Oil shale is commonly defined as
a fine-grained sedimentary rock containing organic matter (kerogen) that yields
substantial amounts of oil and combustible gas upon destructive distillation
(retorting). Most of the organic matter is insoluble in ordinary organic solvents;
therefore, it is decomposed by heating to release such materials. What
derives the importance of oil shale to produce energy including combustible gas
and a number of procured products is how economic it can be recovered.
Deposits of oil shale having
economic potential are generally those that are at or near enough to the
surface to be developed by open-pit, conventional underground mining or by
in-situ methods. Oil shales have a wide range of organic content and oil yield.
Commercial grades of oil shale, as determined by their shale oil yield, ranges
from about 100 to 200 liters per metric ton (l/t) of rock. The U.S. Geological
Survey has used a lower limit of about 42 lt/ton for classification of federal
oil-shale lands.
Subjects | Economics |
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Journal Section | Articles |
Authors | |
Publication Date | September 1, 2016 |
Published in Issue | Year 2016 Issue: 2 |
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