Introduction

Oil shale (OS) is a sedimentary rock containing organic matter rich in

hydrogen, known as kerogen. Oil shale’s of different deposits differ by, for
example, genesis, composition, calorific value and oil yield. There is
currently no comprehensive overview of oil shale resources and their
distribution around the world. Few overarching geological studies have been
performed, and there are difficulties with the classification of solid
combustible resources. According to the data of the 27th International
Geological Congress, the world oil shale resources in 1984 were
approximately 11.5 trillion tonnes.

Oil shale’s are widely distributed around the world – more than 600 deposits
are known, with resources of the associated shale oil totaling almost 500
billion tonnes, or approximately 3.2 trillion barrels. Oil shale also contains a
material rich in mineral matter: both marine and terrestrial oil shale’s have
been found.

The oil shale industry started in Scotland where, in 1694, oil was produced
by heating Shropshire oil shale. The direct combustion of oil shale to
produce hot water, steam, and, finally, electricity has developed in
accordance with the general trends in solid fuel combustion technology. At
the beginning of the 19th century, industrialized countries became more
interested in obtaining oil and gas from coal pyrolysis (the decomposition or
transformation of the kerogen organic matter into hydrocarbons by heat).

Oil shale pyrolysis was developed in France, where in 1832, a method for
producing lighting oil was realized. However, the plants were later closed
because of the rapid development of the crude oil industry. Data from 1860
indicate that oil shale from the Volga basin in Russia was industrially mined
and used as fuel. During the 19th century oil shale thermal processing
factories also operated in Australia, the United States, Brazil, Germany, and
Scotland. During the 20th century oil shale processing factories were built in
several countries, including China and Israel. However, later most of them
were closed. In Estonia and Germany oil shale has been used also in cement
production both as a fuel and as a constituent of the clinkers.
Today, considerable quantities of oil shale are mined in Estonia, Russia,
China, Brazil, Australia, and Germany. Estonia's oil shale industry is
currently the most developed in the world.

Oil shale can be used for several purposes: to obtain heat by direct
combustion (for example, in the generation of electricity); to produce shale
oil (SO); and as a source of other valuable chemicals. For example, from 1
tonne of Estonian oil shale it is possible to produce 850kWh of electricity or
125kg of shale oil (39 800 kJ/kg) and 35 m³ of retort gas (46 800kJ/m³)
(Veiderma, pers.comm.). The efficiency of new FBC (fluidised bed
combustion) boilers is on the same level as has been reached in the best
condensation atmospheric pressure power plants based on the combustion of
coal – 35-36% (net).

Oil shale can be exploited either by surface processing techniques or by in-

situ technologies (Figure 1).

Surface processing basically includes three steps:

(1) mining of the oil shale and ore preparation.

(2) thermal processing or retorting.

(3) processing of the shale oil to obtain a refinery feedstock and value-
added by-products. Mining of the OS also results in important investments
in waste disposal and site reclamation.

By in-situ techniques, the OS is not, or only partly, mined and the pyrolysis
is conducted underground. The pyrolysis products are pumped to the surface
and upgraded into fuel chemical byproducts. Depending on the underground
heating process and the type of kerogen, the obtained oil has to be stabilised
and upgraded before further refinement or can be directly used as a refinery
feedstock.
Figure 1 Overview of the processes involved in OS exploitation and of the main products and
residues

The aim of this study is to review the extraction and process methodologies
of shale oil and its impact to environment, global energy and economy in
near future. The production of shale oil has lowered the current crude oil
price recently. The global energy market will start to shift from
petroleum/crude oil to shale oil as the impeding shortage of petroleum
reserve in the coming decades. The study shows that the impact to
environment due to extract and process of shale oil can be contained. Shale
oil will have great impact to global energy and economy. It would
contribute about 6% of total energy demand by 2035 benefiting the
large net oil importers with forecasted GDP growth of 2 to 7%. On the
other hand, major current oil exporters would have a reduction of their trade
balances by roughly 4 to 10% by 2035.