Oil shale in China
Encyclopedia
Oil shale in China is an important source of unconventional oil. A total Chinese oil shale resource
amounts of 720 billion tonnes, located in 80 deposits of 47 oil shale
basins. This is equal to 48 billion tonnes of shale oil
. At the same time there are speculations that the actual resource may even exceed the oil shale resource of the United States.
The oil shale industry
was established in China already in 1920s. After decrease in the production, the industry started to increase and as of 2008; several companies are engage in the shale oil production or the oil shale-based power generation. After 2005, China became the largest shale oil producer in the world. At the end of 2006, the Fushun Shale Oil Plant was the largest oil shale plant in the world, consisting of seven retorting units with total of 140 Fushun-type retort
and producing 180,000 tonnes of shale oil per annum. In 2005, the China National Oil Shale Association was established in Fushun
.
The main oil shale research institution in China is the China University of Petroleum
.
The principle Chinese reserves with commercial importance lie in Fushun (Liaoning
), Maoming
(Guangdong
), Huadian
and Nong’an
(Jilin
), and Longkou
(Shandong
).
The Fushun oil-shale and coal
deposit of Eocene
age is located in north-eastern China, south of Fushun, Liaoning
. Coal and oil shale are in a small outlier of Mesozoic
and Tertiary
sedimentary
and volcanic rock
s underlain by Precambrian
granitic gneiss
. The thickness of the layer of oil shale varies from 48 metres (157.5 ft) to 190 metres (623.4 ft) with the average of 80 metres (262.5 ft). The lacustrine
origin oil shale is presented in the Jijuntun Formation, overlying the Guchengzi Formation consisting coal and underlying of green mudstone
of the Xilutian Formation.
The Tertiary age Maoming oil-shale deposit is 50 kilometres (31.1 mi) long, 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) wide, and 20 metres (65.6 ft) to 25 metres (82 ft) thick. The ore is yellow brown and the bulk density is about 1.85. The oil shale contains 72.1% ash, 10.8% moisture
, 1.2% sulfur
, with a heating value of 1,745 kcal/kg (dry basis
). It is not suitable for above-ground retorting, but it could be used for a power generation
by a fluidized bed combustion
.
Professor Alan R. Carroll of University of Wisconsin–Madison
estimates that Upper Permian
lacustrine oil shale deposits of the Junggar
-Turpan
-Hami
basins in northwest China, absent from previous global oil shale assessments, are comparable to the Green River Formation
.
, with the construction of the "Refinery No. 1" operating Fushun-type retorts. After World War II, the shale oil production was ceased, but 100 Fushun-type oil shale retorts and the related shale oil processing units were restored in 1949 after the founding of the People’s Republic of China. In 1950, total 266 retorts were in operation, each with the capacity of 100–200 tonnes shale oil per day.
In 1954, the "Refinery No. 2" began its production and in 1959, the maximum annual shale oil production increased to 780,000 tonnes. The produced shale oil was acid
and alkaline washed and hydrotreated for producing light liquid fuels. In 1961, China was producing one third of its total oil production from oil shale. In Maoming, Guangdong Province
, a new oil shale retorting plant with 64 retorts was put into operation in 1963.
Since 1965, oil shale usage in Fushun started to decline. With the discovery of Daqing oilfield in 1960s, the shale oil production declined and Sinopec
, an operator of shale oil production these times, shut down its oil shale operations in the beginning of 1990s. At the same time, the Fushun Oil Shale Retorting Plant was established as a part of the Fushun Mining Group
. It started production in 1992. In 2005, China became the largest shale oil producer in the world. At the same year, China National Oil Shale Association was established in Fushun.
