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US 4,458,757 AGranted
In situ shale-oil recovery process
AssigneeExxon Research & Engineering Co.
InventorsJan Bock, Patrick P. McCall, Max L. Robbins, Michael Siskin
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Abstract
Disclosed is a process for converting organic material of oil-shale to predominantly liquids. The oil-shale is first heated to a temperature from about 360.degree. C. to 475.degree. C. in an anionic atmosphere. The resulting liquids and gases are collected and the residue is extracted with a microemulsion capable of extracting organic material from the heat treated oil-shale.
Claims15
An in situ method for recovering oil from an oil-shale deposit, which method comprises:
- (a) fracturing a block of oil-shale to an effective degree;
- (b) heating the fractured oil-shale to a temperature of about 360.degree. C. to about 475.degree. C.;
- (c) maintaining the fractured oil-shale within the temperature range of about 360.degree. C. to about 475.degree. C. for an effective amount of time;
- (d) cooling the heat treated block of fractured oil-shale to below the boiling point of the aqueous phase of the microemulsion;
- (e) injecting a microemulsion or a coarse emulsion containing a microemulsion phase into the heat treated fractured block of oil-shale, wherein the microemulsion is comprised of:
- (i) about 0.3 to about 98 wt.% of an extracting agent capable of extracting organic material from the heat treated oil-shale;
- (ii) about 1 to about 99 wt.% of water containing up to about 25 wt.% dissolved inorganic salts, and
- (iii) about 0.2 to about 20 wt.% of at least one surfactant capable of forming a microemulsion;
- (f) recovering the shale-oil containing microemulsion from the block;
- (g) treating the recovered microemulsion to cause the separation of an excess oil phase comprised of extracting agent and shale-oil;
- and
- (h) separating the shale-oil from the extracting agent.
9 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.