MOUNTAINS OF OIL.

Taranaki Daily News, 25 September 1918, Page 7

MOUNTAINS OF OIL.

TEE SHALE CLIFFS OF COLORADO. Mr W. F. Wilcox, in 'the Scientific American, writes about the almost unlimited stores of petroleum and by-pro-ducts stored up in the shales which rise ;to great heights in cliffs and mountains —literally mountains of oil—in Colorado. These shale beds have always been there; men have passed by them day after day for years without noticing anything unusual about them. It is even known that these shales would burn. It is told how a couple of pioneers, in the early days, built themselves a nice log house, with fireplace and chimney, constructed from some very fine looking stones of" just such shape as naturally adapt themselves for such work. Then they moved in and started a fire; and presently the chimney caught fire and literally 'burned down, together with the house."

*W. although men generally knew that these rocks were inflammable, they did not appreciate or realise the valuable stores locked in them. The U.S. Geological Servey, however, made investigations in 1915, and reported* that in Colorado alone there is sufficient shale, in beds three feet or more thick and capable of yielding more oil than tire average shale now mined in Scotland, to net about 20,000,000,000 barrels of crude oil from which 2,000,000,000 barrels of gasoline may be extracted. In Utah there is probably an equal amount of shale just as rich. Moreover, one by-product will be about 300,000,000 tons of ammonium sulphate, a compound especially valuable as a fertiliser: This is enough to enrich all the farms of 'the Western country. Another expert to make an estimate of the probable extent of the Colorado oil shale.is connected with- the Colorado State Geological Survey. He finds in north-western' Colorado alone over I£oo square miles'of teritory in which there are commercially workable oil shale beds four feet or more in thickness. These average over 20 feet in aggregate thickness, and Are capable of' yielding at least 30 gallons of oil per ton of shale. In one acre of this area there would be 37,500 barrels of oil. In each square mile there would be 24,000,000 barrels. This is over ten times as much as was originally contained in each square mile of the proven oil territory of the United States, and 17 times as much per square mile as now remains in the proven fields. If we consider the whole area of 1500 square miles of oil shale in Colorado, we have an oil content, ten times as great as the aggregate, production of the country Bince the discovery of oil in 1559. This is surely good news to a world so much in "need of coal oil, gasoline and kindred products at a time when possible 'shortage threatens. Oil shales have been profitably mined in Scotland' for years. ! Yet Scottish shales are much inferior to t'he.Colorado ones. All mining in Scotland is far underground, while the Colorado shales are on the surface, with little if any overburden, the work of mining being carried on in open cuts. The Scottish shales must be hoisted to the treating plants, whereas the Colorado shales lie in the mountains, and can be dropped by gravitation to the treating plants. Scottish shales are in irrejgular beds, which thicken and thin out, and faulted and thrown into folds, greatly increasing the cost of mining. The Colorado shale beds are constant and uniform in thickness, lie in horizontal position, and are neither folded nor faulted. Some of the Scottish shale beds dip at angles of 30 to 00 degress. In most places the Colorado shale can be mined with a steam shovel.

Colorado's great oil product will be mined by the quarry system, the great veins, running up to 50 feet in thickness, affording material for many years ot work. Oil shale is sedimentary clay solidified into rock saturated with oil. The oil is secured from this "half-done coal" by destructive distillation, These shales during distillation give off a sufficient amount of gas to make the process continuous, reducing the eost of fuel to a negligible item. Innumerable by-product's are obtained from the shales. The, Scottish shales yield, among other things, gasoline, motor spirits, illuminating oil, lubricating oil, gas oil, cleaning oil, jute oil, paraffin, coke, still grease, and sulphate of ammonia. Tests by experts appear to show that the Colorado shales will yield a higher percentage of gasoline, motor spirits, and kerosene, and an equal per' centage of gas oil and lubricating oils. Phenol"! are present in commercial quantity, and from these may te got many products not obtained from the Scottish shale.

Scientists are working with the shales and daily are discovering new by-pro-ducts, one of which is recently reported to have been a high explosive. ' It is stated there are 200 known by-products of these oil shales, among which are dyes, paint base, ichthyol. cresol, naphtha, benzine, gasoline, kerosene, lubricating oils, rubber substitute, ammonium sulphate, talcum powder, commercial perfumes, axle grease, illuminating gas, and paraffin.

Another important feature of the foy& products is that shale oil, whether tisect' alone or blended, excels all others as a' :> flotation oil n treating minerals. Under these conditions it is apparent that stf use for shale oil has already been found,!: which will release a large amount of pef trolemn, either "crude or in the form of' distillate for other purposes to which it' is better adapted. The oil from the western Colorado shales has excellent frothing and collecting properties, and ;: appears to have a great future in flotation uusinoss on account of the vag riety of ores which work well with it. I Of all 'he tills used in flotation plantl in the United States in 1910, the "fraef tions" of petroleum, meaning the several grades nf crudo oils residuum, formed by' far the great"!- part, (lie monthly total of these being in excess of 2,00b,0001b| ; or approximately 250,000 gallons. This* indicates the great demand for these oils,! and establishes the fact 'W if shale oil: can be utilised to replace them, mlicf will have been accomplished to cons"fvS" the supply of petroleum. This will be especially true if the work can be better done by the shale oil than by its cousin. The Scottish shales as worked average 30 gallons of oil per ton. Vast quantities of Colorado shales in benches 6 to 10 feet thick will average over 50 gal* lons per ton. Laboratory tests in Denver during the recent days establish the fact that one ton of shale rock will yield, under proper methods of recovery about two barrels (84 gallons) of crude oil. Government tests taken quite promiscuously show a yield of from 10 to 68 gallons'of oil to the ton, While private practical tests gave a yield as high as 125 gallons tr. the tbn, along with a yield of from 05 to '75 per cent, ammonium sulphate. An eminent New York consulting and analytical cli«ml«t '•-■• separated the grades r,£-'iih in his tcs(=! i.ml found jw n if.. . • <!,,..„ v .- t , , v , (l .-, ( , (! L , a ]] o , l? "vf .fan..tup, ."J:l .gallons o£ kerosene,

171b of wax, ana 43.2 gallons of fuel oil, ' together with 36.431b of ammonia aulphate in crystalline form. However, lie recovered only '53 gallons of crude oil from the rock that he med in distillation, and he was frank to admit that perhaps liu figures were too low.