Oil Shale

There are vast resources of oil shale in the western United States. Development of technically and economically effective technologies for the conversion of oil shale to liquid fuels will help provide a long-term and secure source of transportation fuels. Developing good understanding of the decomposition kinetics of oil shale to oil and other products, along with the oil compositional information are important regardless of the process used. Themogravimetric analysis combined with online mass spectrometry (TGA-MS) affords the opportunity to obtain compositional information while the decomposition is being measured quantitatively. In this work we provide data on the TGA-MS analyses of Green River oil shale from Utah. Compounds of about 300 atomic mass units were targeted in the mass spectrometric analyses.

Twenty-eight different tea samples sold in the United States were evaluated using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with fluorescence detection (FLD) for their contamination with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Many PAHs exhibit carcinogenic, mutagenic, and teratogenic properties and have been related to several kinds of cancer in man and experimental animals. The presence of PAHs in environmental samples such as water, sediments, and particulate air has been extensively studied, but food samples have received little attention. Eighteen PAHs congeners were analyzed, with percentage recovery higher than 85%. Contamination expressed as the sum of the 18 analyzed PAHs was between 101 and 1337 mg/kg on dry mass and the average contents in all of the 28 examined samples was 300 mg/kg on dry mass. Seven of the congeners were found in all samples with wide ranges of concentrations as follows: fluorene (7-48 mg/kg), anthracene (1-31 mg/kg), pyrene (1-970 mg/kg), benzo(a)anthracene (1-18 mg/kg) chrysene (17-365 mg/kg), benzo(a)pyrene (1-29 mg/kg), and indeno(1,2,3-cd)pyrene (4-119 mg/kg). The two most toxic congeners benzo(a)pyrene and dibenzo(a,h)anthracene

Several extraction technologies have been used for mining oil shale in Estonia. The quality and properties of the raw material for fuel and oil depend directly on the initial geological properties of the mineral resource. In case of kukersite oil shale in Estonia the calorific value, oil yield and limestone content vary. The paper considers possibilities for selective mining of kukersite oil shale based on tests and theoretical studies. Analyses show that selective and high selective mining extraction methods have a potential for increasing oil shale yield and decreasing losses.

Geopolitics of energy is currently strained by three factors: the acceleration of global warming to which fossil combustion contributes, the growing dispute over these resources and their progressive depletion. Despite the climate crisis, companies and governments are forcing the hydrocarbon frontier, advancing on deposits that require techniques such as fracking, mega-mining and deep-water platforms. On a scale, South America reproduces these dynamics and tests such ventures. Due to their magnitude, the two most prominent examples of this are those of Vaca Muerta, in the southwest of Argentina, and Pre-salt, on the Brazilian coast. In this article we will study the historical trajectory, the actors participating in its exploitation and the projections of both.

La geopolítica de la energía se encuentra tensionada actualmente por tres factores: la aceleración del calentamiento global al cual contribuye la combustión fósil, la creciente disputa por estos recursos y su progresivo agotamiento. Pese a la crisis climática, empresas y gobiernos fuerzan la frontera hidrocarburífera, avanzando sobre depósitos que requieren de técnicas como el fracking, la megaminería y las plataformas de aguas profundas. A escala, Sudamérica reproduce estas dinámicas y ensaya emprendimientos de este tipo. Por su magnitud, los dos ejemplos más destacados de ello son los de Vaca Muerta, al sudoeste de Argentina, y el Pré-sal, en el litoral de Brasil. En este artículo estudiaremos la trayectoria histórica, los actores participantes en su explotación y las proyecciones de ambos.

