Composition, geochemistry and conversion of oil shales : [proceedings of the NATO Advanced Study Institute on Composition, Geochemisty and Conversion of Oil Shales, Akcay, Turkey, 18-31 July, 1993

Oil shales are broadly dermed as petroleum source rocks containing sufficiently high contents of organic matter (above ca 10-15 wt. %) to make utilisation a possibility. Like coal, the world's reserves of oil shales are vast being many times larger than those proven for crude oil. Indeed, some of the largest deposits occur in the USA and Europe where Estonia and Turkey have large reserves. The first recorded interest in oil shale retorting was an English patent in 1694 (Eele, Hancock and Porter, No. 330) which refers to distilling noyle from some kind of stone". The oil shale retorting industry dates back to the middle of the last century, notably Scotland, Estonia, France and Sweden in Europe. Indeed, my own Department at the University of Strathclyde has a historical link with James "Paraffin" Young, the founder of the Scottish oil shale industry who endowed a chair in Applied Chemistry. The growth of the oil industry saw the demise of the oil shale industry in most countries with the notable exception of Estonia, where kukersite has continued to be used for power generation and retorting. However, oil shale utilisation has attracted renewed attention since the early 1970s as a source of transport fuels and chemical feedstocks due to the the long term uncertainties over crude oil supplies. Front Matter....Pages i-x Organic Petrography: Principles and Techniques....Pages 1-16 Organic Petrography of Oil Shales....Pages 17-33 Demineralization and Kerogen Maceral Separation and Chemistry....Pages 35-50 Alkane Biomarkers. Geochemical Significance and Application in Oil Shale Geochemistry....Pages 51-68 Solid-State 13 C NMR in Oil Shale Research: An Introduction with Selected Applications....Pages 69-91 Introduction to Mass Spectrometric Techniques for Fossil Fuel Analysis....Pages 93-105 An Introduction to Open-Tubular Gas Chromatography--Analysis of Fossil and Synthetic Fuels....Pages 107-123 Speciation of Organic Sulphur Forms in Solid Fuels and Heavy Oils....Pages 125-142 Detailed Structural Characterization of the Organic Material in Rundle Ramsay Crossing and Green River Oil Shales....Pages 143-158 Economic Considerations of the Oil Shale and Related Conversion Processes....Pages 159-174 Oil Shale Beneficiation for Processing....Pages 175-189 Methods of Oil Shale Analysis....Pages 191-209 Relationship between Hydrous and Ordinary Pyrolysis....Pages 211-227 Fluidized Bed Retorting of Oil Shale....Pages 229-245 Steam and Coprocessing of Oil Shales....Pages 247-262 Chemical Kinetics and Oil Shale Process Design....Pages 263-276 Hydropyrolysis: Fundamentals, Two-Stage Processing and PDU Operation....Pages 277-293 The Bitumen Intermediate in Isothermal and Nonisothermal Decomposition of Oil Shales....Pages 295-311 Aqueous Organic Chemistry: Geochemical Aspects....Pages 313-327 Asphaltites: Composition and Conversion....Pages 329-345 Oil Shale as a Feedstock for Carbon Materials....Pages 347-363 Combustion Reactivity of Chars....Pages 365-378 A Probe for the Rapid Analysis of Vanadium: An Electron Paramagnetic Resonance and Theoretical Perspective....Pages 379-385 Characterization of Jurassic Black Shales from Asturias (Northern Spain): Evolution and Petroleum Potential....Pages 387-393 n -Alkanoic Compounds in Sulphur-Rich Macromolecular Substances: A Detailed Investigation of Sulphur Incorporation and Cross-Linking....Pages 395-406 Biodegradation of Hydrocarbons by Sulphate Reducing Bacteria in the Cretaceous Bahloul Formation (Tunisia)....Pages 407-418 Origin, Evolution and Petroleum Potential of a Cambrian Source Rock: Implications of Pyrolysate and Bitumen Composition....Pages 419-438 Carbon-Isotopic Compositions of Individual Alkanes/Alkenes in Leaf Fossils and Sediments from the P-33 Site of the Miocene Clarkia Deposit....Pages 439-448 Atmospheric Pressure Temperature Programmed Reduction (AP-TPR) as a tool to investigate the changes in sulphur functionalities in solid fuels....Pages 449-459 Organic Geochemical Characterization of Some Carboniferous Coal Seams of the Zonguldak Basin (NW Turkey)....Pages 461-476 X-Ray Studies of the Structure of Coals and Cokes....Pages 477-484 The Aspects of Microscopic Studies as Exemplified by the Macroporous Structure of Cokes from Bituminous Coal Range....Pages 485-492 Determination of Organic Sulphur Forms in Type I/II Kerogens by High Pressure Temperature Programmed Reduction (TPR)....Pages 493-500 Back Matter....Pages 501-505 The Last 15 Years Has Seen The Development Of A Number Of Innovative Process Concepts, Such As Fluid-bed Pyrolysis And Hydroretorting Which Have Enabled Considerably Higher Oil Yields To Be Obtained Than By Simple Retorting. To Understand These Phenomena, Detailed Structural Information Is Clearly Required On The Organic Matter Present In Shales. Indeed, The Organic Geochemistry And Analytical Chemistry Communities Have Made Considerable Strides In The Application Of Advanced Analytical Methods To Assess The Structure And Biological Origins Of Kerogens. Therefore, It Has Been Timely To Bring Together Leading Scientists From The Analytical/geochemistry And Chemical Engineering Communities Involved In Fossil Fuel Research Through A Nato-asi To Prepare A Comprehensive, Up-to-date Coverage Of Oil Shale Composition, Geochemistry And Conversion. The Book Comprises Over 20 Review Articles, Together With A Number Of Research Contributions. It Is Intended For Both Research Workers Entering The Field And Academics/industrialists To Keep Abreast Of Developments In Solid Fuel Research. Edited By Colin Snape. Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Study Institute, Akcay, Turkey, 18--31 July 1993