| Description |
We are studying aboveground oil shale retorting and have developed the LLNL Hot-Recycled-Solid (HRS) process as a generic, second-generation, rapid pyrolysis retorting system in which recycled shale is the solid heat carrier. In 1984-87, we operated a 1-tonne-per-day FIRS pilot plant to study retorting chemistry in an actual recirculation loop, Cena (1986). In 1989 we upgraded our laboratory pilot plant to process 4-tonne-per, day of commercially sized shale, which will allow us, for the first time, to study pyrolysis and combustion chemistry using the full particle size, to produce enough oil for detailed characterization studies, to study environmental consequences, and to begin answering the many bulk solid handling questions concerning scale-up of the HRS process. Unlike many processes in chemical and petroleum industries, oil shale processing requires handling large volumes of solid. Understanding the unit operations of these solid-handling components and their interaction is a major focus of our current research. Our program plan encompasses the three scales of operation listed in Table 1.1 |
