History of the oil shale industry

  1. Pages with script errors
  2. Pages with broken file links
  3. Oil shale
  4. History of the petroleum industry


File:Production of oil shale.svg
Production of oil shale in millions of metric tons from Estonia (Estonia deposit), Russia (Leningrad and Kashpir deposits), United Kingdom (Scotland, Lothians), Brazil (Iratí Formation), China (Maoming and Fushun deposits), and Germany (Dotternhausen) from 1880 to 2000.[1]

The history of the oil shale industry started in ancient times. The modern industrial use of oil shale for oil extraction dates to the mid-19th century and started growing just before World War I because of the mass production of automobiles and trucks and the supposed shortage of gasoline for transportation needs. Between the World Wars oil shale projects were begun in several countries, but after World War II, the oil shale industry was phased out in almost all countries because of high processing costs and the discovery of large supplies of easily-accessible crude oil. As of 2010, oil shale was commercially used in Estonia, China and Brazil, while several countries are considering to start or re-start commercial use of oil shale.[1]

Early history

Humans have used oil shale as a fuel since prehistoric times, since it generally burns without any processing.[2] It was also used for decorative purposes and construction. Britons of the Iron Age used to polish and form oil shale into ornaments.[3] Around 3000 BC, "rock oil" was used in Mesopotamia for road construction and making architectural adhesives.[4] As a decorative material, oil shale was also used over the Greek, Roman, Byzantinian, Umayyad and Abbasid periods to decorate mosaics and floors of the palaces, churches and mosques.[5][6] Shale oil was used for medical and military purposes. Mesopotamians used it for medical purposes and for caulking ships, Mongols used to cap their arrows with flaming oil shale.[4] In 10th century, the Arabian physician Masawaih al-Mardini (Mesue the Younger) described a method of extraction of oil from "some kind of bituminous shale".[7]

In the early 14th century, the first use of shale oil was recorded in Switzerland and Austria.[8] In 1350, a knight Berthold von Eberhausen was awarded a right to exploit the Seefeld oil shale in Tyrol. Oil shale was used for production of shale oil using an early retorting method of heating the crushed oil shale put in crucibles.[7] The healing properties of a mineral oil distilled from oil shale were noted in 1596 by the personal physician of the Duke of Württemberg Frederick I.[4] In Skåne, the Swedish alum shale dating from the Cambrian and Ordovician periods was used for extracting potassium aluminium sulfate by roasting it over fire as early as 1637.[1][9] In Italy, shale oil was used to light the streets of Modena at the turn of the 17th century.[4] The British Crown granted a patent in 1694 to three persons who had "found a way to extract and make great quantities of pitch, tarr, and oyle out of a sort of stone."[4][10][11] Shale oil was produced by extracting Shropshire oil shale.[12] Later sold as Betton's British Oil, the distilled product was said to have been "tried by divers persons in Aches and Pains with much benefit.[7] In 1781, Archibald Cochrane, 9th Earl of Dundonald, registered a patent for an extraction process to produce tar, pitch and oil from coal and bituminous shales, using masonry retorts and wooden condensers.[10]

Start of the modern industry

The modern industrial use of oil shale for oil extraction started in France, where oil shale commercial mining began in Autun in 1837.[13] The shale oil production started in 1838 by using Selligue process, invented by Alexander Selligue.[10][14] In 1847 the Scottish chemist James Young prepared "lighting oil," lubricating oil and wax from cannel coal and since 1862 from torbanite.[15] In 1850 he patented the process of cracking oil.[16] Commercial scale shale oil extraction in Scotland started in 1859 by Robert Bell in Broxburn, West Lothian.[10] About the same time Germany began exploiting its deposits. During the second half of the 19th century shale oil extraction industries were initiated also in Sweden, Australia, Brazil, New Zealand, Canada and the United States.[9] In the United States, the commercial scale shale oil extraction began in 1857 at shale oil retorts retorting the Devonian oil shale along the Ohio River Valley.[14] In Canada, the Craigleith Shale Oil Works started to retort oil shale of the Ordovician Whitby Formation near Collingwood, Ontario, on Lake Huron, in 1859.[17][18] However, after crude oil discovery in Pennsylvania in 1859, the United States and Canadian oil shale industries found it difficult to compete and they were shut down by 1861.[9]

In Australia, the first oil shale mine was commenced in 1865 at American Creek, Mount Kembla in New South Wales. At the same year, the first shale oil was produced by the Pioneer Kerosene Works at American Creek.[19] A number of other mines were opened in the areas of the Great Dividing Range; however, by the turn of the 20th century they were closed because of the importation of cheaper crude oil.[20] In Brazil, oil shale was first exploited in 1884 in Bahia.[9]

