[tt] New Composite-Ceramic High-Temperature Heater Cable Could Halve the Cost of Oil Shale Recovery

[Brian Atkins]

http://www.greencarcongress.com/2009/04/new-compositeceramic-hightemperature-heater-cable-could-halve-the-cost-of-oil-shale-recovery.html

In a recently completed project sponsored by the US Department of Energy (DOE) 
through the Office of Fossil Energy’s Oil and Natural Gas Program, Composite 
Technology Development (CTD) Inc. successfully demonstrated the application of a 
ceramic-composite insulated heater cable for oil shale recovery deep underground.

CTD researchers conducted 5,000 hours of continuous testing of its NANUQ ceramic 
composite cable at temperatures ranging between 760 to 850 degrees Celsius. 
During the tests, the cable overcame many of the limitations of existing cables, 
which include conductor instability, moisture-induced degradation, and operating 
temperatures too limited to recover shale oil underground. The project was 
managed by DOE’s National Energy Technology Laboratory.

Oil shale contains an organic precursor to oil called kerogen. Kerogen cannot be 
pumped from a reservoir like oil; the oil shale rock must be heated to separate 
the liquid. Once the liquid is collected, it can be upgraded to synthetic crude 
oil for shipment and refining in the nation’s existing petroleum infrastructure.

CTD’s successful test of its heater cable holds promise for heating the shale 
oil in situ, down to a depth of 5,000 feet, thus separating the kerogen without 
having to go through the expensive process of mining the oil shale rock. If 
future underground tests of the cable prove successful, operators should be able 
to extract a petroleum-like liquid that is fluid enough to be pumped to the surface.

By eliminating the mining and a portion of the large-scale processing associated 
with oil shale recovery, CTD’s advanced cable system is estimated to cut 
recovery costs in half while addressing environmental issues on the surface.

The United States holds about two thirds of the world’s estimated reserves of 
3.7 trillion barrels of oil shale, an amount thought to be 40% larger than 
remaining supplies of petroleum worldwide. Scientists believe that the Green 
River shale formation alone, in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming, has as much as 1.1 
trillion barrels of oil equivalent.

CTD is a novel materials company that specializes in elastic memory composites 
and foams, linerless composite tanks, high-temperature heaters and insulation, 
and testing.

-- 
Brian Atkins
Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence
http://www.singinst.org/