AndreaBozzo/ceres-open-data-index huggingface dataset:
Evaluation of oil yield losses during the retorting of oil shale at low void fractions: Part 1. The effects of particle size and resource grade

The economics of vertical modified in situ (VMIS) retorting of oil shale can be improved by decreasing the quantity of oil shale which is mined and transported to the surface. However, decreasing the quantity of oil shale removed from the retort also decreases the void fraction in the shale bed and this can affect the retorting process. The Western Research Institute has completed a series of experiments designed to investigate the effects of different experimental parameters on retorting oil shale at low void fractions. The effects of changes in the experimental parameters, oil shale particle size and resource grade, on oil yield losses have been evaluated using previously described oil yield loss diagnostic methods. These methods show that cracking-plus-combustion losses are the major and more variable source of chemically related oil yield losses. In experiments investigating changes in oil shale particle size, these losses correlate with the temperature differential between thermocouples in the rubble and in the interior of the oil shale particles. The data from the experiments investigating the effects of changes in resource grade on oil yield losses do not follow this correlation because of additional combustion of the produced oil during the lean resource grade experiment. Coking losses from experiments investigating both parameters were found to decrease with increased heating rate of the oil shale when significant differences in the heating rate were observed.

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Effect of reduced pressure on oil shale retorting. 1. Kinetics of oil generation

The rate of oil generation in oil shale retorting under reduced pressure was determined by a nonisothermal technique. First-order kinetics adequately approximated the overall retorting rate of Colorado oil shale regardless of the type and pressure of the sweep gas. The activation energy remained relatively constant with pressure fo each sweep gas, while the preexponential factor increased as pressure decreased. The rate expressions for retorting with nitrogen and carbon dioxide were substantially the same, while retorting with water vapor produced a higher rate constant than that with nitrogen or carbon dioxide. The kinetics expression for oil generation remained relatively unchanged for different grades of oil shale containing organic matter of similar compositions.

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Effect of Reduced Pressure on Oil Shale Retorting. 2. Oil Yield

The effect of reduced pressure ranging from 0.05 to 0.86 atm on oil yield was determined as a function of heating rate, the flow rate and type of sweep gas, and the grade of oil shale. A lower pressure, higher heating rate, and higher flow rate of sweep gas produced a greater amount of oil. Retorting of Colorado oil shale at 0.05 atm with a heating rate of 12 K/min produced oil yield as high as 107 wt % of Fisher Assay (FA) with nitrogen and 112 wt % of FA with water vapor. The oil yield was substantially the same with nitrogen and carbon dioxide. The Michigan oil shale, containing a higher fraction of aromatic carbons than the Green River Formation shale, produced a higher percentage of FA oil yield under a reduced pressure.

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Costs and effects of environmental protection controls regulating US phosphate rock mining. Information circular

This Bureau of Mines study identifies and examines the costs of Federal, State, and local environmental protection controls on domestic phosphate rock mining. The costs include the expenditures needed to comply with government regulations and the effects that these expenditures and regulations have on supply. The study analyzes costs of environmental impact assessments, air and water quality standards, reclamation laws, potential solid waste controls, and local government restrictions. In addition, an industry survey and the Bureau's Minerals Availability System (MAS) are used to evaluate land management policies that restrict access to phosphate resources.

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Alumina from oil shale

Dawsonite-bearing oil shale of Colorado's Green River Formation offers a unique and vast (6.5 billion tons of Al/sub 2/O/sub 3/) resource of easily extractable alumina. The processing methods required by the thermal reactions of dawsonite and its oil-shale carrier also require production of shale oil, soda ash, and nahcolite as marketable coproducts. These production methods are presented. The alumina production process is contrasted with the Bayer process to describe technical advantages of extraction of alumina from oil shale which may offset the problems associated with processing a relatively lean ore. While alumina production from oil shale requires development of new technology, the technical problems appear solvable. Only the political problems arising from the now onerous and completely unnecessary Federal oil-shale withdrawal appear less solvable.

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Environmental assessment:  tar sand in situ steam injection experiment

A field experiment is planned for the in situ recovery of bitumen from tar sand. The site is located on a ten acre site 6.5 miles West of Vernal, Utah, and the experiment will last about six months. The experiment will utilize steam to lower the viscosity of the bitumen and drive it into production wells where it is recovered. Due to the small scale of this experiment, the impact of the proposed action will be minimal. Impact on local biological life will be minimal. The experiment will have no effect on aquatic habitats. No rare or endangered biological species will be affected by the experiment.

