AndreaBozzo/ceres-open-data-index huggingface dataset:
AN OVERVIEW OF IN SITU RECOVERY RESEARCH AT THE LARAMIE ENERGY TECHNOLOGY CENTER

"The search for viable extraction methods to utilize alternative sources of hydrocarbons needed for the production of fuel and chemical feedstocks is being actively conducted by the Laramie Energy Research Center in three broad areas. The study of oil shale and shale oil was started at the Center under the Synthetic Liquid Fuels Act of 1944. During recent years the Center’s research efforts on oil shale have concentrated on the development of in situ methods for the recovery of liquid hydrocarbons. Field experiments conducted by the Center have used forward combustion of hydraulic and explosive fracturing. Future experiments are planned for modified in situ retorting that will require mining in the preparation of rubbled areas.  Another source of liquid hydrocarbons being investigated is the recovery of oil from the tar sands deposits located in Utah. A reverse combustion process was used during an early tar sands production experiment, and future work is now being planned to include steam injection. The history of research in petroleum production and petroleum chemistry at the Laramie Center predates the Synthetic Liquid Fuels Act, but the research efforts on tar sands are relatively recent.  A third research effort is the production f gaseous fuel by underground coal gasification. Present research on the underground coal gasification process is based on the linked well concept that uses a reverse combustion phase to horizontally connect or link vertically drilled holes into the coal seam. This is done before the main gasification phase is started.  The common goal of these in situ research programs on the three different commodities is to determine technical and economic feasibility and environmental acceptability of the various technologies. By reducing technical and economic uncertainties and by providing research opportunities to determine environmental effects of the processes, the desire of industries to produce these fuels could be stimulated. In situ processing may be the only method to recover energy values from deposits of fossil fuels that are too thin, too deeply buried, or otherwise unsuitable and unattractive for mining."

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SEPARATION TECHNIQUES AS A PRELIMINARY STEP TO THE DETERMINATION OF THE COMPOSITION OF PETROLEUM

"High-boiling fractions of petroleum are complex because of the great structural diversity of the hydrocarbons and because of the large proportion of heteroatomic compounds. This increased complexity makes impractical the traditional isolate-and-identify approach o composition studies. First defining the total composition in terms of individual compounds, even if possible, would be hopelessly unwieldy. Secondly, separated fractions will be complex because of the increasing difficulty of making discrete separations. These factors suggest that a system is needed for classifying the large variety of compositional parameters and that an increased proportion of the analytical information must come from an understanding of the separation itself.  A classification system is suggested which starts with families such as hydrocarbons, thiophenes, and pyrroles and subdivides each family successively according to aromatic rings, cycloalkane rings, alkyl carbons, and individual compounds.  An increased proportion of the analytical information can come from the separation itself by taking full advantage of modern separation science. Several separation procedures are examined, in terms of the classification system and modern separation science,  with respect to their ability to provide useful separations. A preliminary separation scheme developed by American Petroleum Research Project 60 is discussed."

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Mathematical Modeling of Electrolinking

Prior to any gasification in the underground coal gasification process, it is necessary to "link" or establish one or more relatively narrow high permeability channels between the injection and production well bores. Electrolinking achieves this permeability enhancement by carbonizing the coal via resistance heating between two electrodes placed in the well bores. This technique has been shown to be promising in commercial scale operations in the Soviet Union. However, field testing of this linking method in the US has indicated that it is unreliable and unpredictable. This paper develops a model based on linear stability theory which predicts the number, diameter, and propagation velocity of the electrolinks which form during the initial stages of electrolinking when the carbonization front is propagating radially about the electrodes. The model predictions are compared with limited data and then used to suggest possible improvement in this linking technique.

