Title: Chemical characterization of an oil shale bed lying within the Heath Formation, Fergus County, Montana
Abstract: Shale samples from the Heath Formation have been analyzed to characterize their oil and metal content. The objective of this program was to determine whether or not these shales possessed any economic resource value. Early discussions about the Heath oil shale reasoned that a low oil yield shale might have economic value if metals in the shale were contained in the shale oil distillate as metal porphyrins. The emission spectrometric analysis of Fischer-Assay oil distillates proved that no significant amount of metals was found in the distillate. While the Fischer Assay does not provide an exact measure of the oil shale retorting process, the authors believe the data imply that commercial scale retorting of the Heath oil shale will not recover significant levels of metals. The authors also subjected the Heath oil shale to solvent extraction to determine whether or not the retorting temperatures might be pyrolyzing any metal organic complexes in the shale. Emission spectrometric analysis of the xylene extracted oil found no significant metal content in the extracted oil. This final test suggests that the metal content is not carried by the labile organic fraction of the oil shale. The metal values of the Heath shale probably canmore » not be economically recovered from the shale concurrent with a shale oil recovery process. This property does not enhance the economic potential of the Heath oil shale as an oil and metal resource.« less
Publication Year: 1984
Publication Date: 1984-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
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Cited By Count: 1
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