The Shell ''in situ'' conversion process (Shell ICP) is an ''

in situ ''In situ'' (; often not italicized in English) is a Latin phrase that translates literally to "on site" or "in position." It can mean "locally", "on site", "on the premises", or "in place" to describe where an event takes place and is used in ...

shale oil extraction Shale oil extraction is an industrial process for unconventional oil production. This process converts kerogen in oil shale into shale oil by pyrolysis, hydrogenation, or thermal dissolution. The resultant shale oil is used as fuel oil or up ...

technology to convert

kerogen Kerogen is solid, insoluble organic matter in sedimentary rocks. Comprising an estimated 1016 tons of carbon, it is the most abundant source of organic compounds on earth, exceeding the total organic content of living matter 10,000-fold. It ...

oil shale Oil shale is an organic-rich fine-grained sedimentary rock containing kerogen (a solid mixture of organic chemical compounds) from which liquid hydrocarbons can be produced. In addition to kerogen, general composition of oil shales constitut ...

shale oil Shale oil is an unconventional oil produced from oil shale rock fragments by pyrolysis, hydrogenation, or thermal dissolution. These processes convert the organic matter within the rock (kerogen) into synthetic oil and gas. The resulting oil c ...

. It is developed by the

Shell Oil Company Shell USA, Inc. (formerly Shell Oil Company, Inc.) is the United States-based wholly owned subsidiary of Shell plc, a UK-based transnational corporation " oil major" which is amongst the largest oil companies in the world. Approximately 18,0 ...

History

Shell's ''in situ'' conversion process has been under development since the early 1980s. In 1997, the first small scale test was conducted on the Mahogany property test site, located west of

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

on Colorado's Western Slope in the Piceance Creek Basin. Since 2000, additional research and development activities have carried on as a part of the Mahogany Research Project. The oil shale heating at Mahogany started early 2004. From this test site, Shell has recovered of shale oil.

Process

The process heats sections of the vast oil shale field ''in situ'', releasing the shale oil and

oil shale gas Oil shale gas (also: retort gas or retorting gas) is a synthetic non-condensable gas mixture (syngas) produced by oil shale thermal processing (pyrolysis). Although often referred to as shale gas, it differs from the natural gas produced from shale ...

from the rock so that it can be pumped to the surface and made into fuel. In this process, a freeze wall is first to be constructed to isolate the processing area from surrounding groundwater. To maximize the functionality of the freeze walls, adjacent working zones will be developed in succession. wells, eight feet apart, are drilled and filled with a circulating super-chilled liquid to cool the ground to . Water is then removed from the working zone. Heating and recovery wells are drilled at intervals within the working zone. Electrical

heating element A heating element converts electrical energy into heat through the process of Joule heating. Electric current through the element encounters resistance, resulting in heating of the element. Unlike the Peltier effect, this process is indepen ...

s are lowered into the heating wells and used to heat oil shale to between and over a period of approximately four years.

Kerogen Kerogen is solid, insoluble organic matter in sedimentary rocks. Comprising an estimated 1016 tons of carbon, it is the most abundant source of organic compounds on earth, exceeding the total organic content of living matter 10,000-fold. It ...

in oil shale is slowly converted into shale oil and gases, which then flow to the surface through recovery wells.

Energy consumption

A RAND study in 2005 estimated that production of of oil (5.4 million tons/year) would theoretically require a dedicated power generating capacity of 1.2 gigawatts (10 billion kWh/year), assuming deposit richness of per ton, with 100% pyrolysis efficiency, and 100% extraction of pyrolysis products. If this amount of electricity were to be generated by a coal-fired power plant, it would consume five million ton of coal annually (about 2.2 million

toe Toes are the digits (fingers) of the foot of a tetrapod. Animal species such as cats that walk on their toes are described as being ''digitigrade''. Humans, and other animals that walk on the soles of their feet, are described as being ''plan ...

). In 2006, Shell estimated that over the project life cycle, for every unit of energy consumed, three to four units would be produced. Such an "

energy returned on energy invested In energy economics and ecological energetics, energy return on investment (EROI), also sometimes called energy returned on energy invested (ERoEI), is the ratio of the amount of usable energy (the ''exergy'') delivered from a particular energy re ...

" would be significantly better than that achieved in the Mahogany trials. For the 1996 trial, Shell applied 440,000 kWh (which would require about 96 toe energy input in a coal-fired plant), to generate of oil (37 toe output).

Environmental impacts

Shell's underground conversion process requires significant development on the surface. The separation between drilled wells is less than five meters and wells must be connected by electrical wiring and by piping to storage and processing facilities. Shell estimates that the footprint of extraction operations would be similar to that for conventional oil and gas drilling. However, the dimensions of Shell's 2005 trial indicate that a much larger footprint is required. Production of 50,000 bbl/day would require that land be developed at a rate on the order of per year. Extensive water use and the risk of

groundwater pollution Groundwater pollution (also called groundwater contamination) occurs when pollutants are released to the ground and make their way into groundwater. This type of water pollution can also occur naturally due to the presence of a minor and unwante ...

are the technology's greatest challenges.

Current implementations

In 2006, Shell received a Bureau of Land Management lease to pursue a large demonstration with a capacity of ; Shell has since dropped those plans and is planning a test based on ICP that would produce a total of minimum , together with

nahcolite Nahcolite is a soft, colourless or white carbonate mineral with the composition of sodium bicarbonate ( Na H C O3) also called thermokalite. It crystallizes in the monoclinic system. Nahcolite was first described in 1928 for an occurrence in ...

, over a seven-year period. In Israel, IEI, a subsidiary of

IDT Corp. IDT Corporation (originally standing for International Discount Telecommunications) is a multinational provider of cloud communications, point of sale systems, unified communications, and financial services for businesses and consumers, headqu ...

is planning a shale pilot based on ICP technology. The project would produce a total of 1,500 barrels. However, IEI has also announced that any subsequent projects would not use ICP technology, but would instead utilize horizontal wells and hot gas heating methods. In Jordan, Shell subsidiary JOSCO plans to use ICP technology to achieve commercial production by the "late 2020s." In October, 2011, it was reported that JOSCO had drilled more than 100 test holes over the prior two years, apparently for the sake of testing shale samples. The Mahogany Oil Shale Project has been abandoned by Shell in 2013 due to unfavorable project economics Denver Post. Available in: Page visited on 30 May 2015.

References

External links

Mahogany Research Project
{{shell oil Oil shale technology Shell plc 1997 introductions