Show petro shale products product s of western slope their nature and cost of production BY J B JENSON in the last article in the mining alining review was given a table no 5 showing the products and their approximate value from a shipment of shale treated at the jenson plant at salt lake this was a highly oxidized and weathered shale from the debeque district of possibly lower than the average grade obtainable there over beddings of considerable thickness in order to make an intelligent comparison and to show the degree of uniformity in the products obtainable from petro shale from our different fields I 1 give below two additional tables treated by the same method and same plant as the shale represented in table no 5 but of higher yield and thinner beddings table no 6 represents a good grade of the black and dark brown shale from the green river wyoming district table no 7 represents a shipment from soldier summit utah for a commercial test made for one of the companies operating there ten gallons gallons of tile the oil was fraction the english oilfields Oil fields ltd of london which is at present operating retorting and refining plants on norfolk england is making a profit of practically 1500 per dry ton their are averaging only 33 gallons of crude oil per ton which frac tio nates as follows table no 8 imperial gallon equals 11 5 U S gal motor spirit shalene 7 gal kerosene 10 lubricating oil 9 solid bituminous residue 50 lbs ibs or 5 I 1 have not been furnished with the prices obtained for the various products but only the amount of profit per ton and this would indicate that prices in england are somewhat higher on the average than in this country this table of products however is very interesting from the standpoint of comparison with our own and indicates that table tabie N no 0 6 per cent gal sp sigr gr be price val crude oil 60 shalene 12 53 25 1 14 40 18 heavy ilium 10 34 12 77 05 35 fuel 11 32 light duj lub 52 30 35 38 medium lub 93 26 45 23 88 heavy lub 34 05 amm sul 68 cribs lbs 77 25 31 gal al g shalene from gases 10 paraffin wax 55 lbs ibs 1423 receipts on tons per day working days at 1423 per ton costs profits on plant for one year deduct deduc 33 cent P per for absolute conservatism and un unforeseen forseen erner emergency ency net profits per year abed at the utah copper companas Comp anys pl plant ant by mr D L george chief chemist for that obtained the following company on which he results table no 7 per cent gal sp sigr gr be price val 23 crude oil 56 25 15 shalene 20 41 12 kerosene 80 10 79 79 7 9 36 71 heavy ilium 12 fuel uel oil 11 27 25 G GO 0 light lub 30 medium lub 1 I 40 heavy luh lub 90 05 AG lbs ibs A amm am m sul 2235 32 lbs ibs 10 paraffin r wax 4 1 1 the cost and production figures given in the foregoing tables on our own are well within conservatism as they show profits much below what are actually being obtained in norfolk on a somewhat similar character of shale the norfolk however are partly petro and partly oil which presents a somewhat more difficult problem in retorting and makes our treatment costs proportionately lower although we figure them higher it should be noted in passing that frequently chemists who are making fraction actions do not treat the lubricating oil fractions with acid and soda before making reports and their figures are therefore much higher than where this has been done in all tests for yield and fractionation you should require results on refined oil rather than on fractionated oil only principal products from refinery in the operation of the shale refinery the following main products are obtained obtain Fad 1 permanent gases containing 60 per cent of hydrogen and about 20 per cent of carbon dioxide used as fuel and making of gasoline 2 shalene consisting of 60 to 70 per cent of ole defines fines and the remainder principally j paraffin series 3 kerosene or lamp oils of apeci specific fie gravity to 4 intermediate oil sp gr from to flash point generally greater than 5 lubricating oils sp gr from to shale lubricating oils do not decrease viscosity by heat as s so 0 rapidly in do many other mineral lubricating oils these lubricating oils are refined into a number of grades 0 of f different specific gravities including autor automobile nobile oils paraffin is used in vast quantities for making of candies for water proofing for paint insulating pu purposes reposes and man many y other uses the melting points range from to 7 still grease which is the distillate froni from the end of the crude oil and heavy oil linins engineer and oil shale specialist salt lake laic 0 cat city utah E L still coke this is the residue left in the still after the crude oil has been evaporated to dryness if the crude oil has been properly retorted and is good grade of paraffin baraff in base as is the case in most of our there will be only 3 to 4 per cent of the coke if the oil is of an inferior quality or the ahe distillation has not been properly carried out it may go as high as 14 per cent it is used as fuel for electrical purposes and molders black 9 ammonia sulphate this is a valuable fertilizer especially for growing sugar beets it is also used in the manufacture of fire extinguishers 10 liquid fuel this is a tarry sub 1006 N r raon PL on r f U 0 D 0 noo r LF 7 7 77 ol 01 cx foe aho nn 7 arhe