AndreaBozzo/ceres-open-data-index huggingface dataset:
OIL SHALE

A sedimentary rock containing solid, combustible organic matter in a mineral matrix.  The organic matter, often called kerogen, is largely insoluble in petroleum solvents, but decomposes to yield oil when heated.  Although "oil shale" is used as a lithologic term, it is actually an economic term referring to the rock's ability to yield oil.  No real minimum oil yield or content of organic matter can be established to distinguish oil shale form other sedimentary rocks.  Additional names given to oil shales include black shale, bituminous shale, carbonaceous shale, coaly shale, cannel shale, lignite shale, torbanite, tasmanite, gas shale, organic shale, kerosine shale, coorongite, maharahu, kikersite, kerogen shale and algal shale.

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A PROPOSAL FOR THE PRODUCTION OF SHALE OIL FUELS AT ANVIL POINTS SITE,  PLANNING AND EVALUATION REPORT NO. 6

"This report presents plant and operating cost estimates for three plans to produce shale-oil fuels from an expansion of the Bureau of Mines oil-shale project at Anvil Points near Rifle, Colo. The plant design assumes use  of the present mine, access roads, water plant, and power distribution facilities, but would not interfere with the operation or make use of other facilities of the Oil-Shale Demonstration Branch. The plans are as follows:  Plan A - A complete plant to produce and convert crude shale oil to products which can be absorbed locally--both  premium- and regular-grade gasoline, Diesel fuel,  burner and residual fuels, pitch, and coke.  Plan B - A minimum investment plant to produce finished  products--regular-grade gasoline and residual fuel oil.  Plan C - The production of pipeline oil and a 75 mile pipeline  to Rangeley, Colo. to tie in with existing crude oil lines.  The capital requirement and payout time before income taxes for each plan are as follows:  Capital Payout time requirement:, (years)  Plan A $32,800,000                     6  Plan B 23,800,000                       8  Plan C 17,900,000                       6  The report also contains the design bases and process descriptions for each of the plans--the properties of the products in each case, proposed construction time, and steel and other critical material requirements for construction and operation."

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PROCESS CONSIDERATIONS WHEN BURNING ORGANIC RESIDUE FROM 950 DEGREES F. RETORTED OIL SHALE, PLANNING AND EVALUATION REPORT NO. 3

"Many people have speculated on the possibilities for recovering the potential energy represented by the organic residue remaining in spent or retorted oil shale. A program of theoretical calculations was set up to examine the process considerations encountered with the burning operation. The combustion step necessary tor the release of this energy is identical, whether it be incorporated into a retorting procedure or considered separately as a means of producing byproduct waste heat. An engineering study has been made covering the burning of  spent shales containing various amounts of organic  residue. The purpose of this paper is to report the process considerations which were revealed by this analysis. Stoichiometric relationships were calculated,  and the major equipment sized for various operating situations. No costs have been assigned; therefore economic considerations are not discussed. Certain general relationships, however, will be pointed out. Three alternative procedures have been examined: combustion  with air, combustion with air plus heat recovery by  recycled flue gas, and combustion with a mixture of air and recycle flue gas. Results are expressed in terms of the heat content of the hot-gas product issuing from the burning operation. The basis upon which the engineering calculations were advanced is reviewed in the following section."

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MASS SHALE RATE - A RETORT DESIGN CONSIDERATION, PLANNING AND EVALUATION REPORT NO. 2

"The study of various proposals for retorting oil shale has  resulted in the recognition of the existence of certain fundamental relationships which must be considered when evaluating oil-shale retorting processes. Retorting-plant designs frequently are predicated on heat transfer considerations alone. Examination for a limiting mass shale  rate, expressed as pounds per hour per square foot, is often overlooked. Such a limitation on the allowable mass shale rate appears to exist for the internal-combustion type of retort . Based on factors to be discussed  later, a much higher mass shale rate should be  permissible for retorts operating on the carrier-gas recirculation principle. Oil-shale retorting processes may be classified into five broad categories according to the nature of the method used for the introduction of heat to the shale:  Class I - Retorting by heat transfer through a wall to  the shale.  Class II - Retorting by heat transfer from flue gas generated by combustion of shale within the retorting  vessel .  Class III - Retorting by heat transfer from an externally boated carrier fluid (gas or liquid) recycled through  the retorting bed.  Class IV - Retorting by heat transfer from externally heated solids recycled through the retorting bed.  Class V - Retorting by electrical methods such as induction,  radiant, or resonant heating.                                    The emphasis of engineering research to date has been directed toward the development of gas-to-solids shale-retorting processes. The two possibilities for gas-to-solids heating are by internal combustion (Class II) and by a heat-carrying medium (Class III),wherein recirculated  carrier gas is heated through the use of auxiliary  equipment outside the retort itself. The first part of this report will be concerned with internal combustion retorting, while the second will touch upon the carrier-gas retorting principle."