In 1894, the Pumpherston retort (also known as the Bryson retort) was invented, which is considered as a separation of the oil shale industry from the coal industry.[10] It stayed in use until 1938.[21]

Operations during the 19th century focused on the production of kerosene, lamp oil, and paraffin; these products helped supply the growing demand for lighting that arose during the Industrial Revolution.[22] Fuel oil, lubricating oil and grease, and ammonium sulfate were also produced.[23]

First half of the 20th century

File:Kilvebrickretort.jpg
Oil retort at Kilve, West Somerset, England

The oil shale industry expanded immediately before World War I because of limited access to conventional petroleum resources and the mass production of automobiles and trucks, which accompanied an increase in gasoline consumption. The Office of Naval Petroleum and Oil Shale Reserves of the United States was established in 1912. The reserves were seen as a possible emergency source of fuel for the military, particularly the Navy.[24] In 1915 an oil shale industry was established in Switzerland.

The year 1916 is considered the beginning of the Estonian oil shale industry. In 1917, Russian paleontologist Mikhail Zalessky named kukersite oil shale after the Kukruse settlement.[25] Continuous mining activities started shortly after. Initially, oil shale was used primarily in the cement industry, for firing in locomotive furnaces, and as a household fuel, followed by shale oil and power production. The first experimental oil shale processing retorts were built in 1921. In 1924, the Tallinn Power Plant was the first power plant in the world to employ oil shale as its primary fuel.[26][27]

Between the World Wars oil shale projects were begun in Spain, China, Russia and South Africa; they restarted in Brazil and, for a short time, in Canada.[9][28] In China, the extraction of oil shale began in 1926 under the Japanese rule.[1] The commercial-scale production of shale oil began in 1930 in Fushun, Manchuria, with the construction of the "Refinery No. 1" operating Fushun-type retorts.[1] In 1939–1945, a shale oil pilot plant operated in Morocco.[9]

During World War II a modified in situ extraction process was used in Germany by digging tunnels into oil shale deposits and then collapsing their walls into the void volume to ignitate. This process had extremely low oil recovery and it was hard to control.[29] In Sweden, the Swedish Shale Oil Company was formed in 1940.[15] It exploited one of the earliest in-situ processes–underground gasification by electrical energy (Ljungström method)–between 1940 and 1966 at Kvarntorp.[29] In 1940–1952, three NTU retorts were operated at Marangaroo, New South Wales, Australia.[29][30][31]

1950s–1960s

Although the Estonian, Russian and Chinese oil shale industries continued to grow after World War II, most other countries abandoned their projects due to high processing costs and the availability of cheaper petroleum.[1][9][13][28] The shale oil extraction in Australia was discontinued in 1952 due to ceasing of government funding, in France in 1957, in Scotland and South Africa in 1962, and in Sweden and Spain in 1966.[9][15] In Germany only Rohrbach Zement (now part of Holcim) in Dotternhausen continued using oil shale for cement, power and thermal energy production.[1][9]

In 1946–1952, Dictyonema argillite was used for uranium production in Sillamäe.[1][32][33] In Sweden the extraction of alum shale for uranium and vanadium continued until 1989.[1]

After World War II, Estonian-produced oil shale gas was used in Leningrad (Saint Petersburg) and in northern Estonia cities as a substitute for natural gas.[34][35] In 1949, the Kohtla-Järve Power Plant – the first power plant in the world using pulverized oil shale at an industrial scale – was commissioned in Estonia.[27] The world's two largest oil shale-fired power stations – Balti Power Plant and Eesti Power Plant (known as the Narva Power Plants) – were opened in 1965 and in 1973.[9]

In China, the "Refinery No. 2" of Fushun began its production in 1954 and in 1959, the maximum annual shale oil production increased to 780,000 tonnes.[36] The produced shale oil was used for producing light liquid fuels.[9][37] In 1961, China was producing one third of its total oil production from oil shale.

