production methods to improve efficiency and recovery. Estonia accounted for about 70% of the world's oil shale production in a study published in 2005.
Shale oil extraction is an industrial process for unconventional oil production. This process converts kerogen in oil shale into shale oil by pyrolysis, hydrogenation, or thermal dissolution. The resultant shale oil is used as fuel oil or upgraded to meet refinery feedstock specifications by adding hydrogen and removing sulfur and nitrogen impurities.
Oil shale economics deals with the economic feasibility of oil shale extraction and processing. Although usually oil shale economics is understood as shale oil extraction economics, the wider approach evaluates usage of oil shale as whole, including for the oil-shale-fired power generation and production of by-products during retorting or shale oil upgrading processes.
Oil shale in China is an important source of unconventional oil. A total Chinese oil shale resource amounts of 720 billion tonnes, located in 80 deposits of 47 oil shale basins. This is equal to 48 billion tonnes of shale oil. At the same time there are speculations that the actual resource may even exceed the oil shale resource of the United States.
The TOSCO II process is an above ground retorting technology for shale oil extraction, which uses fine particles of oil shale that are heated in a rotating kiln. The particularity of this process is that it use hot ceramic balls for the heat transfer between the retort and a heater. The process was tested in a 40 tonnes per hour test facility near Parachute, Colorado.
The Galoter process is a shale oil extraction technology for a production of shale oil, a type of synthetic crude oil. In this process, the oil shale is decomposed into shale oil, oil shale gas, and spent residue. A decomposition is caused by mixing raw oil shale with a hot oil shale ash, generated by combustion of carbonaceous residue (semi-coke) in the spent residue. The process was developed in 1950s and it is used commercially for the shale oil production in Estonia. There are projects for further development of this technology and for expansion of its usage, e.g. in Jordan and USA.
The Fushun process is an above-ground retorting technology for shale oil extraction. It is named after the main production site of Fushun, Liaoning province in northeastern China.
Chevron CRUSH is an experimental in situ shale oil extraction technology to convert kerogen in oil shale to shale oil. The name stands for Chevron's Technology for the Recovery and Upgrading of Oil from Shale. It is developed jointly by Chevron Corporation and the Los Alamos National Laboratory.
The Paraho process is an above ground retorting technology for shale oil extraction. The name "Paraho" is delivered from the words "para homem", which means in Portuguese "for mankind".
The Lurgi–Ruhrgas process is an above-ground coal liquefaction and shale oil extraction technology. It is classified as a hot recycled solids technology.
The gas combustion retort process was an above-ground retorting technology for shale oil extraction. It was a predecessor of the Paraho and Petrosix processes, and modern directly heated oil shale retorting technologies in general.
The Union process was an above ground shale oil extraction technology for production of shale oil, a type of synthetic crude oil. The process used a vertical retort where heating causes decomposition of oil shale into shale oil, oil shale gas and spent residue. The particularity of this process is that oil shale in the retort moves from the bottom upward to the top, countercurrent to the descending hot gases, by a mechanism known as a rock pump. The process technology was invented by the American oil company Unocal Corporation in late 1940s and was developed through several decades. The largest oil shale retort ever built was the Union B type retort.
The Chevron STB process is an above-ground shale oil extraction technology. It is classified as a hot recycled solids technology.
LLNL HRS process is an above-ground shale oil extraction technology. It is classified as a hot recycled solids technology.
The Hytort process is an above-ground shale oil extraction process developed by the Institute of Gas Technology. It is classified as a reactive fluid process, which produces shale oil by hydrogenation.
The Shell Spher process is an above ground fluidization bed retorting technology for shale oil extraction. It is classified as a hot recycled solids technology.
The Rio Blanco Oil Shale Company was an American shale oil extraction technology research and development company. The company was established as a general partnership of Gulf Oil and Standard Oil of Indiana. It was named after the Rio Blanco County, Colorado, the location of the company's oil shale tract.
References
- 1 2 3 An Assessment of Oil Shale Technologies (PDF). United States Office of Technology Assessment . DIANE Publishing. June 1980. p. 133. ISBN 978-1-4289-2463-5. NTIS order #PB80-210115.
- ↑ Burnham, Alan K.; McConaghy, James R. (2006-10-16). "Comparison of the acceptability of various oil shale processes" (PDF). Golden, Colorado: 26th Oil shale symposium. UCRL-CONF-226717. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-02-13. Retrieved 2007-05-29.
- ↑ Rothman, A. J. (1975). Research and Development on Rubble In-Situ Extraction of Oil Shale (RISE) at Lawrence Livermore Laboratory. 8th Oil Shale Symposium. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory . Golden, Colorado: Colorado School of Mines.
- ↑ Lewis, A. E.; Rothman, A. J. (1975). "Rubble In Situ Extraction (RISE): A Proposed Program for Recovery of Oil from Oil Shale". Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. UCRL-51768.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - 1 2 Daniels, Jeffrey Irwin (1981-09-12). "Environmental, health, safety, and socioeconomic impacts associated with oil recovery from tar-sand deposits in the United States". Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. UCRL-53197. Retrieved 2010-08-07.