Oil shale project run summary, small retort runs S-21 and S-23
The objective of Runs S-21 and S-23 was to assess the technical feasibility of using oxygen diluted, respectively, with steam or carbon dioxide as the injection gas for MIS oil shale retorting. The motivation for using oxygen rather than air is the production of a much higher value offgas. In contrast to the nitrogen diluent present in air, steam and CO/sub 2/ can be removed readily, by condensation or absorption, from the valuable hydrocarbon and hydrogen species in the offgas. Furthermore, steam enhances hydrogen production and, coupled with the steam condensation, could result in offgas hydrogen concentrations sufficient to warrant recovery of hydrogen for hydrotreating the product oil. Carbon dioxide is expected to be not only a major product from MIS retorting but could also be available in concentrated form by absorptive separation from the retort effluent. Residual gas from such absorption, rich in carbon monoxide, could be used for hydrogen production in a separate unit. It is concluded that oxygen, diluted about 9/1 (v/v) with either steam or CO/sub 2/, appears to be technically feasible as an injection gas for MIS retorting. At this concentration and at the flux tested (0.07 m/sup 3//m/sup 2/ min O/sub 2/), both operations proceeded smoothly with acceptable maximum temperature. Retorting rates were comparable - about 2.2 m/day. Offgas lower heating values (LHV) (600 to 700 Btu/SCF), on a CO/sub 2/-and H/sub 2/S free basis, are much higher than those obtained with air as injection gas. As an example, the offgas from Run S-13 (equimolar steam/air; similar O/sub 2/ flux and shale), on the same basis, contained about 84 v% nitrogen and had an LHV of about 91 Btu/SCF. No significance is attached to the difference in oil yield between S-21 and S-23 in view of the difficulty in S-21 of separating product oil from the large volume of coproduct water.
- Research Organization:
- California Univ., Livermore (USA). Lawrence Livermore Lab.
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-48
- OSTI ID:
- 6490159
- Report Number(s):
- UCID-19082; ON: DE81026035
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
040401* -- Oil Shales & Tar Sands-- In Situ Methods
True & Modified
BITUMINOUS MATERIALS
CALORIFIC VALUE
CARBON COMPOUNDS
CARBON DIOXIDE
CARBON MONOXIDE
CARBON OXIDES
CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS
CHALCOGENIDES
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
COMBUSTION PROPERTIES
DATA
DECOMPOSITION
ELEMENTS
ENERGY SOURCES
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
FEASIBILITY STUDIES
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
GAS YIELDS
HYDROCARBONS
HYDROGEN PRODUCTION
INFORMATION
LOSSES
MATERIALS
MODIFIED IN-SITU PROCESSES
NITROGEN
NONMETALS
NUMERICAL DATA
OIL SHALES
OIL YIELDS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
OXIDES
OXYGEN
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
RECOVERY
RETORTING
STEAM
YIELDS