The United States Bureau of Mines opened a demonstration mine at Anvils Point, west of Rifle, Colorado, which operated at a small scale.[24] In the early 1960s TOSCO (The Oil Shale Corporation) opened an underground mine and built an experimental plant near Parachute, Colorado. It was closed in 1972 because the price of production exceeded the cost of imported crude oil.[13][38][39] In 1951, the United States Department of Defense became interested in oil shale as an alternative resource for producing a jet fuel.[38] In 1953, Sinclair Oil Corporation developed an in situ processing method using existing and induced fractures between vertical wells.[40] In the 1960s, a proposal was suggested for a modified in situ process which involved creation of a rubble chimney (a zone in the rock formation created by breaking the rock into fragments) using a nuclear explosive.[41]

1970s–1980s

In 1972, the first modified in situ oil shale experiment in the United States was conducted by Occidental Petroleum at Logan Wash, Colorado.[42] Due to the 1973 oil crisis, the oil shale industry restarted in several countries. The United States Navy and the Office of Naval Petroleum and Oil Shale Reserves started evaluations of oil shale's suitability for military fuels, such as jet fuels, marine fuels and a heavy fuel oil. Shale-oil based JP-4 jet fuel was produced until the early 1990s, when it was replaced with kerosene-based JP-8.[38] In 1974 the United States Department of the Interior announced an oil shale leasing program in the oil shale regions of Colorado and Utah, and by the early 1980s almost all of the major oil companies had established oil shale pilot projects.

The United States oil shale industry collapsed when oil prices fell in the early 1980s. On 2 May 1982, known as "Black Sunday", Exxon canceled its US$5 billion Colony Shale Oil Project near Parachute, Colorado because of low oil-prices and increased expenses, laying off more than 2,000 workers and leaving a trail of home-foreclosures and small-business bankruptcies.[8][43] In 1986, President Ronald Reagan signed into law the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 which among other things abolished the United States' Synthetic Liquid Fuels Program.[38] The last oil shale retort in the United States, operated by Unocal Corporation, closed in 1991.[44]

Because of the success of oil shale-based power generation, Estonian oil shale production peaked in 1980 at 31.35 million tonnes. The largest oil shale mine in the world – the Estonia Mine – was opened in 1972.[45] However, production decreased in Estonia during the 1990s, due to reduced demand from the power generation industry. It was mainly affected by construction of the nuclear power plants in the Soviet Union. Most of Russian oil shale mines were closed in the 1990s and production continued only on a small scale.[9]

In Israel, a 0.1 MW pilot oil shale-fired power plant was tested in 1982–1986. A demonstration fluidised-bed plant became operational in 1989.[9]

Latest developments

The global oil shale industry started to grow slightly in the mid-1990s. In 1992 commercial shale oil production using Petrosix technology resumed in Brazil. Estonian oil shale production has continuously increased since 1995.[9] In 2005, China became the largest shale oil producer in the world.[9]

In Australia, a demonstration-scale processing plant at the Stuart Deposit near Gladstone, Queensland, produced between 2000 and 2004 over 1.5 million barrels (240×10^3 m3) of shale oil.[46] In 2008–2009, the facility was dismantled.[9][46][47] In the United States, an oil shale development program was initiated in 2003.[48] The Energy Policy Act of 2005 introduced a commercial leasing program for oil shale and tar sands resources on public lands within the states of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming.[49]