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IN SITU RECOVERY OF OIL FROM UTAH TAR SAND: A SUMMARY OF TAR SAND RESEARCH AT THE LARAMIE ENERGY TECHNOLOGY CENTER (RESEARCH REPORT)

This report describes work done by the United States Department of Energy’s Laramie Energy Technology Center (LETC) from 1971 through 1982 to develop technology for future recovery of oil from U.S. tar sands. Work was concentrated on major U.S. tar sand deposits that are found in Utah. Major objectives of the program were as follows: determine the feasibility of in situ recovery methods applied to tar sand deposits; establish a system for classifying tar sand deposits relative to those characteristics that would affect the design and operation of various in situ recovery processes.

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REFINERY CRACKING OPERATIONS CRACKING PLANT RUNS NOS. 42 AND 43

Recycle cracking runs Nos. 42 and 43 were conducted from November 26 to 29, 1951, and from December 10 14, 1951, respectively. N-T-U and visbroken N-T-U crude shale oils were recycle cracked in three test periods during run No. 42, and run N-T-U and Gas-Combustion crude shale oils were recycle cracked in four test periods during run No. 43.

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CURRENT ACTIVITY IN OIL PRODUCTION FROM U.S. TAR SANDS

The present report has been prepared to identify all activities that currently relate to the production and recovery of oil from U.S. tar sands. These activities fall into four categories: 1. Active field pilot and production operations to develop and test processes for the recovery of oil from tar sands and heavy oils; 2. Efforts to develop field tests in particular tar sand deposits or tests of new recovery technologies that have been developed and laboratory tested; 3. Laboratory and related research pertaining to development of recovery technologies and solutions to related problems; and 4. Analysis and evaluation of the oil resource in tar sands.

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RF HEATING OF CARBONACEOUS DEPOSITS, VO. 1 (OF 7) SUMMARY OF RF HEATING OF UTAH TAR SAND (FINAL REPORT, 7/1/79-3/31/82)

This is the final report on IITRI Project E06482 entitled “RF Heating of Utah Tar Sands. “ The work reported herein was conducted for the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract DE-AC01-79ER10181 during the period 1 July 1979 to 31 March 1982.

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LABORATORY STUDIES OF OIL RECOVERY BY STEAM INJECTION WITH GAS CO-INJECTANTS IN TAR SAND

Tar sands, also known as oil sands and bituminous sands, are sand deposits which are impregnated with dense, viscous petroleum. Tar sand deposits are estimated to contain more than 2,000 billion barrels of oil throughout the world. Despite its huge reserve, large scale commercial oil production from tar sand only began in the late sixties, and is currently restricted to surface mining ventures of deposits near the surface; however, most of the tar sand deposits lie below the strip mining limit and can only be produced through wellbores by in-situ processes. Because of its viscous nature, the oil is not recoverable by usual primary production methods.

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FEASIBILITY STUDY AND DESIGN OF LETC TS-4