In 2012 and 2013 extensive sedimentological field work was conducted to study the depositional setting, the regional geology and facies relationships, and measure sections of the Green River Formation in all the subbasins, in Wyoming, Colorado and Utah (USA). Several pervasive horizons of seismically induced deformation structures were identified mainly in profundal lacustrine sediments. Deformation is represented by brittle and plastic behaviour, as well as sediment injection and mass transport. The deformed layers are confined by undeformed beds which implies sporadic short-lived events that affected only near-surface sediments with susceptible rheological state at the time.
Based on: (1) the tectonic setting of the lacustrine basins; (2) the sedimentary environment and sedimentological characteristics of the successions in which the deformed layers occur; (3) their lateral extent and proximity to known active fault systems during the time of the deposition of host sediments; (4) their recurrence at different stratigraphic levels, intervals showing large-scale sedimentary deformation structures are interpreted as result of in-situ loss of shear strength, formed by increased pore pressure and vertical or horizontal stress induced by seismic activity

Mr. Campbell and Dr. Conca provided one of the 10 summaries for energy resource commodities on uranium, thorium, and rare earths (pp. 450-458). Other experts provided sections on geothermal, coal and unconventional energy resources, and on an analysis of energy economics and technology, all prepared by
committees of the Energy Minerals Division of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists. Unconventional energy resources, as used in this report, are those energy resources
that do not occur in discrete oil or gas reservoirs held in structural or stratigraphic traps in sedimentary basins. Such resources include coal-bed methane, oil shale, uranium and thorium
deposits and associated rare-earth elements of industrial interest, geothermal, gas shale and liquids, tight gas sands, gas hydrates, and bitumen and heavy oil. Current U.S. and global
research and development activities are summarized for each unconventional energy resource commodity in the topical sections of this report, followed by analysis of unconventional
energy economics and technology.

This report, provides an analysis of infrastructure, economic, geological, environmental and law-related aspects of development of the unconventional gas sector both in Poland and in the EU. It also gives recommendations regarding this new challenge for the EU’s energy policy.

Summary:
This chapter presents a descriptive and illustrative account of phase behavior in the seven naturally occurring petroleum fluids and ties all the known eleven phase-transition concepts in a unified narrative. The figures and tables contained in this report are designed so that they could effectively support the discussion about molecular make-up of petroleum fluids, P- and T-effects on phase behavior and phase transition points.
      Seven naturally occurring hydrocarbon fluids are known as petroleum fluids. They include, in the order of their fluidity, natural gas, gas condensate (or NGL), light crude, intermediate crude, heavy oil, tar sand and oil shale.  In this report we present a generalized description of the various phase transitions, which may occur in petroleum fluids with emphasis on heavy organics deposition. 
      At first the nature of every petroleum fluid is presented.  Their constituents including their so-called impurities are identified and categorized. Heavy fractions in petroleum fluids are discussed and their main families of constituents are presented including petroleum wax, diamondoids, asphaltenes and petroleum resins.  Then the generalized petroleum fluids phase behavior is discussed in light of the known theory of phase transitions. The effects of variations of composition, temperature and pressure on the phase behavior of petroleum fluids are introduced.  Finally eleven distinct phase-transition points of petroleum fluids are presented and their relation with state variables and constituents of petroleum fluids are identified.  This report is to generalize and relate phase behaviors of all the seven naturally occurring petroleum fluids into a unified perspective.  This work is the basis to develop a comprehensive computational model for phase behavior prediction of all the petroleum fluids, which is of major interest in the petroleum industry

A B S T R A C T Recent advances in fracture-timing techniques have led to new insights about sequences and mechanisms of fracture formation in mudrocks. Methods to constrain fracture timing in mudrocks include: (i) field evidence, including crosscutting relationships and evidence of compaction; (ii) petrographic evidence, including signs of soft-sediment deformation and diagnostic mineral assemblages or textures; (iii) stable-isotopic evidence; (iv) thermometric dating using burial history modelling; and (v) radiometric age-dating. In this contribution, we briefly review each method with salient examples from the literature. Many documented examples of mudrock-hosted fractures formed during early burial, a non-intuitive finding that demands a re-assessment of our assumptions about what types of materials can develop opening-mode fractures. In general, the style and distribution of fractures varies dramatically based on fracture timing, highlighting the importance of constraining timing for predicting fracture patterns and interpreting their mechanisms, including the role of fluid flow.

