The purpose of the research project was to investigate the feasibility of the chemically assisted in situ retort method for recovering shale oil from Colorado oil shale. The chemically assisted in situ procedure uses hydrogen chloride (HCl), steam (H{sub 2}O), and carbon dioxide (CO{sub 2}) at moderate pressure to recovery shale oil from Colorado oil shale at temperatures substantially lower than those required for the thermal decomposition of kerogen. The process had been previously examined under static, reaction-equilibrium conditions, and had been shown to achieve significant shale oil recoveries from powdered oil shale. The purpose of this research project was to determine if these results were applicable to a dynamic experiment, and achieve penetration into and recovery of shale oil from solid oil shale. Much was learned about how to perform these experiments. Corrosion, chemical stability, and temperature stability problems were discovered and overcome. Engineering and design problems were discovered and overcome. High recovery (90% of estimated Fischer Assay) was observed in one experiment. Significant recovery (30% of estimated Fischer Assay) was also observed in another experiment. Minor amounts of freed organics were observed in two more experiments. Penetration and breakthrough of solid cores was observed in six experiments.

The objective of this work is to investigate, in the laboratory, the parameters associated with a chemically assisted in situ recovery procedure, using hydrogen chloride (HCI), carbon dioxide (CO{sub 2}), and steam (H{sub 2}O), to obtain-data useful to develop a process more economic than existing processes and to report all findings. The technical progress of the project is reported. The progress of the project is that experiment preparations are underway. Reactor design, process design, and experiment design have been completed. The laboratory to be used has required extensive clean-up, and is nearly ready. Safety considerations are underway. Finally, an initial literature search has revealed some important aspects that need to be considered.

The objective of this work is to investigate, in the laboratory, the parameters associated with a chemically assisted in situ recovery procedure, using hydrogen chloride (HCI), carbon dioxide (CO{sub 2}), and steam (H{sub 2}O), to obtain data useful to develop a process more economic than existing processes and to report all findings. The technical progress of the project is reported. The project status is that the solutions to the problems discussed in the third quarter status, were found to function satisfactorily. Future needs have been considered, and appropriate equipment and instrumentation changes have been designed. Only one experiment was performed this quarter, with some improvement over the previous experiments. The increase in shale oil recovery followed directly from the changes discussed last quarter, but the improvement could have been larger with wider-spread implementation of the changes. Equipment was purchased to rectify the need, and will be installed shortly. Further, a minor change in the design was necessary to account for the brittleness of high temperature electrical resistance heating tapes. The focus of the work this quarter has been on the development of computer software to enable the use of on-line parameter identification, the design of the instrumentation necessary to adequately …

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