At the end of 2006, the company operated the largest oil shale plant in the world consisting seven retorting units with 20 retorts in each unit, total of 140 Fushun-type retorts. Annual oil shale processing capacity is designed to be 7 million tonnes of oil shale. In addition, the company plans to construct Alberta Taciuk processor
(ATP) to treat small size oil shale (particulate oil shale) which can't be processed in Fushun retort. The company also plans another plant with annual shale oil yields of 400,000 tonnes. The 250 tonnes per hour ATP processor will be engineered and provided by Canadian company UMATAC Industrial Processes, a subsidiary of UMA Engineering Ltd. After completing these projects, the shale oil production by Fushun Mining Group will be over 700,000 tonnes annually.
The cost of shale oil production in Fushun is US$18.46 per barrel (1,500 yuan per tonne), of which the mining costs 0.184, transportation 4.25, and retorting 13.84. Fushun shale oil is sold as fuel oil, while part of the surplus retort gas with low heating value is used in an internal combustion engine for producing steam and power. Spent shale and shale ash is used for the cement production; the annual production of cement is 300,000 tonnes and the annual production of bricks is 240 million.
, the largest Chinese oil company, set up a department of New Sources of Energy, which is responsible for the oil shale development. In August 2008, it started to build a shale oil plant in Mudanjiang, Heilongjiang
. The plant is designed to process 1.2 million tonnes of oil shale per year and produce 100,000 tonnes of shale oil.
mixed with particulate oil shale would be burnt in fluidized bed combustion for power generation, and the shale ash would be utilized for production of building material.
, put into operation the first oil-shale-fired power plant in China, consisting of three circulating fluidized-bed units with capacity of 12 megawatts (MW). In 2005, the company in cooperation with the Jilin
Municipal Government put forward the Huadian oil shale comprehensive utilization project. The project includes construction of the shale oil plant with capacity of 200,000 tonnes of shale oil per year, two circulated fluidized bed combustion units with capacity of 50 MW each and production of 1.2 million tonnes of cement
and other building materials utilizing spent shale and shale ash. The shale oil plant will utilize the Petrosix technology.
has established a joint venture with the Jilin Guangzheng Mineral Development Company Limited to explore and develop oil shale resources in Jilin Province. 61% of shares of the joint venture, Jilin Shell Oil Shale Development Company Limited (Jilin Shell), belongs to Shell China, while 39% is owned by Jilin Guangzheng. The company is planning to use the Shell's in-situ conversion process.
The Mingxin Mining Company is planning to co-produce coal and oil shale in Mingxin, Gansu Province. The planned shale oil plant would have a capacity of 400,000 tonnes of shale oil per year. In addition, five private companies produce about 30,000 tonnes of shale oil by utilizing the Fushun-type retorts in Jilin.Other potential industries could be start in Uromqi (Xinjiang
), Yongden (Gansu
), and Chanpo (Hainan
).
. Its Applied Chemistry Department is the main institution dealing with oil shale. The university's oil shale experts undertake oil shale evaluation, consulting, and reviewing work for pre-feasibility and feasibility studies and development projects for domestic and foreign countries. e.g. Mongolia.
Oil shale reserves
Oil shale reserves refers to oil shale resources that are recoverable under given economic restraints and technological abilities. Oil shale deposits range from small presently non-economic occurrences to large presently commercially exploitable reserves...
amounts of 720 billion tonnes, located in 80 deposits of 47 oil shale
Oil shale
Oil shale, an organic-rich fine-grained sedimentary rock, contains significant amounts of kerogen from which liquid hydrocarbons called shale oil can be produced...
basins. This is equal to 48 billion tonnes of shale oil
Shale oil
Shale oil, known also as kerogen oil or oil-shale oil, is an unconventional oil produced from oil shale by pyrolysis, hydrogenation, or thermal dissolution. These processes convert the organic matter within the rock into synthetic oil and gas...
. At the same time there are speculations that the actual resource may even exceed the oil shale resource of the United States.