La evaluación final se realizó por medio de la interpretación estratigráfica y estructural de los PayShales arrojando como resultado la zona 4 al NW del área de estudio como la mejor para profundizar la evaluación de un yacimiento del tipo no convencional.

The Eocene Green River Formation and associated fluvial strata host a large variety of widely distributed and laterally extensive synsedimentary to early post-depositional deformation features. Although mostly overlooked in past studies, these structures provide insight into the rheology of the sediments and hydrodynamic conditions at the time of deformation. They also have implications about basin configuration and bottom topography, as well as the structural history of the region.
In the Uinta and Piceance Creek Basins of Utah and Colorado, deformed intervals are present in littoral (sand-dominated) to profundal (oil shale) lacustrine deposits, as well as fluvial facies. Deformation structures exhibit a wide range of morphology, size, and style, ranging from ductile (convolution, folding, load and pinch-and-swell structures) to brittle (microfaults, breccias), to sedimentary injection into fissures and cracks forming dikes, to various mass transport deposits. In most cases, these layers are bound above and below by undisturbed beds of similar facies with horizontal bedding planes, which implies short-lived but recurring events that affected only sediments with a susceptible rheological state. Deformation typically occurred intrastratally, i.e. under shallow burial. The variations in deformation style, size, morphology, and areal extent are related to differences in grain size and type, water content, cementation, organic content, thickness of susceptible material, lateral facies variation, and the nature of the driving force. Some of the sedimentary injection features overprint each other, indicating multiple events affecting a single interval.
We interpret most of these features as seismically induced (‘seismites’) based on: (1) the tectonic setting of the basin; (2) the sedimentary environment and sedimentological characteristics of the host succession; (3) the lateral extent of deformation structures; (4) their recurrence at different stratigraphic levels; and (5) their similarity to those ascribed to seismically induced deformation elsewhere and reproduced experimentally. They developed as a result of increased pore pressure and a complex combination of extensional, compressive, and shear stresses acting in many directions caused by shaking during strong earthquakes. Mass transport deposits indicate in situ disruption and failure of the imperceptibly dipping lake floor. These ‘seismites’ represent the direct sedimentary record of syndepositional tectonic activity in the Uinta Basin.

The high cost of importing heavy fuel oil from neighbouring countries of Jordan stimulated the need to
consider renewable energy as an alternative to imported power. The paper describes a systematic experimental
study on the pilot solar updraft tower power plant model system. Particular attention is given to
measurements of air velocity, temperature, solar radiation and voltage difference. This is the first pilot solar
updraft power plant that has been built in Jordan to evaluate such technology in Mutah Area. In this paper,
all the experimental data were taken from a very small pilot project (compared with other prototypes that we
constructed which were placed in the backyard of our faculty). For the experimental part, the solar updraft
power plant was a pilot project with an updraft power plant height H = 4(m), updraft power plant radius
Rc = 0.29(m), plastic solar collector area Acoll = 36(m2), collector roof height = 1(m), wind turbine that
was a compensation of the suction fan with a diameter Dfan = 0.5(m), and a small generator (6V) The
experimental results in this paper show that the maximum height (Hmax) gradually increases with the solar
irradiation (G). Also, in the same way, with the pressure difference (p) increases with solar irradiation

The phosphorite and the overlying 'oil shale' succession in central and eastern Jordan has been studied for its organic matter composition, maturation, hydrocarbon potential and sedimentological implications. Pristine phosphorite was authigenically precipitated from interstitial solutions in ventilated environments. Later they were reworked and winnowed to produced the granular phosphorites possibly as wave or storm sand bodies. The oil shale was deposited in the same basins where restricted water circulation and subsequent hypersalinity led to more reducing conditions and better organic matter preservation. Both facies represent a high bio-productivity regime associated with paleoupwelling on the shallow, southern epicontinental shelf of the Tethys Ocean. The organic matter is dominantly amorphous and the extractable part is high. Kerogen is Type II-S to Type III. All maturity parameters investigated proved it to be immature (e.g. R 0 !0.3%). However, the high NSO content of the phosphatic and associated oil shale lithologies may explain the occurrence of in situ sulphur-rich asphalts and heavy oils at shallow depths in the Azraq Basin and the Dead Sea area.