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Comparison of Co--Mo and Ni--W catalysts in the denitrification of shale gas oil

In view of the shortage of petroleum within the United States, finding other sources of oil has become an Increasingly important problem. One of the most promising alternatives sources is the oil-shale deposits in Colorado Utah, and Wyoming. However, the conversion of this abundant natural resource to high quality gasoline and other useful products incolves many technical problems. One of the problems is eliminateion of nitrogen from shale oils because they contain more nitrogen than most petroleums. Further, much of this nitrogen is found in relatively stable, heterocyclic compounds such as quinolines and indoles which have a nitrogen atom in either a six-membered or five-membered ring (1).

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Environmental assessment:  Geokinetics, Inc. oil shale research project, Uintah County, Utah

Geokinetics, Inc. (GKI) proposes to complete the remaining experimental program to develop the LOFRECO modified horizontal in situ oil shale retorting process. This Environmental Assessment Report addresses the impacts of the project, located in a remote area of east-central Utah, about 70 miles south of both Vernal and Roosevelt.

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True in situ oil shale retorting experiment at Rock Springs site 12

A true in situ oil shale fracturing and retorting experiment was conducted near Rock Springs, Wyoming in 1977, 1978, and 1979. A 20-foot (6.1 m) thick zone of oil shale located 200 feet (61 m) below surface was hydraulically and explosively fractured. The fractured oil shale was extensively evaluated using flow tests, TV logging, caliper logging, downhole flow logging, core samples, and tracer tests. Attempts to conduct true in situ retorting tests in portions of the pattern with less than 5 percent void space as measured by caliper logs and less than 1 percent active void space measured by tracer test were curtailed when air could not be injected at desired rates. It is thought the fractures plugged as a result of thermal swelling of the oil shale. Air was injected at programmed rates in an area with 10 percent void measured by caliper log and 1.4 pecent active void measured by tracer test. A burn front was propagated in a narrow path moving away from the location of the production well. The vertical sweep of the burn front was measured at less than 4 feet (1.3 m). The burn front could not be sustained beyond 10 days without use of supplemental fuel. The authors recommend a minimum of 5 percent well-distributed void for attempts to retort 20 gpt (81 L/m ton) oil shale in confined beds. A void space of 5 percent may be roughly equivalent to 5 to 10 percent measured by caliper log and 1.4 percent or more by tracer test.

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Recent trends in oil shale. I. History, nature, and reserves

To understand the current level of oil shale development and to anticipate some of the problems that will govern the growth rate of the domestic shale oil industry, this bulletin will discuss these issues in three parts. In this MIB, the nature of oil shale is discussed and a brief history of oil shale development is presented. The worldwide and domestic oil shale resources are described, with emphasis on recent geologic exploration of the Green River formation. Part II will cover oil shale mining and fuel extraction while Part III will discuss technical problems of shale oil refining and some economic and social problems of oil shale development. An extensive bibliography is provided. (MCW)

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Catalytic effects of transition metals on oil shale pyrolysis

The decomposition of kerogen of Green River formation oil shale, impregnated with transition metals, was investigated following nonisothermal thermogravimetric techniques, in the presence of hydrogen at atmospheric pressure. Experimental data were best fit by a first-order kinetic model with respect to kerogen. The effects of ambient atmosphere and heating rate were also investigated. In the absence of metals, inert and reducing atmospheres were found not to affect kinetic parameters. The frequency factor was found to increase with heating rate at a constant activation energy. The presence of metals in the oil shale matrix and hydrogen in the retorting atmosphere did not alter the kinetic order of kerogen decomposition, but it lowered apparent activation energies and increased the rate constants. These results are discussed in terms of dissociative hydrogen adsorption on the metal crystallites and hydrogen spill over to the organic matter, resulting in hydrogenation and/or cracking reactions.

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Analytical solutions for predicting coal drying

The assumption that drying occurs at an interface, where the water evaporates and readily diffuses away, appears to be a reasonable approach. This model requires the solution of the heat conduction equation modified for convective heat transfer and an energy balance applied at the interface. The resulting equations are solved analytically and the solution is compared to coal drying experiments where a near step change in surface temperature is applied. If the experiments are one-dimensional, the predictions are reasonable. Only fair agreement is obtained with experiments having two-dimensional behavior. The present procedure allows an exact solution of the governing equation for the problem considered without requiring approximate solution techniques or simplifications of the governing equations as used by other authors. When the same governing equations are applied to the case of a moving burn front, an analytical expression is obtained for the drying front location relative to the burn front. The drying front location is inversely proportional to the burn front velocity. The location is sensitive to this velocity but does not change much with the burn front temperature.