The oil shale industry
Oil shale industry
Oil shale industry is an industry of mining and processing of oil shale—a fine-grained sedimentary rock, containing significant amounts of kerogen , from which liquid hydrocarbons can be manufactured. The industry has developed in Brazil, China, Estonia and to some extent in Germany, Israel and...
was established in China already in 1920s. After decrease in the production, the industry started to increase and as of 2008; several companies are engage in the shale oil production or the oil shale-based power generation. After 2005, China became the largest shale oil producer in the world. At the end of 2006, the Fushun Shale Oil Plant was the largest oil shale plant in the world, consisting of seven retorting units with total of 140 Fushun-type retort
Fushun process
The Fushun process is an above-ground retorting technology for shale oil extraction. It is named after the main production site of Fushun, Liaoning province in northeastern China.-History:...
and producing 180,000 tonnes of shale oil per annum. In 2005, the China National Oil Shale Association was established in Fushun
Fushun
Fushun is a city in Liaoning, China, about 45 km east from Shenyang, with a population about 2,138 090 inhabitants at the 2010 census and an area of 11,271 km2, including 713 km2 of the city proper. Fushun is situated on the Hun He . It was formerly called Fouchouen in French...
.
The main oil shale research institution in China is the China University of Petroleum
China University of Petroleum
The China University of Petroleum is a university system of the major universities under the jurisdiction of the central government, Ministry of Education...
.
Reserves
From 2004 to 2006 China undertook the national oil shale evaluation. According to the evaluation, it has been estimated that a total Chinese oil shale resource amounts of 720 billion tonnes, located in 80 deposits of 47 oil shale basins. This is equal to 48 billion tonnes of shale oil. The proven oil shale reserves comprise about 36 billion tonnes.| Province | In-place oil shale resources (billion tonnes) | Oil yield (Fischer Assay Fischer Assay The Fischer assay is a standardized laboratory test for determining the oil yield from oil shale to be expected from a conventional shale oil extraction. A 100 gram oil shale sample crushed to... ) |
|---|---|---|
| Fushun, Liaoning | 3.6 | 6.5% |
| Maoming, Guangdong | 4.1 | 7% |
| Huadian, Jilin | 0.3 | 10% |
| Longkow, Shandong | 0.1 | 14% |
| Nong’an, Jilin | 16 | 4.5% |
The principle Chinese reserves with commercial importance lie in Fushun (Liaoning
Liaoning
' is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the northeast of the country. Its one-character abbreviation is "辽" , a name taken from the Liao River that flows through the province. "Níng" means "peace"...
), Maoming
Maoming
Maoming is located in southwestern Guangdong province, People's Republic of China. Facing the South China Sea to the city's south, Maoming city neighbors Zhanjiang in the west and is from Guangzhou and from Zhanjiang. The Maoming Port is a Grade I port that handled 16.8 million tons of cargo in...
(Guangdong
Guangdong
Guangdong is a province on the South China Sea coast of the People's Republic of China. The province was previously often written with the alternative English name Kwangtung Province...
), Huadian
Huadian
Huadian is a city in southeastern Jilin province, People's Republic of China. It is under the administration of Jilin City.-Administrative divisions:Subdistricts:...
and Nong’an
Nong’an
Nong’an Town , the county seat of Nong'an County, is a town in the Jilin province of China, about 60km north of Changchun, the capital of Jilin. The county of Nong'an has a population of approximately 112,000....
(Jilin
Jilin
Jilin , is a province of the People's Republic of China located in the northeastern part of the country. Jilin borders North Korea and Russia to the east, Heilongjiang to the north, Liaoning to the south, and Inner Mongolia to the west...
), and Longkou
Longkou
Longkou , formerly Huang County , is a port city in northeastern Shandong Province, on the eastern coast of the People's Republic of China. Longkou, a county-level city, is administered by the prefecture-level city of Yantai. The total population of Longkou is 620,000.-History:Longkou city was...
(Shandong
Shandong
' is a Province located on the eastern coast of the People's Republic of China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history from the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River and served as a pivotal cultural and religious site for Taoism, Chinese...
).
