Shale oil specialty markets: Screening survey for United States applications
EG and G requested J. E. Sinor Consultants Inc. to carry out an initial screening study on the possibilities for producing specialty chemicals from oil shale. Raw shale oil is not an acceptable feedstock to refineries and there are not enough user of heavy fuel oil in the western oil shale region to provide a dependable market. The only alternatives are to hydrotreat the oil, or else ship it long distances to a larger market area. Either of these alternatives results in a cost penalty of several dollars per barrel. Instead of attempting to enter the large-volume petroleum products market, it was hypothesized that a small shale oil facility might be able to produce specialty chemicals with a high enough average value to absorb the high costs of shipping small quantities to distant markets and still provide a higher netback to the plant site than sales to the conventional petroleum products market. This approach, rather than attempting to refine shale oil or to modify its characteristics to satisfy the specifications for petroleum feedstocks or products, focuses instead on those particular characteristics which distinguish shale oil from petroleum, and attempts to identify applications which would justify a premium value for those distinctive characteristics. Because byproducts or specialty chemicals production has been a prominent feature of oil shale industries which have flourished for periods of time in various countries, a brief review of those industries provides a starting point for this study. 9 figs., 32 tabs.
- Research Organization:
- EG and G Washington Analytical Services Center, Inc., Morgantown, WV (USA); Sinor (J.E.) Consultants, Inc., Niwot, CO (USA)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- DOE/FE
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC21-85MC21353
- OSTI ID:
- 5567102
- Report Number(s):
- DOE/MC/21353-2669; ON: DE89000948
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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SHALE OIL
BY-PRODUCTS
MARKET
ECONOMICS
OIL SHALE INDUSTRY
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
SALES
SPENT SHALES
USA
ENERGY SOURCES
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
INDUSTRY
MINERAL OILS
NORTH AMERICA
OILS
OTHER ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
040600* - Oil Shales & Tar Sands- Products & By-Products
040800 - Oil Shales & Tar Sands- Economics
Industrial
& Business Aspects