Show the oil shale industry BY ARTHUR J HOSKIN Is the american oil industry showing progress scarcely a day passes but that this question is asked my reply is always affirmative firma tive although it is necessary to submit to more or less catechism before inquisitive friends secure sufficient information tio to satisfy their doubts realizing that there may be many persons desiring information along this line I 1 choose this opportunity to briefly touch upon the status of this new industry in our country evolution of american oil shale industry we hear very little about the operation of new oil shale plants there is foundation for this lack of news if we confine our attentions to activities in colorado we find that there is not an oil reduction plant in operation that is there is not a single plant of commercial size working or that has worked continuously tor for more than a few hours at a time colorado does not by any means hold bold a monopoly on the oil shale deposits of the united states but it can be truthfully stated that colorado possesses by far the largest known deposits in the world this state then is sure to tg assume prominence it if not preeminence pre eminence in the years to come in the oil shale industry this remark presumes the assured permanency permanency ency of this budding industry there is no doubt that a great manufacturing industry will be established upon the tremendous reserves of oil shale abounding in the western part ot of the state and the statement applies equally well to the territory adjacent to colorado in utah and wyoming feeling thus confidently regarding the future of this industry let me attempt to substantiate my statement that the industry notwithstanding lack of much visible evidence still has sho shown wn substantial progress during the past two or three years the period of incubation as it were when the public at la large rge first learned authoritatively from federal sources that these vast natural resources existed persons jumped to the assumption that operations could be promptly established by following methods practiced for more than half a century in scotland scotch methods became classic in oil shale literature and conversation they prevail to a small extent yet among a few shale bugs failure of scottish practice pioneers in the shale business in the grand river valley built themselves small units of scotch types of retorts with not a single misgiving about success they were disillusioned when they attempted to operate these men were at first wholly at a loss to account for their failure but soon they reached the well founded conclusion that our shale is different from the scottish shale it is now pretty generally known that their decision is true and that the foreign types of retorts will not successfully treat our colorado utah and wyoming oil shale i e they will not treat the bulk of it this proviso is called for because we have limited amounts of oil shale that is amenable to the foreign methods of treatment but this so called paper shale exists only in relatively small amounts and commercial plants should not be contemplated to handle this variety of shale only the tendency at present is to regard the papery consistency of this variety of oil shale as but a phase of weathering or disintegration that it will give way with development of such a bed to the massive variety that prevails generally development of new types of furnaces not one but numerous attempts were made by different persons at different places to treat colorados shale in retorts of the henderson type typical of the scotch practice the results were uniformly discouraging consequently a sudden stop came to the early activities and production of oil from colorado shale was obliged to await such time as remedies could be found for the troubles experienced oil shale enthusiasts became inventive they found new ways of retorting shale while obviating their initial difficulties the chief trouble experienced in the early attempts at distillation in colorado those using the foreign type of retort was that the shale during its heat beat treatment caked solid within the retort and could not be removed at the end of a run except with great difficulty paper shale did not do this the problem then seemed to be to hit upon schemes for overcoming this property of the massive shale some inventors believed they could prevent caking by the steady agitation or mechanical movement of the shale during its heat treatment A few sought to avoid trouble by conducting their experiments at higher or lower temperatures than are standard in foreign practice others believed caking could be ba avoided by performing the distillation reactions in an atmosphere of heated gases residual from preceding operations still others have worked along the line of performing the distillation in an aqueous atmosphere as by conducting steam into the retort these and other theories have been advanced as the bases upon which new types of distillation apparatus have been invented As experiments with the first units built to exemplify these various theories proceeded it became evident that the radical departures par tures made from foreign types of retorts both in design and in material of construe tion presented new difficulties the principal one being that the new inventions did not stand up under the duty placed upon them with regard to heat requirements and several new types of oil shale retorts quickly deteriorated when subjected to their proposed operations naturally the inventors of such types of retorts set themselves to work again in some cases the inventions accomplished their purpose in preventing the caking of the massive shale and the only problem remaining was to so construct these devices as to stand up to hard operating conditions it has been chiefly problems of the sort described that have delayed the erection of full scale plants in the oil shale field thus far I 1 do not mean to state that I 1 have mentioned all of the hindrances to progress in this matter for there were so many and so varied and unexpected pitfalls arising that inventors were kept continually at their wits end cause of apparent slow progress if the reader has ever made the acquaintance of inventors he may realize why the outward or visible signs of progress in our oil shale industry have been almost negligible inventors are not necessarily poor men financially but it appears that the majority of the americans who busied thein themselves selves with oil shale improvements did not possess the means to build plants embodying em their ideas of treatment it was usually with the greatest difficulty that they managed to build laboratory sized machines and even these small units were not sufficiently complete to enable the inventors to make satisfying demonstrations many owners of oil shale property have been desirous of erecting plants but they 1 e been prevented solely through the their I 1 r inability to secure apparatus that could be guaranteed efficient by the inventors or manufacturers A very few concerns have undertaken to operate with equipments that were not fully perfected or guaranteed and they have spent money and efforts in improving such equipments the result being that practically no commercial progress has been made by them although new facts have been added by them to our general knowledge concerning the technology of oil il shale treatment present status in colorado fields we are nearly at the close of this years season for work in the oil shale fields of colorado there is no commercial production of oil or other substance from oil shale this does not however spell lack of progress the operation of an oil shale property is really an industrial business rather than mining plants are planned to be built close to the natural deposits the raw materials and oils lubricants and byproducts by products will be manufactured since these raw materials possess a physical composition that calls for brand new methods of treatment our industry has been obligated to first sup ply such methods the same condition prevailed when the scotch shale industry started 1 I e it was necessary to invent and to revise apparatus for a considerable period before much success was attained in commercial production at the same time it is wrong for us to suppose that we shall experience as long setbacks as did the foreign pioneers in the industry we can be guided not only by their experiences but we have much relatively new knowledge gained from the modern practices in distilling coal and other bituminous substances on large scales we have been in an experimental period for the past two years and we have progressed A few processes for distill distilling ingoll oil from shale have meanwhile attained sufficient sanction from well posted technical men to warrant their owners in proceeding with the erection of full scale plants in the field and we are told that such plants will be yet started this fall and that their erection will be carried as far and as fast as climatic conditions will permit I 1 do not anticipate the completion of a single commercial plant in colorado before the early part of next summer along this line I 1 am inform ed that three different types of plants will be erected this being the case we must admit that substantial progress has been made before the middle of next summer we should be in possession of facts concerning the efficiency of at least three of the american processes assuming that one ane or two if not all three of these processes prove successful I 1 conclude that from now on we shall witness more rapid outward progress in our latest national industry n effect of unscrupulous promoters in all that has been said above I 1 have dwelt purely upon the technical phases of the delayed progress in concluding it might be well to mention that a most significant ant deterrent factor has been the activity of unscrupulous promoters who seized upon the intrinsic merits of the coming industry n to work their own game in exactly the same measure as they would have pounced upon any other really worthy industry in its infancy unquestionably these fake promoters have exerted considerable blight but it is known that many of these men have passed from view while those still infesting the industry are under crucial inspection by federal and local authorities and it is hoped that their ilk will be permanently manent ly removed before another season passes |