The Fushun oil-shale and coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
deposit of Eocene
Eocene
The Eocene Epoch, lasting from about 56 to 34 million years ago , is a major division of the geologic timescale and the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the Cenozoic Era. The Eocene spans the time from the end of the Palaeocene Epoch to the beginning of the Oligocene Epoch. The start of the...
age is located in north-eastern China, south of Fushun, Liaoning
Liaoning
' is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the northeast of the country. Its one-character abbreviation is "辽" , a name taken from the Liao River that flows through the province. "Níng" means "peace"...
. Coal and oil shale are in a small outlier of Mesozoic
Mesozoic
The Mesozoic era is an interval of geological time from about 250 million years ago to about 65 million years ago. It is often referred to as the age of reptiles because reptiles, namely dinosaurs, were the dominant terrestrial and marine vertebrates of the time...
and Tertiary
Tertiary
The Tertiary is a deprecated term for a geologic period 65 million to 2.6 million years ago. The Tertiary covered the time span between the superseded Secondary period and the Quaternary...
sedimentary
Sedimentary rock
Sedimentary rock are types of rock that are formed by the deposition of material at the Earth's surface and within bodies of water. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause mineral and/or organic particles to settle and accumulate or minerals to precipitate from a solution....
and volcanic rock
Volcanic rock
Volcanic rock is a rock formed from magma erupted from a volcano. In other words, it is an igneous rock of volcanic origin...
s underlain by Precambrian
Precambrian
The Precambrian is the name which describes the large span of time in Earth's history before the current Phanerozoic Eon, and is a Supereon divided into several eons of the geologic time scale...
granitic gneiss
Gneiss
Gneiss is a common and widely distributed type of rock formed by high-grade regional metamorphic processes from pre-existing formations that were originally either igneous or sedimentary rocks.-Etymology:...
. The thickness of the layer of oil shale varies from 48 metres (157.5 ft) to 190 metres (623.4 ft) with the average of 80 metres (262.5 ft). The lacustrine
Lake
A lake is a body of relatively still fresh or salt water of considerable size, localized in a basin, that is surrounded by land. Lakes are inland and not part of the ocean and therefore are distinct from lagoons, and are larger and deeper than ponds. Lakes can be contrasted with rivers or streams,...
origin oil shale is presented in the Jijuntun Formation, overlying the Guchengzi Formation consisting coal and underlying of green mudstone
Mudstone
Mudstone is a fine grained sedimentary rock whose original constituents were clays or muds. Grain size is up to 0.0625 mm with individual grains too small to be distinguished without a microscope. With increased pressure over time the platey clay minerals may become aligned, with the...
of the Xilutian Formation.
The Tertiary age Maoming oil-shale deposit is 50 kilometres (31.1 mi) long, 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) wide, and 20 metres (65.6 ft) to 25 metres (82 ft) thick. The ore is yellow brown and the bulk density is about 1.85. The oil shale contains 72.1% ash, 10.8% moisture
Moisture
Humidity is the amount of moisture the air can hold before it rains. Moisture refers to the presence of a liquid, especially water, often in trace amounts...
, 1.2% sulfur
Sulfur
Sulfur or sulphur is the chemical element with atomic number 16. In the periodic table it is represented by the symbol S. It is an abundant, multivalent non-metal. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with chemical formula S8. Elemental sulfur is a bright yellow...
, with a heating value of 1,745 kcal/kg (dry basis
Dry basis
Dry basis is a expression of the calculation in chemistry, chemical engineering and related subjects, in which the presence of water is ignored for the purposes of the calculation...
). It is not suitable for above-ground retorting, but it could be used for a power generation
Electricity generation
Electricity generation is the process of generating electric energy from other forms of energy.The fundamental principles of electricity generation were discovered during the 1820s and early 1830s by the British scientist Michael Faraday...
by a fluidized bed combustion
Fluidized bed combustion
Fluidized bed combustion is a combustion technology used in power plants. Fluidized beds suspend solid fuels on upward-blowing jets of air during the combustion process. The result is a turbulent mixing of gas and solids. The tumbling action, much like a bubbling fluid, provides more effective...
