Publications: Technologies for Decreasing Mining Losses

Publications: Technologies for Decreasing Mining Losses: Volume 11, Issue 1 (Oct 2013) Previous Article Next Article Download full text pdf OPEN ACCESS Technolog...

Background

Background:

Background

Fact Sheets >
Maps >
Videos >
The rich oil shale resources of western Colorado are no secret. They were discovered over a hundred years ago, and they have seen several failed attempts at exploitation, due primarily to cost and technical issues. The most recent oil shale boom went bust on “Black Sunday” in May 1982 when oil companies closed the Colony Oil Shale project near Parachute, Colorado and over 2,000 residents of western Colorado became unemployed overnight. After decades of inaction, however, high gasoline prices led Congress in 2005 to put oil shale planning on a fast track.

Click here for the latest fact sheets
Background on oil shale:
Oil Shale is a sedimentary rock that contains solid bituminous materials known as kerogen.  The rock does not contain oil, but when heated to very high temperatures it releases the kerogen that can be stabilized, upgraded and processed into fuel. Developing oil shale into a fuel resource would be an energy-intensive, environmentally-destructive practice that is not yet commercially viable anywhere in the world.  Both strip mining or in-situ mining (which involves heating the ground to more than 700⁰ F to melt out the kerogen) of oil shale require huge amounts of energy. In fact, more energy may go into the development process than would be produced in the oil.
At this point very little is known about the impacts that would likely result from large-scale shale oil development.
Water Impacts
Oil shale development is projected to have a dramatic effect on Colorado’s water supplies and potentially its water quality. Water requirements for traditional mining and surface retort oil shale development are well documented, but estimates for in-situ production, which is being proposed at five sites in the Piceance Basin of Colorado, haven’t been made public. This water would have to come from a combination of Colorado’s unused share of the Colorado River – if any remains – and from existing users such as the agricultural and ranching operations scattered across the scrub-covered range and piñon-juniper woodlands.
Producing oil from shale uses water on site both during and after production (to cleanse the production zone after the oil has been extracted). For example, Shell recently disclosed in a permit application for its small research and demonstration site that it will have to rinse its underground production area over 20 times, requiring up to 4 acre-feet each day for over two years and resulting in massive water disposal challenges.
Oil shale development also poses a potentially serious threat to water quality. The process of transforming the kerogen in shale into oil leaves behind salts and numerous toxic, water-soluble chemicals that could leach into the groundwater that is the source of much of the region’s surface water during the critical time when flow is lowest. Flushing these chemicals from the oil shale production zone, as several companies propose, would also create large volumes of highly saline water that will require further treatment. But like oil shale production itself, the technical feasibility of isolating and treating contaminated groundwater has not been demonstrated. The toxic chemicals left behind in the spent shale could potentially pollute important water sources including the Colorado River and some of its tributaries.
Air Impacts
Developing oil shale on the west slope is going to require about 12,000 megawatts of electricity from somewhere, probably coal-fired power. But the new limits on ozone proposed by the EPA means that there is very little room for new industrial development that adds to air pollution. And the ozone issue is just the tip of the iceberg – 12,000 megawatts of coal-fired power will have a host of impacts, from mercury in water supplies to a huge increase in global warming pollution from Colorado.
The proposed underground production technologies now being developed by Shell, Chevron and EGL Resources will create major new demands on the energy grid. Our existing power plants are nearing their full production rates. To keep up with demand, the electricity for oil shale development will likely have to come from new power plants. The most readily available fuels for new plants are coal and natural gas. And the currently low cost of coal will make this dirtiest of fossil fuels the more economically attractive choice for power production. Our experts did an analysis of the likely impact that would come from producing one million barrels of oil per day from shale. That’s the low end of what the Department of Energy projects could be operational within two or three decades.
The bottom line: The new power plants needed to support a one million barrel-per-day industry could emit 105,000,000 tons of carbon dioxide every year. That’s about 80 percent more than was released by all existing electric utility generating units in the states of Colorado, Wyoming and Utah in 2005.
Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide emissions, the major culprits in acid rain, could increase by over 35,000 tons per year each. That’s 20 percent more sulfur dioxide and 16 percent more nitrogen dioxide than was emitted by all of the electrical generating units in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming in 2002.
If these emissions are concentrated where the oil shale deposits are, namely the Piceance Basin in Colorado and the Green River Basin in Utah, they could further impair air quality in a region that’s already seeing spikes in air pollution from the natural gas boom.