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SOME TECHNOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS OF IN SITU RETORTING

Despite great strides in recent years in mining technology, mining still accounts for a major share of the cost of producing shale oil.  Elimination of this process step by retorting the shale in place, a technique which is now generally known as in situ retorting, might well effect  substantial savings on the cost of producing shale oil.  This method would also eliminate the problem of spent shale disposal, and further reduce the overall cost of an oil shale operation.  Although in sit combustion techniques have been used quite successfully to recover oil from petroleum reservoirs, these techniques cannot be applied readily to oil shale because the mechanism and problems involved in recovering petroleum by them differ substantially from those which will be encountered in oil shale.  Some of these mechanisms and problems ad their effects on an in situ operation will be discussed.  Before considering in situ retorting of oil shale, it would probably be helpful to review some of the published work on in situ combustion processes for recovering petroleum.  Following this, the differences between petroleum reservoirs and oil shale beds, and the problems that these differences present will be considered.   Finally, results of some of the laboratory work at the Laramie Petroleum Research Center on these problem would be discussed, and some ways in which an oil shale in situ recovery project might be conducted in the Mahogany Zone of the Green River Formation will be considered.

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INTRINSIC KINETICS OF THE REACTION BETWEEN OXYGEN AND CARBONACEOUS RESIDUE IN RETORTED OIL SHALE

"The intrinsic kinetics, unaffected by diffusional and mass transfer effects, of the oxidation of oil shale  carbonaceous residue have been determined. For samples with undecomposed carbonate minerals, the  activation energy is 22.06 kcal/g-mole. The activation energy remains essentially the same when the carbonate minerals in the sample are decomposed and then recarbonated. The oxidation rate shows first-order  dependences on the oxygen partial pressure and the amount of unreacted char. It has also been shown that a nonisothermal method with linearly increasing temperature provides a useful technique for determining the intrinsic kinetics of gas-solid reactions."

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TCR EVALUATION OF BUREAU OF MINES SHALE OIL NAPHTHA

The shale-oil naphtha, which was produced by the Bureau of Mines by thermal recycle cracking of crude shale oil, had a glass dish gum of 1278 mg/100 ml as received  The naphtha was distilled to 95% vol. overhead before TCR processing to remove resinous materials and other substances in the heavy naphtha fraction which might have a deleterious effect on the reforming results.  The TCR experimental work was conducted in an isothermal unit of 600 cc catalyst capacity and consisted of the following operations:  1. Reforming shale-oil naphtha at 100 psig with gas recycle  2. Reforming shale-oil naphtha at 175 psig with gas recycle plus pure hydrogen addition. 3. Reforming blends of shale-oil naphtha and California straight run naphtha at 175 psig with gas recycle.      Properties of the shale-oil naphtha and the California straight run naphtha are summarized in Table I.  The TCR processing results are summarized in Table II.  The gasoline yields and octane obtained in TCR processing the shale-oil naphtha, the straight run naphtha and blends of the two naphtha are shown in the following table:

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SYNFUELS: OIL SHALE AND TAR SAND

Oil shale and tar sands occupy a unique position in the diverse energy sources assembled into the group entitled "Synthetic Fuels" or "Synfuels." First both oil shale and tar  sand are already fossil (not synthetic) fuels. Second, the basic extraction treatments of oil shale and tar sands yield oil. This oil can feed directly into and help support our well established dependence on petroleum and natural gas, which now contribute a major part of the U.S. total energy supply. Third, costs for producing major amounts of oil from oil shale and tar sand resource appear significantly lower than those associated with coal hydrogenation. the only other synfuels source of significant amount of petroleum like material.

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RELATIONSHIP OF OIL YIELD TO OIL-SHALE DENSITY

Correlation between density of an oil-shale rock and the rock's organic content or its oil yield has been evaluated empirically for sample from several oil-shale deposits. Oil shale consist of a mineral fraction with density of sedimentary rock of similar mineralogy and an organic fraction with density near that of water.  As oil shale becomes richer, it becomes lighter. The surprising lightness to the hand of a rich oil-shale specimen leads almost automatically to evaluate this correlation.

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OIL SHALES OF THE GREEN RIVER FORMATION IN WYOMING

Oil shales of the Eocene Green River Formation in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming constitute the world's largest deposit of hydrocarbons.  Tapping of this deposit for commercial production of shale oil appears imminent in Colorado.  As a result oil-shale interest oil-shale publicity, and oil-shale land trading have reached impressive proportions.  Largely ignored in their stir is Wyoming's oil shale, a resource estimated by Culbertson (1964) to represent 370,000,000,000 barrels of oil in place.  Several factors contribute, but the primary reason Wyoming's oil shales receive only token interest is the lack of detailed and valid oil-yield data.