The proposed TS-4 project in the Upper Rimrock formation in Uintah County, Utah, has been evaluated using INTERCOMP’s in-situ combustion model. The project involves both in-situ reverse combustion and steam flooding. The combustion preheats the formation before the steam flooding. It is limited and contained in a middle 10-foot interval with a correlatable high permeability streak within the 65 foot pay zone. A high communication path was created between the air injector and the producers in order to obtain adequate injectivity and sustain a stable reverse combustion. The effect is tantamount to initiating a fracture in this zone, parallel to the bedding plane. The process performance was optimized under different pattern sizes and injection rates. Under the conditions of this study, the following conclusions are drawn: 1. The proposal for the TS-4 project is considered feasible. 2. Combustion can be propagated in a 10 foot interval within a 65 foot pay. The heterogeneity of the formation helps to confine the combustion within the interval. The combustion spreads out more into the adjacent layers in a homogeneous formation. 3. A high communication path between the injector and the producer is necessary to achieve a stable reverse combustion. Instability of the front and combustion ‘echoes’ develop as the formation pressure increases. 4. Oil recovery by steam flooding is accelerated in a formation pre-heated by combustion; although the overall process time and cost may not justify pre-heating for this purpose only. Ultimate recovery remains essentially the same with or without the pre-heat reverse combustion. 5. High steam injection rate improves the recovery performance. A rate of 10.0 B/D/acre-ft was found adequate. The best performance is obtained when the injection is concentrated in the bottom zone. 6. A recovery of nearly 40% 00IP is possible from the Upper Rimrock formation in Northwest Asphalt Ridge with the TS-4 design. Under “optimum” conditions, the ultimate recovery is about the same for the 0.25, 0.5, 1.0 and 2.0 acre patterns. The true optimum pattern size and air injection rate will be determined by the economics. 7. Gravity segregation was evident during the steam flooding and possibly enhanced the steam flood performance. The pressure was low and the vertical spread of the combustion front was too poor for any significant gravity segregation during the reverse combustion.

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SIMULATION OF THE LETC/DOE TS-1S STEAM DRIVE EXPERIMENT

In conjunction with the LETC/DOE TS-IS Test, a computer simulation study was performed to a) help define the pattern site and configuration prior to the test, b) monitor the progress of the test during its operation, and c) help with post-test interpretation of the results. A multi-dimensional steam flood model was used to conduct the simulation. Results helped to define the inner and outer pattern sizes for the inverted 5-spot pattern. During the test vertical temperature profiles were matched which suggested significant under-running of the zone. Post-test coring and matching tended to confirm this behavior and the model also showed that initial oil saturation heterogeneity controlled the fluid movement during the experiment. The model results suggested that about three-fourths of the injected steam left the zone of interest and that fluid movement continued after the test was terminated. Studies of pre-steam flood air injection testing showed that such testing can give indication of areal heterogeneities so that steam movement during the test can be anticipated based on such heterogeneities.

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RECOVERY AND UPGRADING OF OIL FROM UTAH TAR SANDS - FIRST ANNUAL REPORT, OCTOBER 1, 1984 - SEPTEMBER 30, 1985

Research has progressed in four principal areas: A) Bitumen Upgrading  B) Thermal Recovery by Fluidized Bed Pyrolysis  C) Water Assisted Recovery  and D) Two Stage Thermal Recovery using Heat Pipes.

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UPGRADE OF HYDRPYROLYSIS PROCESS FOR CONVERSION OF TAR SAND BITUMEN

"Hydropyrolysis is a process for conversion of residual feedstocks to high yields of distillate products without the need for heterogeneous catalysts.  Under certain conditions over 99% of a tar sand bitumen is converted to  valuable gaseous, and liquid products. This study involves the design, construction and operation of a semi-continuous hydropyrolysis unit capable of quantitatively assessing the effect of process variables on product yield and structure."

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APPRAISAL OF THE TECHNICAL AND ECONOMIC POTENTIAL OF U.S. TAR SANDS. - DRAFT

"1. REVIEW CORE DATA DELINEATING INDIVIDUAL TAR ZONES.  2. CONSTRUCT CROSS SECTION CORRELATING TAR ZONES .  3. CONSTRUCT ISOPACH AND DEPTH MAPS FOR EACH ZONE.  4. DIVIDE DEPOSIT INTO VERTICAL AND AREAL PROSPECTS .  6. DETERMINE RESERVOIR CHARACTERISTICS FOR EACH PROSPECT."