In April 2010, the 4th Workshop on Regional Cooperation for Clean Utilization of Oil Shale was held in Egypt and later the same month an Oil Shale Cooperation Center was established in Amman by Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Syria and Turkey.[9]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 Script error
  2. ↑ "Bibliographic Citation: Non-synfuel uses of oil shale". United States Department of Energy. http://www.osti.gov/energycitations/product.biblio.jsp?osti_id=6567632. Retrieved 2008-03-20.
  3. ↑ West, Ian (2008-01-06). "Kimmeridge - The Blackstone - Oil Shale". University of Southampton. http://www.soton.ac.uk/~imw/Kimmeridge-Oil-Shale.htm. Retrieved 2011-05-06.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Script error
  5. ↑ Script error
  6. ↑ Bsieso, Munther S. (2006-10-16). "Oil Shale Resources Development In Jordan" (PDF). 26th Oil Shale Symposium. Golden, Colorado: Colorado School of Mines. pp. 4–5. http://www.ceri-mines.org/documents/Poster14-BsiesoJB2.pdf. Retrieved 2009-05-30.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Script error
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Script error
  9. ↑ 9.00 9.01 9.02 9.03 9.04 9.05 9.06 9.07 9.08 9.09 9.10 9.11 9.12 9.13 9.14 9.15 9.16 Script error
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 Script error
  11. ↑ Script error
  12. ↑ Script error
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 Script error
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Script error
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 Script error
  16. ↑ Script error
  17. ↑ Barker, J.F.; Dickhout, D.; Russell, D.J.; Johnson, M.D.; Gunther, P.R. (1983-03-20). "The organic geochemistry of the Ordovician Whitby Formation – a possible Ontario shale" (PDF). Symposium on Geochemistry and Chemistry of Oil Shale. Seattle. http://www.anl.gov/PCS/acsfuel/preprint%20archive/Files/28_3_SEATTLE_03-83_0039.pdf. Retrieved 2009-05-30.
  18. ↑ "The Craigleith Shale Oil Works". Georgian Bay Eco Museum. http://www.georgianbayecomuseum.com/history.html#works. Retrieved 2009-05-30.
  19. ↑ Organ, Michael. "The Pioneer Kerosene Works at American Creek, Mount Kembla, New South Wales". http://www.uow.edu.au/~morgan/oilshale.htm. Retrieved 2009-07-17.
  20. ↑ "History of Shale Oil". Queensland Energy Resources. http://www.qer.com.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=61&Itemid=70. Retrieved 2008-08-25.
  21. ↑ Coates, Ralph L. (2007-10-17). "A method of reducing CO2 emissions from oil shale retorting" (PDF). 27th Oil Shale Symposium. Golden, Colorado: Colorado School of Mines. http://www.ceri-mines.org/documents/27symposium/presentations/av15-4coates.pdf. Retrieved 2009-05-30.
  22. ↑ Doscher, Todd M.. "Petroleum". MSN Encarta. Archived from the original on 2008-05-12. http://web.archive.org/web/20080512122018re_/encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761576221/petroleum.html. Retrieved 2008-04-22.
  23. ↑ "Oil Shale". American Association of Petroleum Geologists. http://emd.aapg.org/technical_areas/oil_shale.cfm. Retrieved 2008-03-31.
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 "History". Environmentally Conscious Consumers for Oil Shale. http://www.eccos.us/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=17&Itemid=13. Retrieved 2011-05-06.
  25. ↑ Script error
  26. ↑ Script error
  27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 Script error
  28. ↑ 28.0 28.1 Yin, Liang (2006-11-07). "Current status of oil shale industry in Fushun, China" (PDF). Amman, Jordan: International Oil Shale Conference. http://www.sdnp.jo/International_Oil_Conference/rtos-A106.pdf. Retrieved 2007-06-29.
  29. ↑ 29.0 29.1 29.2 Script error
  30. ↑ Script error
  31. ↑ Script error
  32. ↑ Script error
  33. ↑ Script error
  34. ↑ Ingo Valgma. "Map of oil shale mining history in Estonia". Mining Institute of the Tallinn University of Technology. http://www.ene.ttu.ee/maeinstituut/mgis/mapofhistory.htm. Retrieved 2007-07-21.
  35. ↑ "History of the company". Viru Keemia Grupp. http://www.vkg.ee/?id=1947. Retrieved 2007-07-21.
  36. ↑ Qian, Jialin (2006). "Oil Shale Activity in China" (PDF). 26th Oil Shale Symposium. Colorado School of Mines. http://www.ceri-mines.org/A02c-JialinQianpaper.pdf.pdf. Retrieved 2008-10-25.
  37. ↑ Script error
  38. ↑ 38.0 38.1 38.2 38.3 Script error
  39. ↑ Script error
  40. ↑ Script error
  41. ↑ Script error
  42. ↑ Script error
  43. ↑ Collier, Robert (2006-09-04). "Coaxing oil from huge U.S. shale deposits". San Francisco Chronicle. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/09/04/MNGIEKV0D41.DTL. Retrieved 2008-05-14.
  44. ↑ Script error
  45. ↑ "Minister of Social Affairs Jaak Aab acquainted himself with the working conditions of the miners". Eesti Põlevkivi. 2006-01-25. Archived from the original on 2007-08-14. http://web.archive.org/web/20070814033514re_/www.ep.ee/?id=20508. Retrieved 2008-10-25.
  46. ↑ 46.0 46.1 "Shale oil. AIMR Report 2009". Geoscience Australia. http://www.australianminesatlas.gov.au/aimr/commodity/shale_oil_09.jsp. Retrieved 2010-10-28.
  47. ↑ Script error
  48. ↑ "Nominations for Oil Shale Research Leases Demonstrate Significant Interest in Advancing Energy Technology. Press release". Bureau of Land Management. 2005-09-20. http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/info/newsroom/2005/september/NR_050920.html. Retrieved 2007-07-10.
  49. ↑ "What's in the Oil Shale and Tar Sands Leasing Programmatic EIS". Oil Shale and Tar Sands Leasing Programmatic EIS Information Center. http://ostseis.anl.gov/eis/what/index.cfm. Retrieved 2007-07-10.
vi:Lịch sử công nghiệp đá phiến dầu


...