s ic d Conen sw we ca caell ell 0 cr C sa 77 wr ucb cf i jenson deduc tion plant flow sheet of experimental plant showing cylinders and condensers i I 1 parallel connected in operation at salt lake city stance consisting of the residue obtained by bf the treatment treatment of oils by acid together with residues unfit for other purposes the material is valuable alil cas as a wood preservative for coating iron pipes to prevent rust as fuel to be used either in retorting or ref refining in from these main products may be made tany many others by extensive refining or these may be reduced by aiming to make only two or three main products thereby reducing cost of installation of refinery equipment for instance we may begin a by producing crude oil only thereby reducing immediate cash outlay by 60 per cent or more b or we may produce shalene and market the remaining oil as fuel oil thereby requiring only a very small investment in refinery or c we may take off the shalene produce flotation oil and a minor heavy product or d we may put in a very complete refinery to make a large and varied line of products of the finest grade it is needless to s say ay that the profits will be very much greater proportionately where the complete refinery is installed I 1 have purposely avoided making mention until now of one product because other work has prevented my going into it sufficiently far to determine its possibilities there are however at least two measures in the debeque district and one each in the uinta basin and green river capable of an important yield in thorough sampling and analyses for this product on the intervening beddings have not been made and there is a possibility that these may yield enough to make it one of the main products should they approach in value the measures al ready sampled the income from this source alone will mean an increase of from to per day in the operation of a ton plant for the present however it is mentioned as a possibility only and so that others may help out in its investigation the measures from which it has been obtained contain numerous fairly well preserved fossils refinery equipment briefly the shale refinery consists of 1 enormous stills for repeated distillation of the crude oil 2 agitating tanks one set wherein air is used to stir the oil while treated with dilute sulphuric acid and one similar set wherein the fifis oil is given a second treatment with caustic soda 3 paraffin house where the heavy oil conta containing illing bor 5 or 6 per cent of solid paraffin is cooled by refrigerating machines and the free oil pressed in enormous filter presses leaving the paraffin in semisolid semi solid cakes 4 sweating trays where the small percentage of oil still left in the paraffin is caused to sweat sweat out and flow back to the oil tank 5 paraffin refinery where the coloring matter is removed from the solid wax 6 stock tanks wherein is stored the refined oils and 7 the cooperage wherein barrels are filled for shipment also shops boiler houses etc and buildings for superintendent and helpers if the refinery be not located near and in conjunction with the retorting plant the oil is drawn to the stills from large storage tanks which however are considered a part of the plant r refinery operation in operation the crude oil is first set tied from the ammonia water and shale dust and then pumped into the charging tanks which are afe located high on the hill in order that oil may flow by gravity into the various stills shale oil requires more distillations than petroleum well oils do the process and equipment of the well oil refinery ry a are e therefore somewhat different and not adapted to shale oil requirements As was indicated in tables nos 2 and 3 shale oll oil must be given one distillation be f fore ore treatment with acid and soda this product is called once run oil the once run oil is then agitated with dilute sulphuric acid and a heavy black viscous tar which settles to ohp bottom of the tank is w withdrawn ith drawn after which the oil is run by 9 gravity to the second agitating tank where it is treated with caustic soda and another black viscous tar is separated and withdrawn the oil is permitted to settle and is then pumped to charging tanks ready for the next distillation i the product which is distilled off now is the shalene product and corresponds to no 2 in above table of products from refinery the remainder of this distillation is called green oil the green oil then passes to the next still where kerosene is produced after which the remaining products pass to the intermediate and lubricating oil stills in regular succession each tinie time taking off new higher temperature products the gravity of which is regulated by the amount of heat applied until finally a very heavy tarry residue is obtained which may inay be either eva evaporated P ed to dryness leaving still coke or it may be used for the production of gilsonite for the making of paint varnishes and many other useful products and byproducts by products the fact that shale oil does not yield advantageously to ordinary refining and that the crude oil contains a very large percentage of has led the uninformed to believe that our shale oils cannot be refined at a profit whereas reas 1 a shale oil refining has been successfully scully