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"PRELIMINARY Regulation Of  The Hydrologic Impacts  Of In-Situ Fossil Fuel Recovery"

The Laramie Energy Technology Center is conducting  field tests of in-situ coal gasification, oil shale retorting,  and recovery of bitumen from tar sands. In-situ processes involve several potential hydrologic impacts; the complex series of underground chemical reactions will affect ground-water quality, and heat from the reaction zone and fracturing necessary to improve reaction conditions will alter existing aquifer characteristics  and ground-water flow patterns. Disposal and handling  of solid and liquid wastes generated by the processes may also involve significant hydrologic impacts.  The In-Situ Hydrology Task Force has been established  by the Center to assess the need for research and information about these impacts. Five site-specific tasks and five generalized, technology-specific tasks have been outlined by the Task Force. Radian Corporation has participated in Task 6, which is a comprehensive effort to define the total hydrologic data requirements for regulatory compliance, resource characterization,  and environmental and process studies. Specifically, this report presents a review of applicable federal and state regulations dealing with in-situ fossil-fuel extraction processes and develops a hypothetical worst-case, or "straw-man," constructed as a composite of the most stringent state and federal regulations. Key uncertainties u\ the regulatory framework and their implications for in-situ processes are discussed.

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RETORTING BRAZILIAN OIL SHALE ENTRAINED SOLIDS RETORT RUN 22-1120 F

In March and April 1952, Mr. Jose Schor of the Brazilian Oil-Shale Commission visited the Petroleum and Oil-Shale Experiment Station in Laramie, Wyoming to observe the work being done on retorting oil shale and refining oil shale.  At that time he discussed with H.P. Rue, H.M. Thorne, and W.I. R. Murphy the possibility of retorting oil shale in the entrained solids retort.  It was agreed that, when time permitted, an exploratory run with this shale would be made to aid in planning additional work, should that be desirable, which could be carried on by the Bureau of Mines in cooperation with, and at the expense of the Brazilian government.  In furtherance of this informal arrangement, five sealed drums of shale were shipped to Laramie from the stockpile of the Union Oil Company in Wilmington, California.  This report describes briefly the entrained solids retort pilot plant and it s operation and presents data from the first experiment (Retort Run No. 22) in which Brazilian oil shale was retorted at 1120 F.

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PRELIMINARY FILTRATION STUDY OF CRUDE SHALE OIL FROM RIFLE, COLORADO

"A drum of crude shale oil was secured from the Bureau of Mines Shale Oil Development Plant at Rifle, Colorado for experimental filtration work. This oil is the product from their N-T-U retorting plant. The oil as received contains small percentages of emulsified water and rock dust. Preliminary studies to remove these contaminants by filtration were made. Effect on rate of flow of temperature and percentage of filter aid was investigated using Hyflo Super-Cel and Celite 503. Increased  rates of flow were obtained at the higher filtration temperature. Rates of 7.9 gals/sq ft/hr with 0.4 per cent Hyflo and 9.0 gals/sq ft/hr with 0.4 per cent Celite 503 were obtained at 900C.  In both cases, rock dust and water content were substantially decreased. This report consists of:  I. Summary  II. Detailed Discussion  III. Table I"

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"Stratigraphy and Resource  Assessment of the Oil Shales of East Central Kentucky"