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Sublethal effects of an in situ oil shale retort water on rainbow trout. [Salmo gairdneri]

An in situ oil shale process water (Omega-9 water) was used in sublethal concentrations in flow-through bioassay with rainbow trout (Salmo gairdneri). Exposure for 96 hr to 0.3% of Omega-9 water (approximately 70% of the LC50) decreased blood packed cell volume (PCV) and HB concentration. This concentration of Omega-9 water also decreased plasma alkaline phosphatase (AP) activity and protein concentration and caused 3-fold increases in plasma NH/sub 3/ levels. Exposure to sublethal concentration of a solution of the 13 major inorganic constituents of Omega-9 water also decreased pcv and plasma AP activity and increased plasma NH/sub 3/ levels. No sublethal effects on blood HB, protein, and alkaline phosphatase occurred at a toxic level <1/5 of the level of the LC50.

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Oil shale, tar sands, and underground coal gasification. Quarterly progress report, April-June 1983

Research on kerogen decomposition is being carried out. Samples of partially retorted shales were prepared with a Fischer assay retort to test the NMR measurement techniques. Data on coking kinetics verified that the degree of shale oil coking can be correlated with alkene/alkane ratios for 9 to 14 carbon number materials. Retort bed analysis, novel processing methods, and environmental impact mitigation were also studied for oil shales, for tar sands, and in-situ coal gasification. Laboratory experiments are being developed to identify processing conditions for improving the efficiency of tar sand oil recovery. A predictive capability for evaluating the efficiency of underground coal gasification is being developed.

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Volumetric heating of oilshales by electromagnetic methods. Volume 3. Effective medium theory of a heterogeneous medium

The response of oil shale rods to microwave radiation in the frequency range 2 to 4 GHz is studied. The study indicates that oil shale rods are capable of sustaining wave guide modes (low Q). However, the precise nature of the modes is not yet very clear. Anisotropy effects show up in higher order modes. The loss of moisture in the shale rods leads to an increase in the resonant frequencies. 6 refs., 19 figs.

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Mathematical Analysis of the Effect of Retorting Pressure on Oil Yield and Rate of Oil Generation from Oil Shale

The principal objective in the mathematical analysis presented was to describe mathematically the oil yield, the amounts of oil degradation into coke and gas, and the rate of oil generation in the retorting of oil shale at various pressures. The results of the analysis are in good agreement with the experimental results obtaine under various retorting conditions. In this analysis, the rate equations for the decomposition of organic matter the recovery of liquid oil as oil mist or oil vapor, and the stoichiometry factors were determined from the experimental data on powdered oil shale with nitrogen as a sweep gas.

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Coal-fired fluid-bed cogeneration

The use of coal for steam generation to satisfy the need for process steam and electrical energy in process plants had been the conventional technology since the days of the Industrial Evolution until the end of World War II. The benefits of generating electrical power at a heat rate of 5,000 Btu/kW in cogeneration, vs. 10,000 Btu/kW are simple to see. However, the convenience of centrally generated power, coupled with controlled low prices of natural gas persuaded industry to abandon coal and cogeneration. Today, the reconversion to coal requires new approaches to prevent unacceptable emissions of SO/sub 2/ and NO/sub x/ from coal burning. Using state-of-the-art technology by burning coal cleanly in fluid-bed boilers will be able to satisfy our energy requirements of the future; whether the primary driving force be energy independence, a necessity to use domestic energy resources only or the predicted eventual decline of our global oil and gas resources.

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Executive summary. Western oil shale developmet:  a technology assessment

The objectives are to review shale oil technologies as a means of supplying domestically produced fuels within environmental, social, economic, and legal/institutional constraints; using available data, analyses, and experienced judgment, to examine the major points of uncertainty regarding potential impacts of oil shale development; to resolve issues where data and analyses are compelling or where conclusions can be reached on judgmental grounds; to specify issues which cannot be resolved on the bases of the data, analyses, and experienced judgment currently available; and when appropriate and feasible, to suggest ways for the removal of existing uncertainties that stand in the way of resolving outstanding issues.

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Oxidation/gasification of retorted oil shale. Final report, (Anvil Points shale)

