| • Science | • People | • Locations | • Timeline |
Oil shale was formed in the distant past by the simultaneous deposit of silt and organic debris on lakebeds and sea bottoms. As the raw materials accumulated, heat and pressure transformed them into a stable mixture of inorganic minerals and solidified organic sludge. However the heat and pressure were not as great as in the similar process that forms petroleum. Oil shale is called 'the rock that burns'.
Oil shale has been used since ancient times and like coal can be used directly as a fuel. The modern use of oil shale to produce oil dates to Scotland in the 1850s. In 1847 Dr James Young prepared lighting oil, lubricating oil and wax from coal. Then he moved his operations to Edinburgh where oil shale deposits were found. In 1850 he patented the process of "cracking", oil into its constituent parts. Oil from oil shale was produced in that region from 1857 until 1962 when production was cancelled due to the much lower cost of petroleum.
Estonia began exploiting its shale oil deposits in the 1920s and is currently the largest user of oil shale. Today however most of it is burnt directly to produce electricity.
In the future, oil wells are expected to run dry. Oil from shale is an alternative fuelAlternative fuel refers to methods of powering an engine that do not involve petroleum (oil). Some alternative fuels are hydrogen, natural gas, hithane, and electricity. Some of these come into the category of renewable energy. Renewable energy includes e to gasoline in cars. Exxon and other oil companies plan to switch to shale when it becomes cheaper than oil, and when all the oil is finally used up.
The energy subsidy to produce oil from oil shale is heavy. Since the oil shale has to be mined, transported, retorted, and then disposed of at least 40% of the energy value is consumed in production. Water is also needed to add hydrogen to the oil shale oil before it can be shipped to a conventional oil refinery. The largest deposit of oil shale in the United States is in western ColoradoThere are also three Colorado Rivers: two in the United States and one in Argentina. Colorado is a state in the western United States. The name of Colorado came from the Spanish word "colorado" which means "reddish color". The name comes from the Colorado (the Green River Shale deposits) a dry region without surplus water. The oil shale can be ground into a slurryA slurry is a liquid mixture (especially involving water) composed of a mixture of various insoluble matter, such as mud or plaster of paris. Slurry pipelines are a specialized method of material transport that use a watery slurry to move particulates fro and transported via pipeline to a more suitable pre-refining location.