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TAR SAND EXTRACTION BY STEAM STIMULATION AND STEAM DRIVE - MEASURMENT OF PHYSICAL PROPERTIES - FINAL REPORT OCT. 1, 1978 TO DEC. 31, 1980

The measurement of the following thermophysical properties of Utah tar sands have been performed: thermal conductivity, specific heat, relative permeability and viscosity ( of the recovered bitumen).   This summary report is based on work performed during the period 10/1/78-12/31/80 and the background reference material is contained in Lindberg (1980) (DOE/LETC/TPR-8-1761)

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DRY TAILING DISPOSAL FROM OIL SANDS MINING

The accumulation of non-trafficable sludge and toxic water from the oil sands plants may pose a problem -for generations to come. Although the sludge or "slimes" problem is characteristic of tailings disposal operations for most mines around the world, the tailings ponds in the oil sands industry are the largest and probably the least acceptable environmentally of any mining industry. Other mining industries, such as the uranium mining industry, produce toxic waste substances which are disposed of in  tailings operations. But the oil sands operations produce highly toxic waste water (LC50 to rainbow trout of 4%). The presence of bitumen slicks on the ponds has also necessitated elaborate bird deterrents for migrating water fowl. Numerous government agencies, Syncrude, Suncor, and other potential operators have conducted extensive research into alternative tailings disposal measures. Perhaps $15,000,000 has been spent in total. While several technically interesting schemes for sludge treatment have been identified, few of these appear to  be attractive on a commercial scale or offer the potential for a trafficable solid waste which can be revegetated.  The report which follows reviews background data regarding the properties of the oil sand, the nature of the mining, processing and tailings disposal operations, and the characteristics of the clays which have contributed to the difficulty inherent in sludge disposal operations in Volume I, sections 1.0 to 6.0.

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OLEOPHILIC SEPARATION  (Conceptual Commercial Design for Mined Tar Sand)

Oleophilic separation of tar sands and other materials is under pilot plant development by Kruyer.  It achieves high bitumen recovery with low energy and water requirements and is non polluting.  High, medium and very low grade mined tar sands as well as middling's, tailings, tailings pond sludge and steam drive emulsions have been separated.  The process has been proven to be effective for each of these.  A conceptual commercial design for a mined tar sands plant is here presented.

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NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF THE HASDRIVE PROCESS

Hasdrive (Heated Annulus Steam Drive) is an in-situ thermal process for recovering bitumen from tar sands. This paper presents the results of a numerical simulation of the HASDrive process in repeated, elongated well patterns.  Results show that the process can effectively recover bitumen from tar sands.  In a basic configuration, the cumulative recovery in ten years is predicted to be high, but the rate of production is low during the early steam-injecting period.  Several well configurations and operating procedures were investigated to accelerate the early year production.  The recovery mechanisms and the sensitivity of the process to various parameters are also discussed in this paper.

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"ACTIVITIES OF THE  ALBERTA OIL SANDS TECHNOLOGY  AND RESEARCH AUTHORITY"

The Alberta Oil Sands Technology and Research Authority is a provincial government corporation established in 1975 to stimulate the development of the technology needed to bring the province's large deposits of oil sand into commercial production.  AOSTRA's mandate was subsequently extended to include the heavy oils of the province, which although much smaller in quantity than the oil sands of northern Alberta, still represent a very significant resource and one which is closer to existing pipelines and markets. More recently, enhanced recovery of conventional crude oils has been added to AOSTRA's objectives .

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WET COMBUSTION OF ANTRIM OIL SHALE

"Wet combustion" is a process for oxidizing organic materials with air or oxygen under a condensed water phase. We looked at the we combustion of Antrim oil shale in a series of batch bomb experiments over the temperature range from 300 to 400supO/C and pressures up to 4000 psig. Oxidation does occur under these conditions. The rate is substantially lower with water present. There is no attack on the inorganic matrix. Wet combustion seems to offer no advantage over the dry case in these batch experiments.

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PETROLEUM POLICY - NEW OIL SUPPLIES FROM OIL SANDS HEAVY OILS AND FRONTIERS

"The national objectives of Canada for petroleum  resources include the development of new supplies of light-medium oil to achieve self-sufficiency and to export oil surplus to the country's needs, given also the net surplus in other energies such as natural gas, heavy oil, coal and electricity. The potential for the development of new light  oils is based on the immense deposits of the oil sands which can be produced as bitumen and processed into synthetic oils, upgrading of heavy oils, enhanced oil recovery of light-medium oil fields, and the putting  on production of the frontier discoveries on the Grand Banks and the Beaufort Sea. The federal government cooperates with the provinces, who are the owners  of the resources through agreements on the pricing and fiscal regime, as well as through export policy and support of research and development."

