Positivity: Turning shale and asphalt into oil
An Israeli company has come up with a way to use shale and by-products of current production processes to produce oil economically (HT Yid with Lid via Writes Like She Talks; excerpt is less than 1/3 of full article, so read the whole thing):
An Israeli company intends to revolutionize oil production by recycling oil shale rock into high quality fuel.
Haifa-based A.F.S.K Hom Tov recently demonstrated its patented method of extracting high quality oil and natural gas from a mixture of bitumen and oil shale rock. Bitumen - or asphalt - is the residue obtained by distillation of crude oil.
Experts predict the process will return oil at just $25 dollars a barrel and the additional natural gas produced would further boost the financial feasibility. With crude oil prices currently floating over the $50 a barrel mark, this proposed method is generating interest around the world.
“The world is looking for a replacement for oil supplies,” says attorney Moshe Shahal, a former Israeli energy minister and today the legal representative for Hom Tov.
The Hom-Tov process uses oil shale as a catalyst to extract combustible organic material from the residual bitumen byproduct of crude oil refineries. The end product from the process can easily be refined into high-grade petroleum and other fuels.
At present, oil refineries produce countless tons of bitumen residue every year that have little practical use or economic benefit and are an environmental hazard.
As a further bonus, the process converts the oil shale rock into a dry fuel in which the inorganic rock structure traps dangerous gases, such as sulfurous materials, preventing pollutant emissions to the atmosphere. The dry fuel byproduct could be burnt to power the Hom-Tov process itself as well provide additional electricity for the national grid.
“The Hom-Tov process is energy self-sustained,” says Professor Zeev Aizenshtat, an energy resource expert and professor of chemistry and applied chemistry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Aizenshtat has followed the development of the Hom-Tov process for more than a decade and now acts as an expert consultant for the company.
Oil refineries separate crude oil into different grades of fuels and oils. Petroleum and diesel are a higher grade than heavy fuels used in power plants, and those are higher than oils used for plastics and lubricants. At the very bottom is the bitumen residue which is difficult to rectify further into a useful fuel.
The volume of bitumen residue left over from each barrel of crude oil depends on the quality of the crude, but ranges from 10 percent and upwards. …..
