Ikelic - Alliance Digital Repository

- ACORN PROJECT (See
STATUS OF OIL SHALE PROJECTS
COMMERCIAL PROJECTS (Underline denotes changes since June 1994)
Stuart Oil Shale Project)
- CHATHAM CO-COMBUSTION BOILER New
Brunswick Electric Power Commission (S-30)
Construction on the Chatham circulating bed demonstration project was completed in 1986 with commissioning of the new
boiler. A joint venture of Energy, Mines and Resources Canada and the New Brunswick Electric Power Commission, this
project consists of a circulating fluidized-bed boiler of Lurgi design that supplies steam to an existing 22-MW turbine genera
tor. High-sulfur coal was co-combusted with carbonate oil shales and also with limestone to compare the power generation and
economics of the two cocombustants in the reduction of sulfur emissions. A full capacity performance-guarantee test was
carried out in May 1987, on coal, lime and oil shale. Testing with oil shale in 1988 showed shale to be as effective as limestone
per unit of calcium contained. However, bulk quantities of oil shale were found to have a lower calcium content than had been
expected from early samples. No further oil shale testing is planned until further evaluations are completed.
Since January 1993, the unit has been operated as a stand-by unit on coal and limestone. It is also available for co-combustion
tests if desired.
- CLEAR CREEK PROJECT Chevron
Shale Oil Company (70 percent) and Conoco, Inc. (30 percent) (S-40)
Chevron and Conoco successfully completed the operation of their 350 tons per day semi-works plant during 1985. This facility,
which was constructed on property adjacent to the Chevron Refinery in Salt Lake City, Utah, was designed to test Chevron
Research Company's Staged Turbulent Bed (STB) retort process. Information obtained from the semi-works project would al
low Chevron and Conoco to proceed with developing a commercial shale oil operation in the future when economic conditions
so dictate.
Chevron and Conoco have joined with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), DOE and other industrial parties to
participate in a 3 year R&D project involving LLNL's Hot Recycled Solids oil shale process. Information obtained from this
project may result in refinements to the STB process.
Chevron is continuing to develop and protect its conditional water rights for use in future shale oil operations at its Clear
Creek and Parachute Creek properties.
- Project Cost: Semi-Works Estimated at $130 million
- CONDOR PROJECT Central
- - Pacific Minerals 50 percent; Southern Pacific Petroleum 50 percent (S-60)
Southern Pacific Petroleum N.L. and Central Pacific Minerals N.L. (SPP/CPM) announced the completion on June 30, 1984 of
the Condor Oil Shale Joint Feasibility Study. SPP/CPM believe that the results of the study support a conclusion that a
development of the Condor oil shale deposit would be feasible under the assumptions incorporated in the study.
Under an agreement signed in 1981 between SPP/CPM and Japan Australia Oil Shale Corporation (JAOSCO), the Japanese
partner funded the Joint Feasibility Study. JAOSCO consists of the Japan National Oil Corporation and 40 major Japanese
companies. The 28 month was study conducted by an engineering team staffed equally by the Japanese and Australian par
ticipants and supported by independent international contractors and engineers.
From a range of alternatives considered, a project configuration producing 26.7 million barrels per year of sweet shale oil gave
the best economic conclusions. The study indicated that such a plant would have involved a capital cost of US$2,300 million
and an annual average operating cost of US$265 million at full production, before tax and royalty. (All figures are based on
mid-1983 dollars.) Such a project was estimated to require 12 years to design and complete construction with first product oil
in year 6, and progressive build-up to full production in three further stages at two-year intervals.
The exploration drilling program determined that the Condor main oil shale seam contains at least 8,100 million barrels of oil
in situ, measured at a cut-off grade of 50 liters per ton on a dry basis. The case study project would utilize only 600 million bar
rels, over a nominal 32 year life. The deposit is amenable to open pit mining by large face shovels, feeding to trucks and in-pit
breakers, and then by conveyor to surface stockpiles. Spent shale is returned by conveyor initially to surface dumps, and later
back into the pit.
Following a survey of available retorting technologies, several proprietary processes were selected for detailed investigation.
Pilot plant trials enabled detailed engineering schemes to be developed for each process. Pilot plant testing of Condor oil shale
indicated promising results from the "fines"
process owned by Lurgi GmbH of Frankfurt, West Germany. Their proposal en
visages four retort modules, each processing 50,000 tons per day of shale, to give a total capacity of 200,000 tons per day and a
sweet shale oil output, after upgrading, of 82,100 barrels per day.
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SYNTHETIC FUELS REPORT, JANUARY 1995