We present a coherent and unified group of general explanations for the various phase transitions, which may occur in the seven naturally occurring petroleum fluids with emphasis on their heavy organics. The seven petroleum fluids include, in the order of their fluidity, natural gas, near-critical gas-condensate, light crude, intermediate crude, heavy oil, tar sand and oil shale.

At first the nature of every petroleum fluid is presented including their constituents and their heavy fractions. Then their main families of constituents are presented.

The generalised petroleum fluid phase behaviour is introduced in light of the well-known theory of phase transitions. The effects of variations of composition, temperature and pressure on petroleum fluids phase behaviour are introduced. Their 11 distinct phase-transition points are presented and their relation with state variables and constituents are identified. This report is the basis for development of a unified phase behaviour prediction model of all the petroleum fluids.

A batch adsorption system using cotton stalk as a bioadsorbent was investigated to remove methylene blue from aqueous solution. The system variables studied include adsorbent particle size, initial dye concentration and adsorbent dose. Based on the isotherm data obtained from the fittings of the adsorption kinetics, the Freundlich model (Regression coefficient R ≈ 0.99) appears to fit the adsorption better than the Langmuir model (Regression coefficient R ≈ 0.89). The Freundlich and Langmuir monolayer capacity had a mean values of 1.29 l/g and 1.054 mg/g, respectively.

In case of stratified deposits like oil shale deposit in Estonia, mining losses depend on mining technologies. Current research focuses on extraction and separation possibilities of mineral resources. Selective mining, selective crushing and separation tests have been performed, showing possibilities of decreasing mining losses. Rock crushing and screening process simulations were used for optimizing rock fractions. In addition mine backfilling, fine separation, and optimized drilling and blasting have been analyzed. All tested methods show potential and depend on mineral usage. Usage in addition depends on the utilization technology. The questions like stability of the material flow and influences of the quality fluctuations to the final yield are raised.

The modeling of conjugate development of fractures and fluid flow remains a significant subject in a diversity of rock engineering. Continuum numerical methods are paramount in the modeling of rock engineering practice problems, merely with restrained capacities in modeling the problem of fracture development coupled by fluid flow. There exists a demand for them to be understood in details. Driven by this, we demonstrated an approach based on a three-dimensional development of fracture of an abstract model condensed to two-dimensional analysis comprising rocks with fractures. In the framework of a continuum method of modeling, the contact between the fracture development and deformation was paired with fluid flow. A 3-D model was established in this case for a shale reservoir and fluid was injected at multiple pressures to understand the initiation and propagation of fractures, as applied to the field of hydraulic fracturing. The stress, strain, displacement in the reservoir were monitored at multiple injection pressures. Linear relations of injection pressures were observed with these parameters. A detailed insight with quantification of the values is given into the subject based on the findings of this study.

Vastavalt Eestis kehtiva Looduskaitseseaduse järgi on  looduskaitseala kaitseeeskirjasmärgitud, et maavara kaevandamine antud alal on keelatud. See punkt on sisse viidud
vältimaks avakaevandamise ehk karjääride rajamist looduskaitsealale. Lahti seletamata siianion looduskaitse ala ulatus sügavuti maa sisse.
Ida-Viru maakonna keskosas Mäetaguse valla territooriumil paikneb Selisoo. Ida suunast on Selisoole lähenemas Eesti Energia Kaevandustele kuuluv Estonia põlevkivikaevandus.

