Alumina from oil shale

Conference · Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1980

OSTI ID:5418852

Smith, J. W.

Dawsonite-bearing oil shale of Colorado's Green River Formation offers a unique and vast (6.5 billion tons of Al/sub 2/O/sub 3/) resource of easily extractable alumina. The processing methods required by the thermal reactions of dawsonite and its oil-shale carrier also require production of shale oil, soda ash, and nahcolite as marketable coproducts. These production methods are presented. The alumina production process is contrasted with the Bayer process to describe technical advantages of extraction of alumina from oil shale which may offset the problems associated with processing a relatively lean ore. While alumina production from oil shale requires development of new technology, the technical problems appear solvable. Only the political problems arising from the now onerous and completely unnecessary Federal oil-shale withdrawal appear less solvable.

• Research Organization: Department of Energy, Laramie, WY (USA). Laramie Energy Technology Center
• OSTI ID: 5418852
• Report Number(s): CONF-800205-11
• Resource Relation: Conference: American Institute of Metallurgical Engineers meeting, Las Vegas, NV, USA, Feb 1980
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

04 OIL SHALES AND TAR SANDS
ALUMINIUM OXIDES
RECOVERY
OIL SHALES
BY-PRODUCTS
DAWSONITE
GREEN RIVER FORMATION
POLITICAL ASPECTS
ALKALI METAL COMPOUNDS
ALUMINIUM COMPOUNDS
BITUMINOUS MATERIALS
CARBON COMPOUNDS
CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS
CARBONATES
CHALCOGENIDES
ENERGY SOURCES
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
HYDROXIDES
INSTITUTIONAL FACTORS
MINERALS
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
SODIUM COMPOUNDS
SODIUM MINERALS
040000* - Oil Shales & Tar Sands