The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1919-11-22
OLD SCHEME FOR | -SHALE OSCILLATION
EXPOUNDED BY COLORADO GAS CO. MAN
NEARLY EVERYBODY SEEMS WILLING TO POSE AS A DIsCOyERER
OF AN ENTIRELY ANCIENT PROCESS OF sHALE INSTALLATION;
COLORADO GAS COMPANY MAN ENTERS THE GAME WITH GUsTO

walls of the %retort, a temperature o.
100 degrees Fahrenheit having beer
found after long experimentation t.
be best suited to the purpose.
: In the center OF this retort is a per
t forated core, or collection chamber
( around which the raw shale is poured
from an overhead charging hopper
Between this core and the inner wal
of the retort is a space of four inches
and it is this space which is filled
with the raw shale. this thickness OF
shaIe having been found to insure the
completest decomposition of the shale
by the applied heat.
The resulting liquids and gases are
drawn from the decomposing shale,
through that part of the charge which
has O yet been reached directly by
the heat, into the cor and out
through the bottom by a pump,
whence they pass through a system
of c~ondensers and finally come out in
the form of crude oil and ammonia.
Only primary distillation is permitted,
otherwise the vapors which carry oil
would be converted into fixed gases
from which there could be no re-
covery of oil or other valuable ma
terial.
Through the absolute control OF the
heat, Mr.. Wallace explained it is pos
sible to recover a greater proportion
of the oil contained in the shales and
to retain in these oils properties
which would be destroyed by the ap-
plication of higher temperatures. The
inventor denied that steam is of value
in the recovery of oil, as is done in
the Scotch processes. His expert
ments had shown, he said. that COM
plete carbonization of the shale was
accomplished in an hour.
The temperature of 100 degrees
Fahrenheit on the inside wall of the
retort was found to decrease to $50
degrees as the collecting chamber was
approached, and at this lower tenn
perature carbonization was complete.
The spent shale, from which the oil
has been removed, is drawn out
through the bottom of the retort, and
as it drops out is replaced by a new
F. - fonoEtn0 tho nrnRnCC onn-
tinuous.
The retorts which will be used In
actual distillation have a capacity OF
three tons of shale, which is first
broken into pieces of less than an
inch in diameter. At present the re-
torts are made of cast-iron, treated
in such a way as to prevent them
from growing" or warping, but Mr.
Wallace said that perhaps a silica re-
tort would be used. Fixed gases are
removed through the top Of the retort
and are to be utilized as far as pos
sible in developing the heat required
in the distillation process.
Two companies have been organ.
lied to begin the production Of oil and
ammonia phosphate, the most valu'
able of the by-products, in Colorado
One of these is the Shale Oil & Re.
filming Corporation, a Virginia cor
poration with its principal Offices in
New York, which is the licensee Of
the Wallace process for that state
anC the other is the Lackawanna Oh
J. Shale Products Company, of which
John Gaffy. Denver capitalist, is
president. Both these companies will
erect reduction plants lee DeBeque
in the heart of the Colorado oil shalt
district.
The Shale Oil & Refining Corpora.
ItioE aas already contracted with the
Gas Engineering Corporation for the
direction of it's first unit of 200 ton:
daily capacity. This will be the nu'
cleus of a 2000-ton plant which ha:
ALREADY been financed through the un.
derwriting of a part of its capita
- ~ y