Advertisement

If you have an ACS member number, please enter it here so we can link this account to your membership. (optional)

ACS values your privacy. By submitting your information, you are gaining access to C&EN and subscribing to our weekly newsletter. We use the information you provide to make your reading experience better, and we will never sell your data to third party members.

ENJOY UNLIMITED ACCES TO C&EN

Environment

Oil shale

August 7, 2006 | A version of this story appeared in Volume 84, Issue 32

The article "Oil Shale Research is Moving Forward" makes it sound too easy to recover oil from shale, as if you bore a hole and distill out the trapped "oil" (C&EN, April 24, page 29). Embedded in the shale is not oil but layers of kerogen, a vegetable gum, which, when destructively distilled, yields oil that can be refined. The struggle in the early 1980s was mining, crushing, heating, and disposing of spent shale. Early industrial hygiene observations in the 19th century and the late 20th century were that some of the derived oils are carcinogenic unless hydrogenated. Oil shale may have to surmount more barriers than were described in the story.

Harvey Alter
Frederick, Md.

Article:

This article has been sent to the following recipient:

0 /1 FREE ARTICLES LEFT THIS MONTH Remaining
Chemistry matters. Join us to get the news you need.