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Show AUSTRALIA NEEDS SHALERODUGTS Massive De Beque High Grade Shale Yields to Eduction Process. Industry's Outlook Constantly Con-stantly Improves; Many New Plants Built. , Auscralia's large and pressing need for ! oil musi be supplied by t'r.e vast shale deposits of the desert island, according to J. B. Jer.son, Salt Lake mining cnsi-::e-r, inventor of the Jenson edv.otjon I-roeess for treating oil shale. Recently. a r-urcsentative of iarge Australian inter-?-iis visited Salt Lake City and other cities to investigate various processes for the treatment of oil shaie. This man, ao-eurding ao-eurding to Mr. Jenson. had hert1-in the o:l business for several yca'iw . Australia. Aus-tralia. For eight years past Jt.C govern-in govern-in e n t . bo : h the federal a nd s : er:e . have been drilling for oil with no success. Hope of striking oil on the island has been T'raciicallv abandoned, according to information in-formation given by this gentleman to Mr. Jpnson. As a result, to supply the island continent's pressing demand for oil, a great deal of experimental work has been done with different shale processes by both private interests and the Australian government. Australian shale la very hi;h grade, carrying on the average from forty to 140 gallons of oil to the ton. For this reason the Scotch process, which has been experimented with for a considerable time, has proved a signal faiiure. Fluxing, trat is, the adhering of the residue to various parts of the retort, has prevented the process from becoming a success. A German process has also been tried, but "his process has not given any greater satisfaction. This representative assured Mr. Jenson that as soon as the interests he represented could find a process which would prove by experiment successful, development of the shale industry would bes-in on a large scale, both by private individuals and by the government. Important Tests Made. Exeriments recently performed by Mr. Jenson on the massive DeBeque shale have proved that the eduction process will treat this form of shale successfully. Previously, Pre-viously, while it was known that "paper" shale, a low grade, could be successfully treated by ordinary retorting, attempts to ; treat the massive, or high-grade, shale ; have failed because of fluxing. Recently tests made of treating by the eduction process massive shale, which will run over 100 gallons of oil to the ton. were completelv satisfactory, according to Mr. Jenson. There was no trouble with fluxing, flux-ing, the residue was dry and flaky and - conditions indicated that the volatilization was highly efficient. By the Jenson eduction process the shales are passed through the furnace by a continuous mechanical operation whereby where-by the crushed shales are drawn automatically auto-matically from the storage bins, passed through the furnace and deposited t::on the tailings dump. The principle involved Is that of stage eduction, whereby the lighter gases are drawn off in staires before be-fore the zone of high temperature is reached. By this means there is no de- struction of" the lighter oils and the fnr-race fnr-race produces three or more definite prod-.' prod-.' .3, with different specific trravities. Par- " -efinlng is accomplished in the educ- 1 furnace, therein- reducing cost and casing capacity of the refinery plant. , .; ocess Explained. ."he shale as It comes from the mine or idsre parses through a forced feed head .'notion jaw-crusher, which reduces the product to approximately two inches in ''diameter. From there it passes throueh rolls which further reduce it to one-fourth one-fourth or one-half inch in diameter, after which it drops into the storage bins. Frm the storage bins it is drawn mechanically by the feed conveyor and is distributed to each eduction unit. The shale is then fed Into the upper cylinder, in which is carried the lowest temperature, and passes downward until the lost or lowest one Is reached, wherein I vola'ized the heavy paraffin oils and ammonium sulphate. Each succeeding cylinder produces, a different dif-ferent grade of oil tras, and if it Is desired de-sired to produce different grades of oil in one operation this can be accomplished, according to Mr. Jen3on. After the lowest low-est conveyor has been passed, the material is discharged through a water seal Into the tailings conveyor. "Vv "ir.hin this conveyor con-veyor is extracted such potash as the shale may contain, the same going In to solution to be recovered from the, water. By this process, according to Mr. Jm-Bon, Jm-Bon, the oil gases are produced and withdrawn with-drawn at the particular temperature necessary nec-essary for their volatilization in separate chambers operated at diff-rrnt temperatures, tempera-tures, beginning with the k.-,vet s nd Increasing In-creasing each chamber until the highest . temperature for e l nation of the heavier , oils Is reacheL By this means prevention of fluxing of the shale, such a often oc- ! curs when high-grade shales are used, and elimination of a large proportion of refinery re-finery os3 and high cost, suh as results when the gas63 from different temperatures tem-peratures are permitted to mix V-fore condensation takes place, Is accornpiUhe 1, Shale Future Bright. "Like all new projects, the shale oil industry has to overcome a grat deal of Inertia." said Mr. Jenson yenrday. "Nevertheless, Interest in the oil fhale industry in-dustry Is attracting wider interest. New plant are being cons' ructd in several places. It h reported that in this epe-ial Resslon of the legislature a bill authorizing authoriz-ing an appropriation to In vestige f e processes proc-esses for making oil from flhale will be in-trod in-trod need. Similar bills have been Intro-d-K'd In congress. "The Hha!e industry does not nee 1 an immenBe. appropriation to ftvolve frne ' new pro'er-H. .Su'-h a st"p mean. a jov 1 of time and a was'e of money. What h needed Is Tbe cooperation of the government govern-ment In investigating Kevf-ral proc"-;.o-s which are bHng trid out now. The f-mn-pani'-H exr"'r!rner:tirig with the ?di;i oil Industry do not r.'-'-d an (-norrnouH r-p-propriJi rion. .-'-veral of tnern are ade-jijrt'iv ade-jijrt'iv firian'"(,d. "What la need'-d Is technical ir. form:, -fori, l;ibor;i'ory worJt ;ir.-! -rp-rt a-!'.;.-... There irnpor';.n n ' :' n 'h- hur'-;.u of rni !. 'n t 5'di.y furnn to 'h: fev-r;il compan'' ;i ln-;idy do.r.v exp'-rlrrf-ntal work. V.'I'h t h i h rn-'inri'r ,f ',opcr;i t ion, vhich. 1 tj r' ' '1 of :.t,Tn.Mr;g to 'voive a if pro''", v.o ,ld work to r.ff'-"t f-;o--f T,T,,r (.-- (.!( i, , re:. 'I j In uLe, gre.'j t i-nr.'j vrrj'.' te rn;;'l; and large ;irno'jfi-i of rnor. pvc 1." |