Heightened interest in the organic rich shales of Mississippian and Devonian age as a source of oil has resulted in intensive leasing along the shale outcrop belt in Kentucky.  Eleven cores of the black shales from the counties of Rowan, Bath, Montgomery, Powell and Estill were examined and analyzed in an effort to relate details of stratigraphy to the oil rich horizons and to indicate areas of potential resources.  This report will not treat Estill County regarding the resource assessment. Formations of interest are the Sunbury Shale (Early Mississippian Age) and the Ohio Shale( Late Devonian age).  The name, Ohio Shale, is used throughout this report, but it was mapped as the New Albany Shale in the southern part of the study area by the U.S.G.S. The generalized stratigraphy (Early Mississippian through the Middle Devonian Age) is, in descending  order:  Borden Formation, Sunbury Shale, Bedford Shale, and Ohio Shale.  Useful key markers in the sequence are the Three Lick Bed and Foerstia zone; which are both in the Ohio Shale.  The Three Lick Bed divides the Ohio Shale into the Cleveland Member, above, and the Huron Member, below.  The Ohio Shale is underlain by the Middle Devonian Boyle Dolomite or the Silurian Bisher Dolomite, or the Crab Orchard Formation, also the Silurian in age.  The organic content is highest in the Sunbury Shale and in the Cleveland Member of the Ohio Shale.  In the cores, the total thickness of the Sunbury Shale range from 17 to 4 feet (5.2 to 1.2 m).  The thickness of the Bedford Shale, ranges from 18.0 to .2 feet (5.5 to .1 m). The Cleveland Member  of the Ohio Shale ranges from 49.0 to 33.0 feet (14.9 to 10.1 m). Assuming a stripping ratio of 2.5:1, more than 4.5 x10 6 acre feet of shale having a carbon value of greater than 8% is mineable by means of existing methods.  A conservative estimate of the amount of the potential strippable shale-oil resources in the four county area is 3.88 x 10 9 bbls.

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"WESTERN RESEARCH INSTITUTE  RESEARCH PLAN April 1, 1986 - September 30, 1986"

"On March 19, 1983 the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the University of Wyoming entered into a Cooperative Agreement, effective April I, 1983,  whereby the University of Wyoming, through the formation of a nonprofit corporation known as the University of Wyoming Research Corporation (UWYRC), took responsibility for operation of what was previously the  federally owned and operated Laramie Energy Technology Center (LETC). The Western Research Institute (WRT.) was subsequently formed as an affiliate of UWYRC to conduct the research within the Cooperative Agreement  and to pursue related research in conjunction with other organizations. Since its inception in 1923, research efforts at what later became LETC were always directed to specific fossil energy topics. From initial work on heavy petroleum products of the Rocky Mountain region, the focus of the efforts at the Center has changed over the years with national priorities to its involvement in Oil Shale, Underground Coal Gasification and Tar Sand. Following passage of the Synthetic Liquid Fuels Act in 1944, oil shale  research activities began at the Center with laboratory and bench-scale experiments. This early work consisted mainly of the evaluation of surface retorting concepts, the development of measurement and analytical methods, the evaluation of shale oil upgrading and refining  methods, and the characterization of shale oil and its products."

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ANALYTICAL METHODS FOR USE ON OIL SHALE AND SHALE OIL

This book is designed for the purpose of sharing information concerning the applicability of various analytical procedures to oil shale, shale oil, and shale oil products. Methods are included herein only after they have been tried on such materials.  Modifications and additional instructions which arte found to be necessary are most important.  Information concerning limited applicability or accuracy is also desired.  In addition the book should serve to standardize methods of testing the various laboratories working on oil shale and shale oil.

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"WESTERN RESEARCH INSTITUTE  ANNUAL RESEARCH PLAN  April 1,1985, through March 31,1986"

"On March 19, 1983 the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the University of Wyoming entered into a Cooperative Agreement, effective April I, 1983,  whereby the University of Wyoming, through the formation of a nonprofit corporation known as the University of Wyoming Research Corporation (UWYRC), took responsibility for operation of what was previously the  federally owned and operated Laramie Energy Technology Center (LETC). The Western Research Institute (WRT.) was subsequently formed as an affiliate of UWYRC to conduct the research within the Cooperative Agreement  and to pursue related research in conjunction with other organizations. Since its inception in 1923, research efforts at what later became LETC were always directed to specific fossil energy topics. From initial work on heavy petroleum products of the Rocky Mountain region, the focus of the efforts at the Center has changed over the years with national priorities to its involvement in Oil Shale, Underground Coal Gasification and Tar Sand. Following passage of the Synthetic Liquid Fuels Act in 1944, oil shale  research activities began at the Center with laboratory and bench-scale experiments. This early work consisted mainly of the evaluation of surface retorting concepts, the development of measurement and analytical methods, the evaluation of shale oil upgrading and refining  methods, and the characterization of shale oil and its products."