and profitably carried on on for more than half a century in scotland and b that the unsaturated products for the purposes that we need most 1 ie 16 6 the production product production io of sha shalene leife and fuel oils are tore more valuable and produce I 1 I 1 greater power I 1 and more heat units respect lively than the more highly saturated products from petroleum it is true that our american being younger as has been previously stated yield a greater proportion of saturates unsaturated un than thai scotch this is perhaps partly due to td the themselves and partly due to the method of retorting we have found however that not only can we successfully cess fully retort these high grade younger but we can very largely control the resultant products and make them of a considerably increased value over either those from the scotch or from our own well petroleum important problems now solved some of the principal problems that I 1 have personally been working for several years to solve are a the cause of and a method for its control b the cause of emulsion and its prevention c the principles controlling the production of light oils and d those controlling formation of asphalt with a view to its elimination mi ini nation in the retort e the cause of greater in our american than in scottish f the cause and prevention of fluxing flexing flu xing g the effect of secondary decomposition of the crude oil gases and resultant products with the object of its utilization in commercial operation we have learned that much greater deterioration has taken place in the scotch se 0 since they were laid down by nature than in our american and it becomes necessary for us to do in our retorts for our a part of the work which nature has done for the scotch A lack of this knowledge has been the cause of inexperienced experimenters making dismal f failures and the report gaining circulation that our petro cannot be successfully retorted certain principles having an important bearing on all of these have been worked out and within certain certain limits the production or elimination of each is now under our control so that the new modern retorts that we ve shall be constructing during the present year will be capable of a production of pure clean oil comparatively low in and emulsion and capable of yielding at the lowest possible refining cost and with minimum refinery loss the largest possible amount of valuable and marketable products in our newest retorts we are able to regulate very closely therefore the production of shalene and to hold it within a predetermined proportion of the crude oil product inasmuch as shalene Is a product easily marketed and in regular and constant demand dei and one not not i r requiring equi ring extensive refinery equipment to produce ice it is advisable to design our early plants with a view to the greatest possible production of this duct consistent consi stant with economical operation and giving secondary consideration only to lubricating oils and paraffin wax leaving out entirely at least for the present year 0 of 1921 the production of ammonia sulphate from the particularly of the western slope from the of kentucky and ohio however the production of ammonium sulphate should be given careful consideration with a view to its maximum production it is evident therefore that the retorts designed for these two fields should be entirely on different lines lubricating oils while the percentage of lubricating oil produced will by no means be as great as many are claiming I 1 it t nevertheless is an important item for it will in some of its fractions supply a need not found in well petroleum products laboratory tests indicate that we shall produce at least one grade boxes it was superior to any product that could be purchased at that time either oil or greases made from shale will continue to lubricate a hot bearing when othea petroleum oils and greases melt and run off A year ago I 1 met at green river wyo a gentleman from canada who in formel me that he was the distributing agent lor for the light lubricating shale oil being imported into canada from scotland for automobile use in the far north he claimed that during the winter months with the thermometer 30 degrees below zero that this was the only oil that could be depended upon for complete automobile lubrication and that his company was getting 2 per gallon for all that it could furnish 44 at 44 t 7 az character of shale used in test summit utah representing paper and massive shale at soldier shown in table no 7 of oil suitable for airplane service without addition of castor oil as now required it is too early however to make a definite statement at this time but before the year is out we shall have full and complete information on this point As to the heavy lubricants the writer used lubricating oil manufactured from shale in our early plant for more than three years in the machine shop of the acme mining machinery company then operating at 34 south west temple st salt lake city and for which company he was acting as consulting and designing engineer no viscosity tests were made but this oil gave most excellent results in everyday every day use and on special occasion such as in cooling hot shale oils do not break down in the crank case as easily as well oil products and |