Wildlife Impacts
The land overlying oil shale resources in Utah, Colorado and Wyoming is some of the best wildlife habitat in the West. We don’t know the exact impacts that oil shale could have on wildlife populations, but the BLM has estimated that elk, deer, and aquatic species would be significantly impacted by a full-scale oil-shale industry.

Oil shale - Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary

Oil shale - Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary:

oil shale

 noun

Definition of OIL SHALE

:  a rock (as shale) from which oil can be recovered by distillation

 See oil shale defined for kids »

First Known Use of OIL SHALE

1873

oil shale

 noun    (Concise Encyclopedia)

Any fine-grained sedimentary rock that contains solid organic matter (kerogen) and yields significant quantities of oil when heated. This shale oil is a potentially valuable fossil fuel, but the present methods of mining and refining it are expensive, damage the land, pollute the water, and produce carcinogenic wastes. Thus, oil shale will probably not be exploited on a wide scale until other petroleum resources have been nearly depleted. Estonia, China, and Brazil have facilities for producing relatively limited quantities, and the U.S. government operates an experimental plant in Colorado.

Learn More About OIL SHALE

Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about "oil shale"

Browse

Next Word in the Dictionary: oil shark
Previous Word in the Dictionary: oilseed
All Words Near: oil shale

Oil Shale - Enefit

Oil Shale - Enefit:

Oil shale

• What is oil shale
• Why do we need oil shale?
• The Solution is Shale Oil
• World reserves

What is oil shale

Oil shale is a sedimentary rock that contains an organic material called kerogen. Kerogen can be heated, separated from the rock, processed and turned into liquid shale oil. The liquid shale oil can be treated and refined into diesel and jet fuels, as well as into petrol.

• Why do we need oil shale?
  Dramatic worldwide growth places great pressure on conventional oil production. As China, India, Pakistan and many other countries continue to modernize and develop, the demand for oil will continue to grow at a record pace.
• The Solution is Shale Oil
  Soaring prices, increased global demand, declining production and dependency on foreign oil have been the catalysts in the search for long-term, dependable energy solutions.
• World reserves
  There are estimated resources of 2.8-3.3 trillion recoverable barrels of oil. Worldwide, oil shale contains at least three times as much oil as conventional crude oil reserves, which are projected at around 1.2 trillion barrels.

Oil shale is a sedimentary rock.

National Oil Shale Association | All information about oil shale in America and the world

National Oil Shale Association | All information about oil shale in America and the world:

Home

NOSA PROVIDES FACTS ABOUT OIL SHALE DEVELOPMENT IN THE UNITED STATES.

THE RESPONSIBLE DEVELOPMENT OF OIL SHALE CAN IN THE FUTURE REDUCE THE PRICE WE PAY AT THE PUMP AND MAKE US LESS RELIANT ON FOREIGN OIL.

Water issues have been raised about its use for oil shale.  Usage is not excessive as compared to other energy sources.  Indirect economic benefits to the region result from water used for oil shale development.

Current oil shale technology has improved here in the United States and abroad.  Answers to environmental and socioeconomic questions are available today for decision makers and the public.

Oil shale is a huge untapped domestic energy resource larger than the oil reserves in the Middle East. It should be part of the National Energy Strategy.

Environment concerns of the past have been addressed.  Projects will not go forward unless regulations are met or exceeded.

Social and economic benefits of jobs, tax revenues, economic improvement, and enhanced national security are positive benefits of shale oil production.

Age old myths about oil shale are misleading the public into believing the resource should not be developed.  Facts are available on this web site.

Booms and Busts of the past were based upon conditions of a bygone era that do not exist today.  No Federal money is subsidizing oil shale projects.

oil shale - National Geographic Education

oil shale - National Geographic Education:

Encyclopedic Entryfor teaching

oil shale

PREVIOUS RESOURCE PREV NEXT NEXT RESOURCE PLAY ALL PLAY

VIEW OPTIONS VIEW ALL SLIDES POP-OUT PLAYER PRESENTATION MODE DOWNLOAD

SHOW NAVIGATION/HIDE NAVIGATION

Oil Shale

Lacustrine Shale

Marine Shale

Terrestrial Shale

Extracting Shale Oil

SHOW INFO/HIDE INFO

Oil shale is a sedimentary rock that is also a fossil fuel. Oil shales, like this one from the Uinta Basin, Utah, formed millions of years ago from the remains of plants and animals trapped under intense heat and pressure. Oil shales are classified in many ways, including their depositional histories—the way they formed.

Photograph courtesy Argonne National Laboratory

• Encyclopedic Entry
• Vocabulary

Encyclopedic Entry

Oil shale is a lot like coal—they're both rocks that can be burned for energy.

