No.16 March 1996
Structure Analysis of Oil Shale and The Development of Fuel Production
Technology from Oil Shale
Shinya SATO,(Heteroatoms Div., Energy Resources Dept.)
Minoru ENOMOTO,(Ex-Energy Resources Dept.)
Shiro TAKAHASHI,(Ex-Heteroatoms Div., Energy Resources Dept.)
Hiroshi ANDO,(Ex-Chief,Petroleum Chemistry Div.,Hydrocarbon Processing Dept.)
Osamu INOMATA,(Ex-Petroleum Chemistry Div.,Hydrocarbon Processing Dept.)
Sadao MATSUZAWA,(excited State Chemistry Div.,Atmospheric Environmental Protection Dept.)
Akimitsu MATSUMURA,(Heteroatoms Div., Energy Resources Dept.)
Etsuro NAKAMURA,(Ex-Director-General)
Tsutomu SAKABE,(Ex-Director,Hydrocarbon Processing Dept.) |
SUMMARY
1. Introduction
Petroleum, which supplies about half the amount of Japan's primary energy, is the most
important energy resource. They need for it is expected to increase due to the economical
growth of developing countries, with its supply being maximum in the early part of the
21st century (Table 1.1, Fig. 1.1). At this time, another energy crisis could occur
because of a shortage in the supply of petroleum because new energy resources such as
solar power and geothermal are not expected to be able to cover the shortage during this
time (Table 1.2). To prevent this from occurring, the technology regarding petroleum
alternatives should be established in advance.
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Fig.1.1 The outlook of the production of fossil fuels per year4),5)
*1 Recoverable reserves in1987 (standard case)
*2 In case og recoverable reserves double.
*3 In case of maximum production per year double |
Table 1.1 World energy outlook*1
--------------------------------------------
Year
1990
2010
Energysupply(GTOE)*2
7.8
11.5
Share(%)
OECD countries
53
46
Russia, Eastern Europe 21
15
0ther countries
26
39
Energy type(%)
Solid
29
29
Liquid
39
37
Gas
22
24
Others*3
10
10
Growing ratio(%)
Solid
l00
144
Liquid
l00
132
Gas
l00
130
--------------------------------------------
*1 From IEA world energy outlook2).
*2 GTOE=109t oil equivalent.
*3 Hydro and nuclear energy, etc.
Table 1.2 Forecast of primary energy supply*1
---------------------------------------------
Fiscalyear
1989
2000 2010
---------------------------------------------
Total primary
energy supply, 106kl 499 594
657
Share, %
Natural energy*2
1.3 3.0 5.3
Water power
4.6
3.7 3.7
Geothermal energy 0.1
0.3 0.9
Atomic power
8.9
13.3 16.9
Natural gas
l0.0
l0.9 12.2
Coal
17.2
17.5 15.7
Petroleum*3
57.9
51.3 45.3
---------------------------------------------
*1 From Japan`s future energy supply outlook3)
*2 Including solar energy, alcohol and wood.
*3 Including oil shale and oil sand. |
There are about 190 oil shale deposits in 62 countries, and about 17 trillion bbl (oil
equivalent) of oil shale resources exist which produce more than 104 l/t of shale oil
(Table 1.3, Fig. 1.2). Oil shale produces shale oil by merely heating, which is called
retorting, and the production cost is much lower than other petroleum alternatives.
However, several problems still need to solve before it will be commercially applicable.
These are,
- a further drop in the cost of producing it,
- the production of light and less aromatic oils than conventional shale oils, and
- the reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2) emission.
In order to overcome these problems, the selection of high quality oil shale resources,
the development of innovative processes for the production of light shale oil and for the
reduction of CO2 emission need to be solved. The present report studies:
- development of a new oil shale evaluation method and clarification of its theoretical
background;
- improvement on the retorting process to produce light shale oil based on the pylorysis
mechanism of kerogen; and
- improvement on the hydrodenitrogenation (HDN) conditions for the production of high
quality fuel,
for further progress in this area in the future.
Tablel.3 0il shale resources by country(Mil-lion bbl)9)
------------------------------------------------
Argentina 400
Australia 17,000
Brazi1 802,000
Burma 2,000
Canada 156,000
China 163,000
Estonia 19,000
France 1,370
Germany 2,000
Israel 1,600
Italy 63,000
Jordan 5,500
Luxembourg 700
Morocco 95,000
New Zealand 250
South Africa 130
Spain
280
Sweden 4,000
Thailand 6,000
Turkey 270
United Kingdom 3,500 USA,Eastern 18,000
USA,Western 2,000,000 USSR
l12,000
Yugoslavia l,540 Zaire
lOO,OOO
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