Chemical dynamics of the transformation of organic matter to bitumen in oil-shale

In spite of the fact that the commercial production of hydrocarbon products from oil-shale has been carried on for more than sixty years, practically no work has been done in an effort to determine the fundamental chemical dynamic principles involved in the transformation of the original organic matter in the shale into the final product, oil. It is true that considerable research has been done to establish relationships between the variable conditions of retorting such as temperature, rate, site of particles, removal of vapors, etc., and the quality and quantity of the resulting products. This work has however been of essentially an empirical nature and has failed to throw much light upon the primary changes which take place in the oil forming constituents previous to distillation. The fact that at the present time there are approximately one hundred patented retorts in this country alone, shows that the conceptions of the nature of the changes involved in the various steps of the thermal decomposition of oil-shale are very indefinite and quite numerous.