Photograph by Emory Kristof

Shale-saurs

Some carbonate-rich shale deposits are also dinosaur-rich rock formations. The Irati Formation, in the state of Parana, Brazil, is a thin deposit of carbonate-rich shale. It also contains many fossils of mesosaurs, a type of aquatic dinosaur.

Silica Gems

In addition to oil shales, silica from ancient organisms created rock formations that are rich in minerals such as quartz, chert, and opal.

Oil shale is a type of sedimentary rock that is rich in kerogen. Kerogen is a part of rock that breaks down and releases hydrocarbons when heated. Hydrocarbons are substances made entirely of hydrogen and carbon.Petroleum and natural gas are probably the most familiar hydrocarbons. The hydrocarbons in oil shale can be used as an alternative to petroleum or natural gas.

 

Like traditional petroleum, natural gas, and coal, oil shale and kerogen are fossil fuels. Fossil fuels developed from the remains of algae, spores, plants, pollen, and a variety of other organisms that lived millions of years ago in ancient lakes, seas, and wetlands. 

 

When these organisms died and drifted to the seabed, they were buried under new layers of plants and sediment. They encountered intense pressure and heat, decomposed, and slowly transformed into the waxy substance known as kerogen. 

 

There is not a consistent chemical composition of kerogen, because it has a variety of origins. Kerogen that formed from land plants (called humic kerogen) usually has a higher oxygen content than kerogen formed from plankton (calledplanktonic kerogen). However, all types of kerogen consist mainly of hydrocarbons; smaller amounts of sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen; and a variety of minerals.

 

Oil shale can be thought of as a precursor to oil and natural gas. With more pressure and over more geological time, kerogen would heat to its “oil window” or “gas window” (the temperature at which it would release crude oil or natural gas).

 

A sedimentary rock, oil shale is found all over the world, including China, Israel, and Russia. The United States, however, has the most shale resources.

 

Spanning the U.S. states of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming, the Green River formation is an underground oil shale formation that contains as much as 1.8 trillion barrels of shale oil. Although not all of this can be extracted, it is more than three times the proven petroleum reserves of Saudi Arabia. 

 

Oil Shale, Shale Oil, and Oil-Bearing Shale

Oil shale, shale oil, and oil-bearing shale are three different substances. Oil shale is a sedimentary rock. As it reaches its oil window, oil shale releases a liquid known as shale oil. Oil shale is the rock from which shale oil is extracted.

 

Shale oil is similar to petroleum, and can be refined into many different substances, including diesel fuel, gasoline, and liquid petroleum gas (LPG). Companies can also refine shale oil to produce other commercial products, such as ammonia and sulfur. The spent rock can be used in cement. 

 

Oil-bearing shales are underground rock formations that contain trapped petroleum. The petroleum trapped within the rocks is known as “tight oil” and is difficult to extract. Companies extracting tight oil often use hydraulic fracturing (fracking), while companies extracting shale oil most often use heat.

 

The Bakken formation, for example, is made of oil-bearing shale. It is a series of layered shale rocks with a petroleum reservoir trapped between the layers. The Bakken formation stretches from the province of Saskatchewan, Canada, through the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota. Improved drilling technologies have allowed companies to extract oil from the Bakken formation, creating an economic boom in the region. 

 

«12345»

VKG - Total oil shale phenols

VKG - Total oil shale phenols:

Total oil shale phenols

Phenols and phenol products

Total phenols are produced by extraction from oil shale retort liquor. High reactive alkyl derivatives of resorcinol are the main components of total phenols. They are used as a chemical intermediate for synthetic tanning agents, various adhesive resins and plugging compositions for the repair and insulation of oil and gas wells.

CHEMICAL COMPOSITION, wt. %
Monohydric phenols (incl. xylenols)	8.8 - 12.2
Xylenols	0.8 - 1.2
Resorcinol	0.5 - 2.0
2-methyl resorcinol	0.5...1,5.
4-methyl resorcinol	1. 5...2. 5
5-methyl resorcinol	28. 0...32. 0
2.5-dimethyl resorcinol	5. 0...7. 0
5-ethyl resorcinol	11. 0...13. 0
4.5-dimethyl resorcinol	5. 0...8. 0
Unidentified compounds	19. 0...25. 0
Average molecular weight	150...160
VKG OIL AS hereby offer total shale phenols with following specification;
SPECIFICATION
Phenols, wt. % (mixture of mono and dihydro phenols, not linked to benzene)	min. 94. 5
Neutral oils, wt. %	max 2. 5
Water, wt. %	max 2. 5
Ash, wt. %	max 0. 06
Color	Black to drown, dark drown

MSDS