Livermore Lab and American Shale Oil Team to Study Carbon Sequestration in Underground Shale Retorts
03 December 2008
The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and American Shale Oil, LLC (AMSO), a subsidiary of IDT Corporation have entered into a technical cooperation agreement to develop carbon sequestration technologies for in-ground shale-oil production processes.
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| AMSO CCR process. Click to enlarge. |
Specifically, LLNL will partner with AMSO to study how to use depleted underground oil shale retorts to permanently store carbon dioxide generated during the oil shale extraction process. AMSO will provide technical expertise and oil shale core samples from its federal lease site.
AMSO’s patent-pending Conduction, Convection and Reflux (CCR) process distributes heat rapidly throughout the underground retort. The faster heat transfer in the process enables fewer wells to extract the shale oil, according to the company.
After the oil is extracted from shale, the depleted retort of heated, rubbelized underground shale may be suitable for capturing carbon dioxide, according to Dr. Alan K. Burnham, AMSO’s Chief Technology Officer.
AMSO holds a Research Development and Demonstration (RD&D) lease from the US Bureau of Land Management for a 160-acre parcel of federal land in northwest Colorado’s oil-shale rich Piceance Basin. Upon demonstration of an economically viable, environmentally acceptable extraction process, AMSO has a preference right to acquire a 5,120-acre commercial lease.
Frankly, I believe the goal should be not to burn carbon in the atmosphere. The basic idea is the problem; we've been burning coal and polluting the air and soil for too many years; We been pumping oil out of the ground, refining it, burning it for fuel and then trying to reducing the emissions. Why not stop with the silly experiments and hoodwinking the people into continuing. Invest the money in developing renewable and solar and move them into mass production. I like T.Boone's. plan of bridging over to clean energy using natural gas for power plants and CNG for large trucks while we wait for the clean energy breakthroughs. I choose natural gas because it is the least polluting of the carbon fuels...straight out of the ground into the tank. The idea is to replace oil and coal with gas and then eliminate the use of gas as the clean energy comes on line. This will move us off foreign oil faster, elminate the need to spend billions to clean up huge amounts of dirty coal and get us to electric drive transportation much faster.
Posted by: Lad | 03 December 2008 at 10:41 PM
Can renewable energy do heavy duty industrial chemistry like fertilizer production, Coupled CI2 and PVC chemistry, heavy industry that includes steel production, paper manufacture, and water desalination, high temperature insulation production, manufacture of oils and greases, make cement, smelt aluminum and other metals, make glass.
These industries make huge, concentrated, and constant demands on energy resources. What will happen when the sun doesn’t shine or the wind doesn’t blow. The renewable advocates say use natural gas to fill the gap.
There is a flaw in that strategy. At the current consumption of 20 trillion cubic feet a year the North American gas reserve of 283 trillion cubic feet will last for only 14 years. If coal powered electric production is replaced by renewables, natural gas consumption will double and more. The North American gas reserves will deplete is no time. Then there is gas powered trucks and cars to deplete the gas reserves even faster.
The EIA says the gas shortfall will come from the Middle East by ship. We will then be in the same spot we are now in with oil; hostage to a Middle East natural gas cartel.
Posted by: Axil | 05 December 2008 at 10:44 PM