The Sun. [volume] (Price, Utah) 1915-1932, 1918-02-01

]
In Metal Mining Applied to OH Pro-
] ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Of the Process.
NJ \. Robinson. mention OF whom
was made In last weeks sun as being
In Price looking up oil sands locally
for which he had invented treat
mcnt. has disposed Of the rights " his
process for Utah to w a. child aud
several capitalists az Salt Lake city.
who are to soon put ~ plant down
in san Juan county IN fact. u was
the sale now announced that took
Robinson to Zion week before last ~
Ihurricdly from Price before he had
time To- look ur any property here. re.
tcrring To- the Robinson process of
taking the oil from oil sands an au-
thoritv ON such matters says that for
many years the principle Of dcstruc.
/ tive diatiliatiun has been employed In
the extraction Of oil from Hhalcs In
Scotland. and the same principle has
been employed by all American In
ventors IN experiments conducted with
y view to extracting oil from the vast
deposits ct shalcs In Utah. Colorado
and other states In the Western coun-
/ try. Comparatively recently nam.
moth reefs of oil sands have been dis
covered In the San Rafael country and
In the tiintah Banin and the same
equipment has boon used In expert
mental tests made In an effort 90 take
the oil from the saturated sands. To
u certain extent the experiments have
met with HucCcEs, but u was admitted
that destructive Oscillation In the
case Of the saturated sands did not
WELD the results desired.
procc-s Most simple.
Robinson appears TO have solved
the problem by applying some OF the
knowledge gained In mining. Instead
~ destructive Oscillation he has dc
voted his attention Co extracting oil
from the saturated sands by "a leach
Ing or washing process. simple In the
extreme In go far AZ principle ~ con-
ccrncd. the big secret being the form
uia ~ the teaching or washing solu-
ton which N protected by patent The
mined oil saturated sand " first
crushed to the desired mesh" From
the cruHhcr Il II mechanically dciiv-
cred a. hopper bin. From the hop
through steel trough or cylinder o.
which Just enough heat n applied Co
warm the sand In transit from the
hopper To the enclosed tank In which
the separating process IN carried on.
This tank IN designed to treat and
hold az ono operation five TONS OF oil
sand aud the twenty gallons of Holu-
tion that ~ mechanically fed Co the
H. a.. 90
kept warm through the application Of
steam In coils Apcrturca are then
closed. the centrifugal agitator II set
In motion and the charge In stirred for
period of about ton minutes. In
that length Of time the oil has been
washed" from the sand and agita-
tion ceases
sand L. Then Washed.
After few minutes the released
sands settle 60 the bottom Of the tank
and the oil. still carrying In nuHpen-
sion large proportion Of the Hepar.
ating solution. In drawn Off and dis
charged into another tank. The aEi-
tator IN then started again. only that
the blades which had been constantly
lifting and tumhiing the sands In the
solution. are now turning In the OPP
poslte direction 30 as 10 force the
sands down the inclined bottom of the
tank through gate at the bottom OF
the incline. From here the sands are
conveyed into another tank for final
cleaning. Just sufficient heat II APP
piled 10 the tank containing the OIL
and also the tank containing the sands
from which the oil has been removed
to vaporiEe the solution. which In
carried off and condensed for further
use. The solution. which In the pro-
cess viii have lost leSs than 6 per cent
OF It's volume. In then brought up to
the required strength" and Ia again
ready for the treatment OF another
charge. The cleaned sand. from which
the oil has been released and recover
ed. IL then sent over the dump.
The oil recovered through this pro-
cess In the crude petroleum, exactly
as Il would be II the oil was secured
from a well that had been drilled into
the same sand stratum. The product
recovered from the Ban Rafael sands
thus treated In experiments yielded
approximately two barrels TO the ton
OF sand treated. A flye-ton charge
can be crushed. treated and the solu-
ton recovered within a period OF for
ty minutes. and II therefore In appar-
ent that n five-ton unit will handle
fifty tons or more a day. with lots OF
time TO spare. and yield a hundred
barrels OF oil per day.
Time Il the Feature.
Besides the simplicity OF the pro-
cess and the Responsiveness Of the
plant, a big and important feature In
the rapidity with which the sands may
be treated. Tests made on Utah sands
during the past two weeks indicate
that the actual treatment. exclusive OF
the crushing Of the crude sands and
the drying OF the washed sands. may
be accomplished In ten minutes or less
and the yield II from two 90 four times
as great as that obtained by the de-
structive distillation. Robinson admits
A. "A a.