Process for treating bituminous or oil-containing material using dry distillation

A dry distillation process which comprises treating bituminous or oil-containing fine-grained material in a distillation zone with a heat carrier comprising fine-grained dry distillation residue which is heated in a pneumatic conveyor line by hot combustion gases and then fed to a collecting vessel to remain in said collecting vessel for a residence time of 1-40 minutes at a temperature in the range of 750.degree.-850.degree. C, continuously withdrawing distillation residue from said collecting vessel and mixing same in the dry distillation zone with the bituminous or oil-containing fine-grained material, said material containing at least 0.2 percent by weight of magnesium carbonate or calcium carbonate or a mixture of said carbonates, withdrawing distillation products from said distillation zone and feeding said withdrawn dry distillation residue to the inlet of the pneumatic conveyor line to be reheated therein and withdrawing exhaust gases from said collecting vessel, said exhaust gases having a small residual sulfur dioxide content.