.
Professor Alan R. Carroll of University of Wisconsin–Madison
University of Wisconsin–Madison
The University of Wisconsin–Madison is a public research university located in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1848, UW–Madison is the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin System. It became a land-grant institution in 1866...
estimates that Upper Permian
Permian
The PermianThe term "Permian" was introduced into geology in 1841 by Sir Sir R. I. Murchison, president of the Geological Society of London, who identified typical strata in extensive Russian explorations undertaken with Edouard de Verneuil; Murchison asserted in 1841 that he named his "Permian...
lacustrine oil shale deposits of the Junggar
Dzungaria
Dzungaria, also called Zungaria, is a geographical region in northwest China corresponding to the northern half of Xinjiang. It covers approximately , lying mostly within Xinjiang, and extending into western Mongolia and eastern Kazakhstan...
-Turpan
Turfan Depression
The Turpan Depression or Turfan Depression is a fault-bounded trough located around and south of the city-oasis of Turpan, in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region in far western China, about 150 km southeast of the provincial capital Ürümqi. It includes the third lowest exposed point on the Earth's...
-Hami
Hami Desert
The Desert of Hami is a section of the Gobi Desert that occupies the space between the Tian Shan system on the north and the Nan-shan Mountains on the south, and is connected on the west with the Desert of Lop.-Przhevalsky, 1879:...
basins in northwest China, absent from previous global oil shale assessments, are comparable to the Green River Formation
Green River Formation
The Green River Formation is an Eocene geologic formation that records the sedimentation in a group of intermountain lakes. The sediments are deposited in very fine layers, a dark layer during the growing season and a light-hue inorganic layer in winter. Each pair of layers is called a varve and...
.
History
The extraction of oil shale in China began in 1926 under the Japanese rule. The commercial-scale production of shale oil began in 1930 in Fushun, ManchuriaManchuria
Manchuria is a historical name given to a large geographic region in northeast Asia. Depending on the definition of its extent, Manchuria usually falls entirely within the People's Republic of China, or is sometimes divided between China and Russia. The region is commonly referred to as Northeast...
, with the construction of the "Refinery No. 1" operating Fushun-type retorts. After World War II, the shale oil production was ceased, but 100 Fushun-type oil shale retorts and the related shale oil processing units were restored in 1949 after the founding of the People’s Republic of China. In 1950, total 266 retorts were in operation, each with the capacity of 100–200 tonnes shale oil per day.
In 1954, the "Refinery No. 2" began its production and in 1959, the maximum annual shale oil production increased to 780,000 tonnes. The produced shale oil was acid
Acid
An acid is a substance which reacts with a base. Commonly, acids can be identified as tasting sour, reacting with metals such as calcium, and bases like sodium carbonate. Aqueous acids have a pH of less than 7, where an acid of lower pH is typically stronger, and turn blue litmus paper red...
and alkaline washed and hydrotreated for producing light liquid fuels. In 1961, China was producing one third of its total oil production from oil shale. In Maoming, Guangdong Province
Guangdong
Guangdong is a province on the South China Sea coast of the People's Republic of China. The province was previously often written with the alternative English name Kwangtung Province...
, a new oil shale retorting plant with 64 retorts was put into operation in 1963.
Since 1965, oil shale usage in Fushun started to decline. With the discovery of Daqing oilfield in 1960s, the shale oil production declined and Sinopec
Sinopec
China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation Limited , or Sinopec Limited , is a majority owned subsidiary of state owned company Sinopec Group. Sinopec Limited is listed in Hong Kong and also trades in Shanghai and New York ....
, an operator of shale oil production these times, shut down its oil shale operations in the beginning of 1990s. At the same time, the Fushun Oil Shale Retorting Plant was established as a part of the Fushun Mining Group
Fushun Mining Group
The Fushun Mining Group is a large state-owned coal and oil shale company located in Fushun, Liaoning Province, China. The corporation consists of 35 companies with more than 40,000 employees. The main business includes: coal mining, oil shale processing, machinery and others...
