The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1916-03-18
GASOLINE FROM sHALE.
Reserve Source of Supply May Soon
Be Drawn Upon.

In view of the ever-increasing de
mand for gasoline and the increase ii
price of crude oil, from which 1T /:
obtained, it is important to know thai
an almost inexhaustible supply of OF
may be obtained from the shale OF
northwestern Colorado, northeastern
Utah, and southwestern Wyoming
This shale contains materials which
when heated, may be converted into
crude oil, gas, and ammonia. The
high cost of distiIling oil from shale
as compared to the cost of producing
oil from wells has thus far prevented
the development in this country OF
such an industry and may continue
to prevent it for some time, but soon
Ell or later this great source of supply
will be utilized to supplement the de
creasing production from the regular
oil fields.
The oil derived from the shale is
similar to that which is being pro-
duced from wells in the United States
at the rate Of more than 250,000,000
barrels year. When refined by or
binary methods the shale oil yields an
average of about 10 per cent gaso-
line, 35 per cent kerosene, and a
large amount Of paraffin. The yield
of gasoline from the shale may prob
ably be largely increased by the use
of refining methods especially de-
signed for that purpose. The gas,
which is vssy good Illuminating gas,
will perhaps ae sufficient to furnish all
the heat required to distill the crude
oil from the shale
The ammonia is a most valuable
by-product of the distillation and may
be utilized in the manufacture OF
commercial fertilizer or other nitro
gen compounds, as the market de-
mands. The United States Geological
Survey has examined large areas OF
the shale in Colorado, Utah, and
Wyoming, and has made many dis
tillation tests. Some beds of shale
that are several feet thick will yield
more than a barrel of oil to the ton
of shale, and one bed inches thick
will yield more than two barrels OF
crude oil to the ton Of shale. One ton
of this shale should therefore yield
nearly 10 gallons of gasoline by the
present commercial methods of gaso-
line extraction, and larger yields may
be made possible by new methods.
Little attention has been paid to
this shale because the quantity OF
petroleum produced from wells in the
United States has been sufficient to
satisfy all demands, but for more than
so years the Oil shale industry of
Scotland has been a very important
one. In a recent year more than
5000 men were employed in the in
dustry in that country, yet the aver
age yield of oil per ton of shale was
much less than that which appears
possible from the shale of Colorado
and Utah. 1t is estimated that in
Colorado alone there is sufficient
shale, in beds feet or more thick
and richer than the shale being mined
in Scotland, to yield twenty billion
barrels of crude oil, from which at
least two billion barrels of gasoline
may be extracted by ordinary refining
processes.
AS was stated in the recent reply
of Secretary Lane to a senate resolu-
ton on the subject Of gasoline: 11The
development Of this enormous re
serve simply awaits the time when
the price of gasoline or the demand
for other distillation products war
rants the utilization of this substitute
source. This may happen in the flu
ture. At all events these shales are
likely to be drawn upon long before
the exhaustion of the petroleum
fields"