All about Oil Shale
Oil Shale: A Green Energy Alternative Oil Shale: A Green Energy Alternative Any sedimentary rock containing various amounts of solid organic material that yields petroleum products, along with a variety of solid by-products, when subjected to pyrolysis—a treatment that consists of heating the rock to above 300 °C (about 575 °F) in the absence of oxygen. The liquid oil extracted from oil shale, once it is upgraded, creates a type of synthetic crude oil that is commonly referred to as shale oil. Oil produced from oil shales has potential commercial value in some of the same markets served by conventional crude oil, as it can be refined into products ranging from diesel fuel to gasoline (petrol) to liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). Some of the solid by-products of oil shale processing are unusable wastes, but others have commercial value. These include sulfur, ammonia, alumina, soda ash, and nahcolite (a mineral form of sodium bicarbonate). In addition, spent shale has been used in the produ...