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QUARTERLY REPORT - MARCH 1, 1982 THROUGH MAY 31, 1982 - EQUTY OIL COMPANY BX IN-SITU OIL SHALE PROJECT, PICEANCE BASIN, COLORADO

"The following report has been organized into three sections as outlined below. Section A - Air Resources, contains a brief summary of work conducted during the last quarter, work planned for the next quarter and the results of the March 1982 field calibration report. Section B  - Water Resources, includes a summary of work completed and planned, and an analysis of data collected during a field sampling trip conducted between March 7-11, 1982. Section C - Aquatic Biology, describes  the work performed since the March 1982 Quarterly Report. Analyses of samples collected from the April field visit have not been completed and the results will be reported in the September Quarterly Report."

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QUARTERLY REPORT - JUNE 1, 1981 THROUGH AUGUST 31, 1981: EQUITY OIL COMPANY BX IN-SITU OIL SHALE PROJECT, PICEANCE BASIN, COLORADO

"The following report has been organized into three  sections for ease of review. Section A - Air Resources covers data collected by the 100-foot tower between September and December, 1980. Section B _ Water  Resources covers data collected since the last Quarterly Report. Section C - Aquatic Biology covers data collected since January 1981."

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TCR EVALUATION OF BUREAU OF MINES SHALE OIL NAPHTHA

The shale oil naphtha, which was produced by the Bureau by thermal recycle  cracking of crude shale oil, had a glass dish gum of 1278 mg/100 ml as received.  The naphtha was distilled to 95% vol. overhead before TCR processing to remove resinous materials and other substances in the heavy naphtha fraction which might have a deleterious effect on the reforming results. The TCR experimental work was conducted in an isothermal unit of 600 catalyst capacity and consisted of the following operations:                                                              1. Reforming shale-oil naphtha at 100 psig with gas recycle.                                                                 2. Reforming shale-oil naphtha at 175 psig with gas recycle plus pure hydrogen addition.                            3. Reforming blends of shale-oil naphtha and California straight run naphtha at 175 psig with gas recycle             Properties of the shale-oil naphtha and the California straight run naphtha are summarized in Table 1.  The TCR processing results are summarized in Table 2.  The gasoline yields and octane obtained in TCR processing the shale-oil naphtha, the straight run naphtha and blends of the two naphtha's are shown in the following table:

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NATURE OF BONDING BETWEEN ORGANIC MATERIALS AND MINERAL CONSTITUENTS OF OIL SHALE

This is a summary report for the project entitled "Nature of Bonding Between Organic Materials and Mineral Constituents of Oil Shale" (PPBS 20-03-12), authorization number 9111311. Work on this project was begun in FY 1967 and completed in FY 1969. Two manuscripts resulted from this research, "Use of Carbonic Acid to Concentrate Kerogen in Oil Shale" by Rex D. Thomas published in the January 1969 issue of FUEL, and "Concentrating the Kerogen in Oil Shale by Centrifuging" by Rex D. Thomas and Philip B. Lorenz to be published as an RI. The important results of this research are described in the next paragraphs. The major problem encountered in this research on oil shale was the separation of organic and inorganic material. A new method of concentration of the organic material using carbonic acid was developed. This acid was selected because it dissolves the major mineral constituents (carbonates) yet should not attack the organic material.  The best separation is obtained with a carbon dioxide pressure of 200 psi and oil scale particles smaller than 150 mesh. All of the calcium and magnesium in the oil shale , along with some iron and aluminum, is removed and the organic carbon content of the shale is  not affected  by this treatment. Physical separation by centrifuging can be improved by a factor of 10 by pretreatment with carbonic acid. The separation is further improved by pretreatment with sodium hydroxide (pH 11.5) to remove  the clay-like minerals. Subsequent treatment and centrifuging with organic solvents also improved the separation. Analysis of the materials obtained shows that the concentration of organic sulfur and nitrogen compounds is not affected by centrifuging. Organic oxygen compounds, however, are concentrated in the light fraction. Iron compounds other than pyrite appear to be closely associated with the organic material.

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