Outcrops and cores from the top of the lacustrine Tipton Member and the base of the Wilkins Peak Member (~51.5 Ma) of the Eocene Green River Formation, Bridger Basin in southwestern Wyoming yield a wide variety of sedimentary deformation features many of which are laterally extensive for more than 50 km. They include various types of folds, load structures, pinch-and-swell structures, microfaults, breccias and sedimentary dikes. In most cases deformation is represented by hybrid brittle–ductile structures exhibiting lateral variation in deformation style. These occur in low-energy, profundal organic-rich carbonate mudstones (oil shales), trona beds, tuffs, and profundal to sublittoral silty carbonate deposited in paleolake Gosiute. The deformation is not specific to the depositional environment because sedimentary units stratigraphically higher with similar facies show no deformation.
The studied interval lacks any evidence for possible trigger mechanisms intrinsic to the depositional environment , such as strong wave action, rapid sediment loading, evaporite dissolution and collapse, or desiccation, so 'endogenic' causes are ruled out. Thus, the deformation features are interpreted as seismites, and change in deformation style and inferred increase in intensity towards the south suggest that the earthquakes were sourced from the nearby Uinta Fault System. The 22 levels exhibiting seismites recognized in cores indicate earthquakes with minimum magnitudes between 6 and 7, minimum epicentral intensity (MCS) of ~9, and varying recurrence intervals in the seismic history of the Uinta Fault System, with a mean apparent recurrence period of ~8.1 k.y. using average sedimentation rates and dated tuffs; in detail, however, there are two noticeably active periods followed by relative quiescence. The stratigraphic position of these deformed intervals also marks the transition between two distinct stages in lake evolution, from the balanced-filled Tipton Member to the overlying, underfilled Wilkins Peak Member. Thus, these seismites are evidence for regional-scale changes in lacustrine sedimentation of Eocene Lake Gosiute in response to syndepositional tectonic activity. Analysis of synsedimentary deformation features is, therefore, a promising yet under-utilized tool to trace the tectonic evolution of lacustrine deposits of the Green River Formation and other tectonically active marine and non-marine basins.

This study was done to extract hydrocarbon compounds from El-Lajjun oil shale using biosurfactant produced from two strains Rhodococcus erythropolis and Rhodococcus ruber. The results have shown that, optimal biosurfactant production was found using naphthalene and diesel as a carbon source for R. erthropolis and R. ruber, respectively. Optimum nitrogen concentration was 9 g/l and 7 g/l for R. erthropolis and R. ruber, respectively. Optimum K 2 HPO 4 to KH 2 PO 4 ratio, temperature, pH, and agitation speeds were 2:1, 37°C, 7 and 200 rpm. Under optimal conditions R. erthropolis and R. ruber produced 5.67 and 6.9 g/l biosurfactant, respectively. Maximum recovery of oil achieved with hydrogen peroxide pre-treatment was 25% and 26% at biosurfactant concentration of 8 g/l and 4 g/l for R. erthropolis and R. ruber, respectively. The extent desorption of hydrocarbons from the pre-treated oil shale by biosurfactant were inversely related to the concentration of high molecular weight hydrocarbons, asphaltenes compounds. Pre-treatment of oil shale with hydrogen peroxide produced better improvement in aromatic compounds extraction in comparison with improvement which resulted from demineralization of the oil shale.

The new adsorbents were prepared from Moroccan oil shale by chemical and physical process .In this study, experimental Plackett-Burman has been used as a screening method to study six factors for the development of materials to adsorbent basis of oil shale Moroccan. The factors have been identified by two levels, To Know temperature (°C), Processing time (min), mass ratio (m precursor/m acid), Pretreatment mixture the precursor with acid, origin of the raw material and type of the activating agent (H2SO4, H3PO4).And it was chosen as a response The maximum quantity of adsorption of the molecule of Methylene blue (Qads in mg/g) and the specific surface measure by the method bet (Sbet in m2/g), The predicted values were in agreement with the experimental values with a coefficient of determination (R2) of 0.98. The model has been validated by experiments subsequent to optimized conditions. The experimental data processing by software JMP 7 showed that the processing temperature The report of oil shale on the acid and activation time were the important effect on the maximal capacity of adsorption of methylene blue. The sample prepared at 237 °C during 215 min with pre-processing has a maximal capacity of adsorption equal to 54mg/g according to model of adsorption of Langmuir and SBET equal to 143 m2/g.

