Vacuum process for the recovery of oil and gases from oil shale

Thesis/Dissertation · Fri Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1982

OSTI ID:7040529

Oldfield, S L

A unique oil shale retorting method which operates at low pressures was examined. Investigations were conducted on one to five gram samples in a laboratory bench-scale reactor to determine the optimum retorting parameters. To demonstrate the feasibility of the method on a larger scale, experiments were carried out on a prototype reactor capable of processing 22 kg of shale in five hours. Eastern shales were also processed in the bench-scale unit, and oil yields of up to 200% of the Fischer assay and a high heating value gas were obtained at a retorting temperature of 400/sup 0/C. Retorting eastern oil shale in 200 torr of helium or 200 torr to 650 torr of hydrogen yielded less oil than retorting at a pressure of 0.1 torr. Oil yields of 92% to 97% of the Fischer assay were obtained from western shale in the prototype reactor at a temperature range of 340/sup 0/C to 375/sup 0/C. For an eastern shale, the oil yield was greater than 100% of the Fischer assay. Experiments are currently being conducted at higher temperatures to improve these yields. Western shale oils obtained from vacuum retorting are similar in composition and properties to shale oils obtained from other retorting methods. However, using vacuum retorting, particulate concentrations in the oils are much lower than those obtained using other retorting processes. Eastern oils from vacuum retorting contain less nitrogen and have lower pour points than western shale oils, but have higher sulfur and aromatic contents.

• Research Organization: Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst., Troy, NY (USA)
• OSTI ID: 7040529
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

04 OIL SHALES AND TAR SANDS
040402* -- Oil Shales & Tar Sands-- Surface Methods
BENCH-SCALE EXPERIMENTS
BITUMINOUS MATERIALS
CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
CHEMICAL REACTORS
DECOMPOSITION
DISTILLATION
DISTILLATION EQUIPMENT
ENERGY SOURCES
EQUIPMENT
EVAPORATION
FEASIBILITY STUDIES
FISCHER ASSAY
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
FUNCTIONAL MODELS
GEOLOGIC FORMATIONS
GREEN RIVER FORMATION
INDUSTRIAL PLANTS
MATERIALS
OIL SHALE PROCESSING PLANTS
OIL SHALES
OIL YIELDS
PHASE TRANSFORMATIONS
PILOT PLANTS
RETORTING
RETORTS
SEPARATION PROCESSES
VACUUM DISTILLATION
VACUUM EVAPORATION
YIELDS