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ASSISTANCE IN DEVELOPMENT OF "DECISION CRITERIA FOR APPLICATION OF STEAM DRIVE TO U.S. TAR SANDS"

The attached report describes decision criteria to be applied to DOE-EOR Project 10 which is an attempt to extend the steam drive process to domestic tar sands. Due to the limited amount of "real" data, these criteria should be considered preliminary in nature and  should be updated as actual data is obtained from laboratory and field experiments. In addition, it should be realized that these criteria are somewhat subjective in that there is no clear differentiation between acceptable and unacceptable values for the listed parameters.

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TAR SANDS EXTRACTION BY STEAM STIMULATION AND STEAM DRIVE - LABORATORY AND NUMERICAL MODELING - FINAL REPORT, OCT. 1, 1978 - DEC. 31, 1980

"The objectives of this study were to experimentally and  mathematically investigate the effects of steam injection on recovery of bitumen from the sandstone formations in which it is deposited, deposits known as tar sands. The study was initiated to provide data to the Laramie Energy Technology Center (LETC) of the U.S. Department  of Energy for use in designing their field test of in situ recovery of the bitumen using steam injection."

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HYDROLOGIC SITE CHARACTERIZATION FOR IN-SITU COAL GASIFICATION

Recent experience at Hoe Creek and Hanna underscores the importance of the hydrological properties of the coal seam and adjacent confining layers to the gasification process. Permeability of the confining layers governs water influx and therefore gas quality. Directional permeability and the ratio of horizontal to vertical permeability and vertical stratification will control linking and the orderly progress of forward gasification. Practical hydrologic testing methods are outlined for obtaining directional permeability, the ratio of horizontal to vertical permeability, permeability of confining layers, along with compressibility, well efficiency and the in-situ fracture distribution. Vertical stratification is obtained using a new downhole flow tool sensitive to flow rates as .1 gpm. Field examples are given to illustrate the required instrumentation and derived parameters.

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GAS LEAKAGE AND WATER INFLUX FROM IN SITU COAL GASIFICATION

The general conditions under which water influx and gas leakage occur as a result of subsidence and the associated fracturing of the overlying confining layer are examined. The Effects of fracture width, fracture density and permeability of the confining layer on water influx are determined. An expression is developed for the time (Tc) required for critical saturation of the coal seam. Numerical values of Tc are presented for a wide range of permeability and coal seam thickness.

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A REVIEW OF THE EXPERIMENTS THROUGHOUT THE WORLD IN THE UNDERGROUND GASIFICATION OF COAL

In the present review I am starting with the year 1947 because, apart from the early Russian experiments which have been well reviewed in previous papers, this year saw the first field-scale trial of which published details are available. This trial, made at Gorgas, Alabama, has been followed by continuous programs of research in this country and by others in Belgium, Britain, France (French Morocco) and Italy. Each group of investigators has proceeded along lines dictated by its own interests and so the subject has been studied from a wide viewpoint. Each has had as its objective, the determination of the technical economic feasibility of the process of gasifying coal in place. Collaboration has been maintained between the teams during the course of the work and much useful information has been exchanged.

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DEVELOPMENT AND APPLICATION OF A THREE-DIMENSIONAL IN SITU COAL CONVERSION SIMULATOR

A three-dimensional, four-phase in situ coal conversion simulator is described which rigorously models fluid flow, heat transfer, vaporization/condensation, combustion gasification, pyrolysis, drying, and coal property changes. An Initial version of the simulator is detailed which has five fluid components - water, oxygen, tar, nitrogen, and a product gas. The paper presents the physical/chemical mechanisms which are modeled, the comprehensive mathematical solution, and two sample applications of the simulator to the Hanna Field tests. The applications demonstrate the current capability and future potential of the simulator to interpret field results and predict the sensitivity of field operating procedures. Additional features currently being implemented in the model are described which will enable the simulator to more accurately model the entire process.

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