Oil shale is seen as a potential “backstop” resource, or a resource that will be relied upon when conventional reserves of oil are depleted. It is abundant and domestically available. These factors are behind the current effort underway within the Bureau of Land Management to support oil shale R&D.
Oil shale production has historically entailed a heavy environmental burden, with traditional methods of production emitting high levels of criteria air pollutants and greenhouse gases. This analysis compares two oil shale production processes. The first is the in-situ conversion process (ICP), developed by Shell oil. The second is a mine and retort process using an open pit mine and the Alberta Taciuk Processor, or ATP, retort.
In these analyses, I first estimate the energy inputs and outputs of the oil shale production process. Second, I calculate the greenhouse gas emissions from these two processes.
Working papers:
Converting Green River oil shale to liquid fuels with the Shell in situ conversion process: energy inputs and greenhouse gas emissions - Paper submitted to Environmental Science and Technology (2/21/08)
Converting Green River oil shale to liquid fuels with the Alberta Taciuk Processor: energy inputs and greenhouse gas emissions - Working paper [pdf]
Presentations:
This work was presented at the 27th Oil Shale Symposium, Colorado School of Mines, October 17th, 2007 [pdf of presentation].
Press:
A short piece on oil shale in Environmental Science and Technology featuring my working papers.
An array of freeze wall holes in a Shell oil freeze wall test. Photo by David Hawkins, used with permission.