Ikelic - Alliance Digital Repository

STATUS OF OIL SHALE PROJECTS (Underline denotes changes since June 1994)
COMMERCIAL PROJECTS (Continued)
FUSHUN COMMERCIAL SHALE OIL PLANT- Fushun Petrochemical Corporation, SINOPEC, Fushun, China (S-90)
The oil shale retorting industry in Fushun, China began in 1928 and has been operating for 60 years. Annual production of
shale oil topped 780,000 tons in 1959. In that period, shale oil accounted for 30-50 percent of total oil production in China.
At Fushun, oil shale overlies a coal bed which is mined. being Because the oil shale must be stripped in order to reach the
coal, it is economical to retort the shale even though it is of low grade. Fischer yield Assay is about 5.5 percent oil, on average.
Currently, only 40 retorts are operating, each retort processing 200 tons of oil shale per day. Other retorts have been shut
down because of site problems not related to the operation of the retorts. Shale oil production is on the order of 100,000 tons
per year.
Direct combustion of oil shale fines in an ebullated bed boiler has been tested at Fushun Refinery No. 2.
Shale oil is currently being used only as a boiler fuel, but a new scheme for upgrading Fushun shale oil has been studied. In the
proposed scheme, shale oil is first treated by exhaustive delayed coking to make light fractions which are then treated succes
sively
with dilute alkali and sulfuric acid to recover the acidic and basic non-hydrocarbon components as fine chemicals. The
remaining hydrocarbons, containing about 0.4 percent N can then be readily hydrotreated to obtain naphtha, jet fuel and light
diesel fuel. This scheme is said to be profitable and can be conveniently coupled into an existing petroleum refinery.
- ISRAELI RETORTING DEVELOPMENT (See
- JORDAN OIL SHALE PROJECT Natural
PAMA Oil Shale-Fired Powerplant Project)
Resources Authority of Jordan (S-110)
Jordan's oil shale deposits are the country's major hydrocarbon resource. Near-surface deposits of Cretaceous oil shale in the
Iribid, Karak, and Ma'an districts contain an estimated 44 million barrels of oil equivalent.
In 1986, a cooperative project with Romania was initiated to investigate the development of a direct-combustion oil-shale-fired
powerplant. Jordan has also investigated jointly with China the applicability of a Fushun-type plant to process 200 tons per day
of oil shale. A test shipment of 1,200 tons of Jordanian shale was sent to China for retort testing. Large-scale combustion tests
have been carried out at Kloeckner in West Germany and in New Brunswick, Canada.
A consortium of Lurgi and Kloeckner completed in 1988 a study concerning a 50,000 barrel per day shale oil plant operating on
El Lajjun oil shale. Pilot plant retorting tests were performed in Lurgi's LR pilot plant in Frankfurt, Germany.
The final results showed a required sales revenue of $19.10 per barrel in order to generate an internal rate of return on total
investment of 10 percent. The mean value of the petroleum products ex El Lajjun complex was calculated to be $21.40 per bar
rel. At that time a world oil price of $15.60 per barrel was needed to meet an internal rate of return on total investment of 10
percent.
In 1988, the Natural Resources Authority announced that it was postponing for 5 years the consideration of any commercial oil
shale project.
- KIVrTER PROCESS Estonian Republic (S-120)
The majority of oil shale (kukersite) found in Estonia is used for power generation. However. 2.3 to 2.6 million tons have been
retorted to produce shale oil and gas. The Kiviter process, continuous operating vertical retorts with crosscurrent flow of heat
carrier gas and traditionally referred to as generators, is predominantly used in commercial operation. The retorts have been
automated, and have throughput rates of 200 to 220 tons of shale per day. Retorting is performed in a single retorting (semi-
coking) chamber. In the generators, low temperature carbonization of kukersite yields 75 to 80 percent of Fischer assay oil.
The yield of low calorific gas (3,350 to 4,200 KJ/cubic meters) is 450 to 500 cubic meters per ton of shale.
To meet the needs of re-equipping of the oil shale processing industry, a new generator was developed. The first 1,000 ton-
per-day (TPD) generator of this type was constructed at Kohtla-Jarve, Estonia and placed in operation in 1981. The new retort
employs the concept of crosscurrent flow of heat carrier gas through the fuel bed, with additional heat added to the semicoking
chamber. A portion of the heat carrier is prepared by burning recycle gas. Raw shale is fed through a charging device
into two semi-coking chambers arranged in the upper part of the retort. The use of two parallel chambers provides a larger
retorting zone without increasing the thickness of the bed. Additional heating or gasification occurs in the mid-part of the
retort by introducing hot gases or an oxidizing agent through side combustion chambers equipped with gas burners and recycle
gas inlets to control the temperature. Near the bottom of the retort is a cooling zone where the spent shale is cooled by recycle
gas and removed from the retort. The outside diameter of the retort is 9.6 meters, and its height is 21 meters. The operation
of the 1,000 ton per day generator revealed a problem of carry-over of finely divided solid particles with oil vapors (about 8 to
10 kilograms per ton of shale).
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SYNTHETIC FUELS REPORT, JANUARY 1995