. It started production in 1992. In 2005, China became the largest shale oil producer in the world. At the same year, China National Oil Shale Association was established in Fushun.
Industry
The major oil shale industry in China is the Fushun Mining Group. At the same tme several other coal and oil companies expand their activities into oil shale extraction.Fushun Mining Group
Fushun Mining Group owns geological reserve for high grade oil shale about 3.6 billion tonnes, of which exploitable reserve is 920 million tonnes, divided between East Open Pit (760 million tonnes) and West Open Pit (160 million tonnes). The oil shale production uses reserves from the West Open Pit, while the East Open Pit oil shale reserves are not mined yet. Oil shale is produced as a byproduct of the coal mining. In 2006, Fushun Mining Group produced 240,000 tonnes of shale oil, and was expected to produce 300,000 tonnes in 2007.At the end of 2006, the company operated the largest oil shale plant in the world consisting seven retorting units with 20 retorts in each unit, total of 140 Fushun-type retorts. Annual oil shale processing capacity is designed to be 7 million tonnes of oil shale. In addition, the company plans to construct Alberta Taciuk processor
Alberta Taciuk Process
The Alberta Taciuk process is an above-ground dry thermal retorting technology for extracting oil from oil sands, oil shale and other organics-bearing materials, including oil contaminated soils, sludges and wastes...
(ATP) to treat small size oil shale (particulate oil shale) which can't be processed in Fushun retort. The company also plans another plant with annual shale oil yields of 400,000 tonnes. The 250 tonnes per hour ATP processor will be engineered and provided by Canadian company UMATAC Industrial Processes, a subsidiary of UMA Engineering Ltd. After completing these projects, the shale oil production by Fushun Mining Group will be over 700,000 tonnes annually.
The cost of shale oil production in Fushun is US$18.46 per barrel (1,500 yuan per tonne), of which the mining costs 0.184, transportation 4.25, and retorting 13.84. Fushun shale oil is sold as fuel oil, while part of the surplus retort gas with low heating value is used in an internal combustion engine for producing steam and power. Spent shale and shale ash is used for the cement production; the annual production of cement is 300,000 tonnes and the annual production of bricks is 240 million.
PetroChina
In 2006, PetroChinaPetroChina
PetroChina Company Limited is a Chinese oil company and is the listed arm of state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation , headquartered in Dongcheng District, Beijing. It is China's biggest oil producer, and was the world's most valuable company by market value as of September 28th 2010...
, the largest Chinese oil company, set up a department of New Sources of Energy, which is responsible for the oil shale development. In August 2008, it started to build a shale oil plant in Mudanjiang, Heilongjiang
Heilongjiang
For the river known in Mandarin as Heilong Jiang, see Amur River' is a province of the People's Republic of China located in the northeastern part of the country. "Heilongjiang" literally means Black Dragon River, which is the Chinese name for the Amur. The one-character abbreviation is 黑...
. The plant is designed to process 1.2 million tonnes of oil shale per year and produce 100,000 tonnes of shale oil.
Maoming
Maoming oil shale industry was developed from the 1960s to the 1990s by Maoming Petrochemical Company, a subsidiary of Sinopec, which built 64 Fushun-type retorts and 48 gas combustion retorts for producing shale oil. The production peaked with 180,000 tonnes of shale oil per annum. This industry was shut down in the 1990s. The Guandong Province authorities have a plan to use the Maoming oil shale for the power production using fluidized bed combustion.Longkow Coal Mining Company
Longkow Coal Mining Company plans to produce oil shale as a coal mining byproduct. The project foresees construction of shale oil plant with capacity of 200,000 tonnes of shale oil per year by using Fushun-type retorts. In addition, the shale charChar
Char is the solid material that remains after light gases and tar coal tar have been driven out or released from a carbonaceous material during the initial stage of combustion, which is known as carbonization, charring, devolatilization or pyrolysis.Further stages of efficient combustion are...
mixed with particulate oil shale would be burnt in fluidized bed combustion for power generation, and the shale ash would be utilized for production of building material.
