Comparison of the Acceptability of Various Oil Shale Processes

Conference · Sat Mar 11 00:00:00 EST 2006

OSTI ID:889979

Burnham, A K; McConaghy, J R

While oil shale has the potential to provide a substantial fraction of our nation's liquid fuels for many decades, cost and environmental acceptability are significant issues to be addressed. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) examined a variety of oil shale processes between the mid 1960s and the mid 1990s, starting with retorting of rubble chimneys created from nuclear explosions [1] and ending with in-situ retorting of deep, large volumes of oil shale [2]. In between, it examined modified-in-situ combustion retorting of rubble blocks created by conventional mining and blasting [3,4], in-situ retorting by radio-frequency energy [5], aboveground combustion retorting [6], and aboveground processing by hot-solids recycle (HRS) [7,8]. This paper reviews various types of processes in both generic and specific forms and outlines some of the tradeoffs for large-scale development activities. Particular attention is given to hot-recycled-solids processes that maximize yield and minimize oil shale residence time during processing and true in-situ processes that generate oil over several years that is more similar to natural petroleum.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-48
• OSTI ID: 889979
• Report Number(s): UCRL-CONF-219767; TRN: US200620%%182
• Resource Relation: Conference: Presented at: AICHE 2006 Spring National Meeting, Orlando, FL, United States, Mar 23 - Mar 27, 2006
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
04 OIL SHALES AND TAR SANDS
10 SYNTHETIC FUELS
45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEFENSE
37 INORGANIC
ORGANIC
PHYSICAL AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
CHIMNEYS
COMBUSTION
EXPLOSIVE FRACTURING
IN-SITU RETORTING
LAWRENCE LIVERMORE NATIONAL LABORATORY
LIQUID FUELS
MINING
NUCLEAR EXPLOSIONS
OIL SHALES
PETROLEUM
PROCESSING
RETORTING