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Title: Testing and performance of the Pacific Northwest Laboratory 6-kg retort

Abstract

This report describes and discusses the design, construction, calibration and operations of the Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL) 6-kg retort. Use of this retort will help determine the distribution and speciation of Hg, As, Se, and Cd compounds as a function of retorting parameters in shale oil, retort water, and offgas. The first test consisted of heating the oil shale to 500/sup 0/C with a 100% nitrogen (N/sub 2/) sweep gas. Results of this test demonstrated that the system operates as designed; only two minor modifications were necessary to achieve satisfactory operation of the retort. 2 references, 3 figures, 1 table.

Authors:
; ; ; ;
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Pacific Northwest Lab., Richland, WA (USA)
OSTI Identifier:
6841175
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 6841175; Legacy ID: DE84012829
Report Number(s):
PNL-5055
ON: DE84012829
DOE Contract Number:
AC06-76RL01830
Resource Type:
Technical Report
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
04 OIL SHALES AND TAR SANDS; OIL SHALES; RETORTING; RETORTS; CALIBRATION; CONSTRUCTION; DESIGN; PERFORMANCE TESTING; BATTELLE PACIFIC NORTHWEST LABORATORIES; DATA ACQUISITION SYSTEMS; EXPERIMENTAL DATA; FLOWSHEETS; OPERATION; BITUMINOUS MATERIALS; CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS; CHEMICAL REACTIONS; CHEMICAL REACTORS; DATA; DECOMPOSITION; DIAGRAMS; DISTILLATION EQUIPMENT; ENERGY SOURCES; EQUIPMENT; FOSSIL FUELS; FUELS; INFORMATION; MATERIALS; NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS; NUMERICAL DATA; TESTING; US DOE; US ERDA; US ORGANIZATIONS 040402* -- Oil Shales & Tar Sands-- Surface Methods

Citation Formats

Olsen, K.B., Evans, J.C., Girvin, D.C., Sklarew, D.S., and Nelson, C.L. Testing and performance of the Pacific Northwest Laboratory 6-kg retort. United States: N. p., 1984. Web. doi:10.2172/6841175.
Olsen, K.B., Evans, J.C., Girvin, D.C., Sklarew, D.S., & Nelson, C.L. Testing and performance of the Pacific Northwest Laboratory 6-kg retort. United States. doi:10.2172/6841175.
Olsen, K.B., Evans, J.C., Girvin, D.C., Sklarew, D.S., and Nelson, C.L. Wed . "Testing and performance of the Pacific Northwest Laboratory 6-kg retort". United States. doi:10.2172/6841175. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/6841175.
@article{osti_6841175,
title = {Testing and performance of the Pacific Northwest Laboratory 6-kg retort},
author = {Olsen, K.B. and Evans, J.C. and Girvin, D.C. and Sklarew, D.S. and Nelson, C.L.},
abstractNote = {This report describes and discusses the design, construction, calibration and operations of the Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL) 6-kg retort. Use of this retort will help determine the distribution and speciation of Hg, As, Se, and Cd compounds as a function of retorting parameters in shale oil, retort water, and offgas. The first test consisted of heating the oil shale to 500/sup 0/C with a 100% nitrogen (N/sub 2/) sweep gas. Results of this test demonstrated that the system operates as designed; only two minor modifications were necessary to achieve satisfactory operation of the retort. 2 references, 3 figures, 1 table.},
doi = {10.2172/6841175},
journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Feb 01 00:00:00 EST 1984},
month = {Wed Feb 01 00:00:00 EST 1984}
}

Technical Report:

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  • The objective of this program is to determine how retorting process parameters affect the partitioning of Hg, As, Se, and Cd from raw oil shale to spent shale, shale oil, retort water, and offgas. For each of the elements, the objective of this study is to (1) determine the distribution coefficients for each product stream; (2) identify the chemical forms in water, gas, and oil streams, with particular emphasis on inorganic or organometallic species known to be or suspected of being carcinogenic, toxic, or otherwise harmful; (3) investigate the mechanism(s) responsible for mobilization into each product stream for toxic ormore » labile chemical forms identified in item 2 are mobilized into each product stream; and (4) the effect of retorting rate, maximum retorting temperature, and retorting atmosphere on items 1 and 3. A Green River shale from Colorado and a New Albany shale from Kentucky were heated at 1 to 2/sup 0/C/min and at 10/sup 0/C/min to maximum temperatures of 500 and 750/sup 0/C under a nitrogen sweep gas. The product streams were analyzed using a variety of methods including Zeeman atomic absorption spectroscopy, microwave-induced helium plasma spectroscopy, x-ray fluorescence, instrumental neutron activation analysis, high-pressure liquid and silica gel column chromatography, and mercury cold vapor atomic absorption. The results obtained using these analytical methods indicate that the distribution of mercury, arsenic, and selenium in the product stream is a function of oil shale type, heating rates, and maximum retorting temperatures. 11 refs., 27 figs., 5 tabs.« less
  • The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) has been conducting marine testing of uranium adsorbent materials for the Fuel Resources Program, Department of Energy, Office of Nuclear Energy (DOE-NE) beginning in FY 2012. The marine testing program is being conducted at PNNL’s Marine Sciences Laboratory (MSL), located at Sequim Bay, along the coast of Washington. One of the main efforts of the marine testing program is the determination of adsorption capacity and adsorption kinetics for uranium and selected other elements (e.g. vanadium, iron, copper, nickel, and zinc) for adsorbent materials provided primarily by Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), but also includesmore » other Fuel Resources Program participants. This report summarizes the major marine testing results that have been obtained to date using time series sampling for 42 to 56 days using either flow-through column or recirculating flume exposures. The major results are highlighted in this report, and the full data sets are appended as a series of Excel spreadsheet files. Over the four year period (2012-2016) that marine testing of amidoxime-based polymeric adsorbents was conducted at PNNL’s Marine Science Laboratory, there has been a steady progression of improvement in the 56-day adsorbent capacity from 3.30 g U/kg adsorbent for the ORNL 38H adsorbent to the current best performing adsorbent prepared by a collaboration between the University of Tennessee and ORNL to produce the adsorbent SB12-8, which has an adsorption capacity of 6.56 g U/kg adsorbent. This nearly doubling of the adsorption capacity in four years is a significant advancement in amidoxime-based adsorbent technology and a significant achievement for the Uranium from Seawater program. The achievements are evident when compared to the several decades of work conducted by the Japanese scientists beginning in the 1980’s (Kim et al., 2013). The best adsorbent capacity reported by the Japanese scientists was 3.2 g U/kg adsorbent for a 180 day deployment at temperatures between 15 and 25 °C (Kim et al., 2013) The majority of the capacities the Japanese scientists reported were less than 2 g U/kg adsorbent (Kim et al., 2013). Repeated time series measurements of a common formulation of amidoxime-based adsorbent, the ORNL AF series, by both flow-through column (3.91 ± 0.11 g U/kg adsorbent). and recirculating flume exposures (4.03 ± 0.12 g U/kg adsorbent) produced 56-day adsorption capacities that agreed extremely well. This excellent agreement generates confidence that the testing procedures are accurate and reliable, and, moreover, that the technology to produce the adsorbents is highly reliable and reproducible, lending additional confidence of the robustness and homogeneity of the production technology.« less
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