Jilin Energy & Communication Corporation
In 1996, Jilin Energy & Communication Corporation, a subsidiary of the China Power Investment CorporationChina Power Investment Corporation
China Power Investment Corporation is one of the five largest state-owned power producers in the People's Republic of China, administrated by SASAC for the State Council of the People's Republic of China. It is engaged in development, investment, construction, operation and management of power...
, put into operation the first oil-shale-fired power plant in China, consisting of three circulating fluidized-bed units with capacity of 12 megawatts (MW). In 2005, the company in cooperation with the Jilin
Jilin
Jilin , is a province of the People's Republic of China located in the northeastern part of the country. Jilin borders North Korea and Russia to the east, Heilongjiang to the north, Liaoning to the south, and Inner Mongolia to the west...
Municipal Government put forward the Huadian oil shale comprehensive utilization project. The project includes construction of the shale oil plant with capacity of 200,000 tonnes of shale oil per year, two circulated fluidized bed combustion units with capacity of 50 MW each and production of 1.2 million tonnes of cement
Cement
In the most general sense of the word, a cement is a binder, a substance that sets and hardens independently, and can bind other materials together. The word "cement" traces to the Romans, who used the term opus caementicium to describe masonry resembling modern concrete that was made from crushed...
and other building materials utilizing spent shale and shale ash. The shale oil plant will utilize the Petrosix technology.
Royal Dutch Shell
Royal Dutch ShellRoyal Dutch Shell
Royal Dutch Shell plc , commonly known as Shell, is a global oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the fifth-largest company in the world according to a composite measure by Forbes magazine and one of the six...
has established a joint venture with the Jilin Guangzheng Mineral Development Company Limited to explore and develop oil shale resources in Jilin Province. 61% of shares of the joint venture, Jilin Shell Oil Shale Development Company Limited (Jilin Shell), belongs to Shell China, while 39% is owned by Jilin Guangzheng. The company is planning to use the Shell's in-situ conversion process.
Other industries
In Wang Qing (Jilin Province), a private company set up 10 Fushun-type retorts, and produced 15,000 tonnes of shale oil in 2006. The Harbin Gas and Chemical Company plans set up a shale oil plant with the capacity of 1,000 tonnes of shale oil per day in Heilongjiang. Similar plant is planned by the Song Ya San Coal Mining Company.The Mingxin Mining Company is planning to co-produce coal and oil shale in Mingxin, Gansu Province. The planned shale oil plant would have a capacity of 400,000 tonnes of shale oil per year. In addition, five private companies produce about 30,000 tonnes of shale oil by utilizing the Fushun-type retorts in Jilin.Other potential industries could be start in Uromqi (Xinjiang
Xinjiang
Xinjiang is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. It is the largest Chinese administrative division and spans over 1.6 million km2...
), Yongden (Gansu
Gansu
' is a province located in the northwest of the People's Republic of China.It lies between the Tibetan and Huangtu plateaus, and borders Mongolia, Inner Mongolia, and Ningxia to the north, Xinjiang and Qinghai to the west, Sichuan to the south, and Shaanxi to the east...
), and Chanpo (Hainan
Hainan
Hainan is the smallest province of the People's Republic of China . Although the province comprises some two hundred islands scattered among three archipelagos off the southern coast, of its land mass is Hainan Island , from which the province takes its name...
).
Research
The main oil shale research institution in China is the China University of PetroleumChina University of Petroleum
The China University of Petroleum is a university system of the major universities under the jurisdiction of the central government, Ministry of Education...
. Its Applied Chemistry Department is the main institution dealing with oil shale. The university's oil shale experts undertake oil shale evaluation, consulting, and reviewing work for pre-feasibility and feasibility studies and development projects for domestic and foreign countries. e.g. Mongolia.