Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 63, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 March 1919 — PLAN TO MAKE OIL FROM SHALE [ARTICLE]

PLAN TO MAKE OIL FROM SHALE

Great Industry May Be Born as Result of Experiments Being Made. DEPOSITS IN THREE STATES Decrease of Supply of Petroleum and Products and Ever Increasing Necessary for Years. Salt Lake City, Utah.—Oil shale must be looked to, probably for years to come, to-supply increasing demands so» and lessened supply of petroleum and Its products. Salt Lake City seems to be the natural center for experimentation and exploitation of an Industry which Is not yet born in this •country, although manufacture of oil from shale has been conducted on a commercial basis in Scotland for 60 years.”? In Colorado, Utah and Nevada, east, west and south of Salt Lake Qty, are shale deposits of unknown magnitude, and of richness surpassing that of shales known elsewhere. Oil shale Is a common and general term for several different geological formations — different in appearance and in gum content. Without attempting any elaborate description, it will be sufficient to say that the Colorado deposit Is found .in dense masses of black rock, often with a considerable fossil content. Some, southern Utah shale appears in broad strata two or three Inches thick, light gray in color, and may be extracted and handled like great planks, while the Nevada deposit (pronounced richest of all) appears In sheets rarely more than half an Inch thick, of. fine, even texture resembling an oil stone -end-dark brown in color. It Is broken, even with the fingers. Different Productive Methods. Chemists, say different methods of reduction will be necessary in the utilization of these various forms of gum-containing rock. A greater part of all experimentation by competent ’ persons In the United States has occurred In the chemical laboratory of the University of Utah, in Salt Lake City. Here Dr. W. D. Bonner, consulting chemist to the bureau of mines, department of the Interior, in charge of laboratory investigation, Is the authority. Dr. Quinn Is his assistant. A fact which has been widely herald- - ed, but which Is pronounced of no importance by the chemists, is that a small shale reduction plant was built at the university about a year ago. It Is not used now, nor did its use ever have any special significance. To be even more plain, the fact of this small retort having been built at the university was seized upon by some promoters of “shale oil” companies and considerable advertising matter has been circulated regarding an “industry” wMeh does not exist. The proper method of reduction (destructive distillation is the chemical term) of oil shales of the United States has not been determined. Refining of the resultant crudes has not been satisfactorily accomplished. Chemists anticipate no difficulty in perfecting these processes—but it has not yet been dorie. The product of oil shale after “destructive distillation" arid retorting is

a heavy, thick, dark oil, resembling in many ways the petroleum known as fuel oil; and it may be used as such. These crude oils vary, as may be supposed, according to the shales from which they are produced. They smell more like asphalt than petroleum. An immense amount of gas is liberated by' the distillation. Some enthusiasts believe this gas will be a sufficient fuel supply for the retort furnaces, but In this the chemists do not agree. The Idea savors too much of perpetual mo-tiem-ImpurtauL by-products are paraffln and ammonium sulphate. It is also considered probable some form of commercial fertilizer will be obtained. • Several bona fide experimental shale reduction plants are now being -constructed in the tnree states mentioned. Chemists of the bureau of mines | are agreed that the greatest hindrance that could occur to the legitimate development of a shale oil industry in the United States would be any extensive “wildcatting”; that Is, selling of stock In imaginative shale oil plants, or even in plants to be erected by uninformed persons and which may be held out to be practical commercial ventures. A shale oil plant is an experiment In this country at the present time, nothing more. In order to encourage legitimate and practical experimentation, an effort will be made to induce congress to make an appropriation to assist responsible companies. Let the fact be clearly stated that manufacture of oil from shale must be, so far as is now known, one of the greatest industries in years to come. Plants which are understood to be experimental are perfectly legitimate now. They are good businesses. But evidences of wildcatting are abundant, and they will tend to discredit the entire business and cause it to be looked upon for a long time, perhaps, as a gamble, just as wildcat mines and oil wells - have caused many people with money to' invest to view ail such propositions with suspicion.