Process for producing synthetic oil from solid hydrocarbon resources

A process for the production of synthetic oil from solid hydrocarbon resources, the process comprising:

• (a) feeding the solid hydrocarbon into a treatment unit through a feeder tube and onto a fine mesh screen;
• (b) preheating the solid hydrocarbon as the hydrocarbon flows along the screen toward a feed chute and creating vaporized volatile materials that flow toward a vent mounted at the top of said treatment unit;
• (c) cooling the volatile materials with an oily liquid sprayed from a plurality of nozzles mounted near the top of said treatment unit forming condensates and first residual volatiles, the nozzles being fed from a storage tank;
• (d) venting the first residual volatiles through the vent and into an end processing unit, and trapping the condensates with a baffle mounted between the nozzles and the screen that feeds into a collector funnel that is plumbed to the storage tank;
• (e) combining the preheated hydrocarbon with recycled ceramic spheres from a recycled sphere feeder tube on a vibrating dryer bed;
• (f) feeding the preheated hydrocarbon and recycled ceramic spheres into a pyrolysis unit;
• (g) heating said solid hydrocarbon resource to a pyrolysis temperature to cause volatile material to vaporize and rise from the pyrolyzing tray;
• (h) cooling the volatile material with recycled oil from a drop tank that is sprayed from a plurality of spray nozzles and causing the volatiles to form a first synthetic liquid;
• (i) directing said first synthetic liquid into a funnel and then into a processing unit, and allowing any residual volatiles to rise toward the top of said pyrolysis unit;
• (j) cooling the residual volatile material with oil from a synthetic oil storage tank that is sprayed from a plurality of spray nozzles and causing the volatiles to form a second synthetic liquid that is directed into said drop tank and a second residual volatile material mixture;
• (k) venting said second volatile materials to a thermal treatment unit;
• (l) feeding residual solid hydrocarbon and said ceramic spheres into a fluidized vibrating separator;
• and
• (m) separating said residual solid hydrocarbon from said ceramic spheres, and directing said hydrocarbon to a pneumatic blower conveying system and then to a solids processing unit, and directing said ceramic spheres to a conveying blower and then to a ceramic spheres furnace.