Oil shale mining influence on the environment, surroundings, social sphere and environment has been analysed as a complex of analytical and technological steps in mining sequence.Beginning from selection of mining method, technology and site, mining capacity and transportation, continuing with extraction, loading, haulage, crushing and storing. In addition sep-aration, processing and waste management has been evaluated. Number of influences, like ground stability, water paths, vegetation, landscape properties and infrastructural changes tothe people, have longer period. Matrix system and spatial analyse has been applied and several prognoses for future oil shale mining have been presented

Laterally extensive intervals containing sedimentary deformation features are identified in outcrops of lacustrine deposits of the Eocene (∼ 52–51 Ma) Green River Formation in Fossil Basin, southwestern Wyoming. Fossil Basin is the smallest of the paleo-lakes in the Green River system and is located in the Sevier Fold and Thrust Belt, which was tectonically active during deposition. Deformation structures include convolute lamination, load structures, hybrid brittle–ductile features, sedimentary dikes, microfaults, fluid-escape features such as cusps and pipes, oil-shale breccias, and mass-transport deposits. In most cases these structures are hosted by finely laminated, variably organic-rich carbonate mudstones that accumulated in a low-energy profundal lacustrine environment. Deformed intervals range from a few centimeters to 5 m in thickness and are bound above and below by undeformed strata of the same facies, which demonstrates the early post-depositional timing of deformation. The distribution of these features indicates a primary control exerted by sediment rheology, resulting from variation in grain size, clay and organic content, and degree of lithification, which in turn were governed by the depositional environment and early diagenesis.

Based on their morphological attributes, lateral extent, and recurrence at different stratigraphic levels, along with their sedimentary environment and the tectonic setting of the basin, the deformation structures are interpreted to be “seismites,” i.e., the result of stresses induced by syndepositional earthquakes, and other potential trigger agents are rejected. Moreover, stratigraphic relationships indicate that these small-scale deformation features as well as the mass-transport deposits, formed on a virtually flat lake floor, ruling out instability caused by the gravitational regime. Syndepositional deformation in Fossil Basin points to tectonic activity along the nearby Absaroka and/or Hogsback thrusts and related fault systems. Seismites point to possible tectonic forcing as a mechanism for changes in bathymetry and sedimentation in the Green River Formation and, consequently, demonstrate their potential for elucidating the tectonic history of other lacustrine and marine basins.

The standard reference materials (SRMs) represent a key tool for the quality control of chemical analyses and the demand on these materials is constantly increasing worldwide. A standard reference material of oil shale (SJL-1) collected from El-lajjun area in Jordan was prepared and certified to be used for quality control of analyses and calibration particularly for the oil shale characterization and testing laboratories. This work was a part of the Arab collaborative projects initiated by Arab Atomic Energy Agency (AAEA) during the period from 2007 to 2009. The paper describes the certification procedure and the inter-laboratory comparison study results, which was carried out through participation of twelve national and international laboratories applying eleven different analytical techniques used to determine the analytes concentration. Details of the production, homogeneity and stability of SJL-1 standard reference material were reviewed as well as the results of certification. The Certificate of Analysis for SJL-1 provides assigned certified values for almnuium oxide, phosphorus pentoxide, calcium oxide, titanium dioxide, magnesium oxide, potassium oxide, ferric oxide, sodium oxide, manganese oxide, sulfur, uranium, vanadium, chromium, zinc, nickel, copper, and strontium. Reference values are provided for Loss on Ignition (LOI), silicon oxide, cadmium, molybdenum, cobalt, lead, barium and arsenic. Finally, range values are assigned for other thirty-seven constituents of oil shale.