Reaction rate kinetics were determined for the oxidation and gasification of oil shale char produced by retorting oil shale from the Anvil Points area of Colorado. Variables investigated included the effect of retorting rate (.3 to 17/sup 0/C/min) on the char quantity and quality as well as a range of concentrations and temperatures pertinent to char gasification. As long as the shale was retorted at rates higher than 0.3/sup 0/C/min or with purge velocities higher than 4 cm/min (STP), there was no effect of retorting on the char make. Neither did the assay of the shale (15 to 50 GPT) have any effect on the char oxidation activity. Char oxidation was first order with respect to both char and oxygen and had an activation energy of 23.2 kcal/mole, for shale which were either acid leached or had not undergone mineral decomposition. On the other hand, the CaO produced by calcite decomposition increased char oxidation by about one order of magnitude. Oxygen mass transfer measurements with the larger shale pieces pointed to the importance of convective mass transport during the oxidation of the first 40% of the char. Limited studies of the mineral reactions indicated that calcite was easily reformed from CaO, particularly when CO/sub 2/ was liberated at the surface from char oxidation. The LLL silication rate expression provided a good match to the experimental data. The data on the effect of H/sub 2/O on mineral decomposition are in agreement with LLL results. Analysis of the decomposition data during dolomite decomposition point to the possibility that CO/sub 2/ may inhibit the decomposition rate as well as prevent steam enhancement. A rate expression derived to describe CO/sub 2/-char gasification accounts for low apparent CO/sub 2/ reaction orders at high partial pressures. It was necessary to consider the role of the water gas shift reaction during steam gasification of the char.

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Integrated data base for 1986: spent fuel and radioactive waste inventories, projections, and characteristics. Revision 2

The Integrated Data Base (IDB) Program has compiled current data on inventories and characteristics of commercial spent fuel and both commercial and US Department of Energy (DOE) radioactive wastes through December 31, 1985, based on the most reliable information available from government sources, the open literature, technical reports, and direct contacts. Current projections of future waste and spent fuel to be generated through the year 2020 and characteristics of these materials are also presented. The information forecasted is consistent with the expected defense-related and private industrial and institutional activities and the latest DOE/Energy Information Administration (EIA) projections of US commercial nuclear power growth. The materials considered, on a chapter-by-chapter basis, are: spent fuel, high-level waste, transuranic waste, low-level waste, commercial uranium mill tailings, remedial action waste, and decommissioning waste. For each category, current and projected inventories are given through the year 2020, and the radioactivity and thermal power are calculated based on reported or calculated isotopic compositions.

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Economics of gas from coal

This study deals with three questions: What does gas from coal cost and what affects this cost; How do different approaches and processes compare; and How near to competitive cost-levels is present-day technology. Discussion covers production of both substitute natural gas (SNG) and medium calorific gas (MCG: 10-16 MJ/Nm3 or 250-400 Btu/SCF). Conclusions are that SNG from low-cost U.S. coal and West German brown coal are, on the basis of mature technology and Government rates-of-return, roughly competitive with gas imports into the U.S. and Europe respectively. Similarly MCG from second-generation gasifiers is competitive with gas-oil or No. 2 heating oil in Europe, North America and Japan. However, capital costs form about half total gas costs at 10 percent rate-of-return, so that the competitiveness of gas from coal is sensitive to capital costs: this is the area of greatest uncertainty.

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The filling of oil shale mines with spent shale ash; ash characteristics and grout development

Rio Blanco Oil Shale Company has considered the modified in-situ process as one of the alternatives for extracting oil form oil shale at Tract C-a. one of the problems to be solved for this approach is the environmental consequence of underground retort abandonment. This includes possible contamination of groundwater as the natural groundwater regime is re-established, aerial subsidence, aquifer mixing and underground disposal of surface-retorted materials. This paper outlines the four-phase program under contract to the Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines, which is being used to address the problem and details the laboratory and pilot scale testing.

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Commercial feasibility of Mississippian and Devonian oil shales of Kentucky

This research represents an extension of the Buffalo Trace Area Development District Study (BTADD) of the potential for commercial oil shale development in northeastern Kentucky (Lewis and Fleming Counties). This study concluded that a shale oil industry, based on eastern oil shales was economically feasible. In addition, it highlighted areas requiring further research. These include the need for: (1) additional oil shale resource assessment, and (2) a better understanding of the fundamental retorting properties of eastern oil shale. To further elucidate the physical and chemical trends found in Lewis and Fleming Counties, the resource assessment for this project was extended to the five counties south of Lewis and Fleming: Rowan, Bath, Montgomery, Powell and Estill. The components of this work included stratigraphy and chemistry of the oil shales, identification and correlation of high carbon zones of potential economic interest, and the calculation of high grade shale resources by mining category. The processing technology examined in the previous study was a modification of the Paraho indirect mode retort, which was originally developed for western US oil shale. Western oil shale differs from eastern in terms of gross chemical composition (eastern oil shales are silicates, western are primarily carbonates) and also in terms of the nature of their kerogen (eastern oil shales produce relatively more coke and potentially more gas upon retorting). These differences make obvious the need to examine the fundamental retorting properties of eastern oil shales. To this end, a bench-scale retorting system was built. This equipment was used to determine the impact of such parameters as heating rate and sweep-gas flow-rate upon oil yield. 92 references, 17 figures, 20 tables.

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