Shale Oil Value Enhancement Research

Raw kerogen oil is rich in heteroatom-containing compounds. Heteroatoms, N, S & O, are undesirable as components of a refinery feedstock, but are the basis for product value in agrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, surfactants, solvents, polymers, and a host of industrial materials. An economically viable, technologically feasible process scheme was developed in this research that promises to enhance the economics of oil shale development, both in the US and elsewhere in the world, in particular Estonia. Products will compete in existing markets for products now manufactured by costly synthesis routes. A premium petroleum refinery feedstock is also produced. The technology is now ready for pilot plant engineering studies and is likely to play an important role in developing a US oil shale industry

Shale Oil Value Enhancement Research. Quarterly Report, June 1 - August 31, 1993

All tasks are on schedule, or ahead of schedule. Particular progress has been made in identifying industrial entities, commodities and specialty products of target interest for shale oil-derived products. There is clearly a major emphasis worldwide on new chemicals and shale oil-derived structures are similar to many of these chemicals of interest. Details of the mathematical modeling, programming and algorithm development have progressed with excellent results. Considerable effort will be required to interface these with the output of the gc/ms but we are receiving excellent support from Hewlett Packard in this regard. The ability to concentrate particularly valuable compounds with reasonable projected cost processes continues to show promise. In one system, a single-stage extraction recovered 87% of the total nitrogen in an extract representing only 33% of the fraction. Special attention is being paid to both nitrogen types and oxygen types. The raffinates from the polar solvent extractions will be evaluated for their oil and wax contents. All of the start-up infrastructure is now in place. Subcontracts have been initiated and equipment and supplies have been procured. We are now planning a major push to reach some general findings by early in 1994. From these findings, we will be prepared to focus on experimental verification of process design needed for the second program phase

Shale Oil Value Enhancement Research. Quarterly Report, March 1 - May 31, 1996

The overall objective is to develop a new technology for manufacturing valuable marketable products from shale oil. Phase I objectives are to identify desirable components in shale oil, develop separations techniques for those components, identify market needs and to identify plausible products manufacturable from raw shale oil to meet those needs. The quarter`s efforts were concentrated on (a) compound type analysis of shale oil and its extraction products, (b) thermal hydrodealkylation of the >290{degrees}C polar fraction, (c) reaction of pyridinic type compounds to form secondary products, (d) updating SPX economic analysis, and (e) preparation of a business plan for presentation before the Dawnbreaker Commercial Assistance Program. The subcontract on the thermal hydrodealkylation work at the University of Utah ended at May 3 1, 1996. We have obtained valuable information from the batch experiments. The progress on the flow reactor proved somewhat limited because of the restriction of the existing reactor configuration. The liaison with potential industrial partners is continuing. An additional company has reached agreement to proceed with a geochemical testing of shale oil derived products

Shale Oil Value Enhancement Research. Quarterly Report, September 1 - November 30, 1995

Activities during this quarter focused on compound type analysis of shale oil extraction products and improvement of the continuous extraction process. We have installed a walk-in fume hood to improve the ventilation of our working environment while handling of larger amounts of shale oil and volatile solvents in our Phase-II(a) work. The fume hood accommodates the distillation column, rotary evaporator, and the CLLX column. During the construction period, experimental work was carried on at a smaller scale. Modifications to the thermal hydrodealkylation process unit at the University of Utah have been completed. The higher boiling polar fraction of shale oil was fed and the preliminary ran showed promising results. The search for potential industrial partners is continuing. During this period, the prijcipal investigator has visited six industrial companies that are candidates for partner/buyer relationship. Currently, we are pursuing confidentiality agreements with four of them. It is the intent to focus our research toward addressing the objectives of those companies who show sufficient interest in the shale oil value enhancement project to enter the next level of discussions

Selection Signatures in Worldwide Sheep Populations

The diversity of populations in domestic species offers great opportunities to study genome response to selection. The recently published Sheep HapMap dataset is a great example of characterization of the world wide genetic diversity in sheep. In this study, we re-analyzed the Sheep HapMap dataset to identify selection signatures in worldwide sheep populations. Compared to previous analyses, we made use of statistical methods that (i) take account of the hierarchical structure of sheep populations, (ii) make use of linkage disequilibrium information and (iii) focus specifically on either recent or older selection signatures. We show that this allows pinpointing several new selection signatures in the sheep genome and distinguishing those related to modern breeding objectives and to earlier post-domestication constraints. The newly identified regions, together with the ones previously identified, reveal the extensive genome response to selection on morphology, color and adaptation to new environments

Genetic testing for TMEM154 mutations associated with lentivirus susceptibility in sheep

Stefan Hiendleder is a member of the International Sheep Genomics ConsortiumIn sheep, small ruminant lentiviruses cause an incurable, progressive, lymphoproliferative disease that affects millions of animals worldwide. Known as ovine progressive pneumonia virus (OPPV) in the U.S., and Visna/Maedi virus (VMV) elsewhere, these viruses reduce an animal’s health, productivity, and lifespan. Genetic variation in the ovine transmembrane protein 154 gene (TMEM154) has been previously associated with OPPV infection in U.S. sheep. Sheep with the ancestral TMEM154 haplotype encoding glutamate (E) at position 35, and either form of an N70I variant, were highly-susceptible compared to sheep homozygous for the K35 missense mutation. Our current overall aim was to characterize TMEM154 in sheep from around the world to develop an efficient genetic test for reduced susceptibility. The average frequency of TMEM154 E35 among 74 breeds was 0.51 and indicated that highly-susceptible alleles were present in most breeds around the world. Analysis of whole genome sequences from an international panel of 75 sheep revealed more than 1,300 previously unreported polymorphisms in a 62 kb region containing TMEM154 and confirmed that the most susceptible haplotypes were distributed worldwide. Novel missense mutations were discovered in the signal peptide (A13V) and the extracellular domains (E31Q, I74F, and I102T) of TMEM154. A matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization–time-of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) assay was developed to detect these and six previously reported missense and two deletion mutations in TMEM154. In blinded trials, the call rate for the eight most common coding polymorphisms was 99.4% for 499 sheep tested and 96.0% of the animals were assigned paired TMEM154 haplotypes (i.e., diplotypes). The widespread distribution of highly-susceptible TMEM154 alleles suggests that genetic testing and selection may improve the health and productivity of infected flocks.Michael P. Heaton, Theodore S. Kalbfleisch, Dustin T. Petrik, Barry Simpson, James W. Kijas, Michael L. Clawson, Carol G. Chitko-McKown, Gregory P. Harhay, Kreg A. Leymaster, the International Sheep Genomics Consortiu

Development of Utah tar sands--a status report

reportThe hydrocarbon resource locked in Utah's tar sands has been estimated to be in excess of 25 billion barrels. Tar sands, known variously as oil sands, bituminous sandstone, or oil-impregnated sandstone, cannot be recovered by conventional primary or secondary petroleum recovery techniques because of the high viscosity of the bitumen. Viscosities of 101 to 10'1 poise are common. Yet, despite its inaccessibility and heavy, asphaltic appearance, tar sand bitumen is convertible in high yields into valuable liquid and gaseous fuels. The technology is currently being developed at the University of Utah and other research laboratories which will afford economical recovery, processing and utilization of Utah's tar sands. This article is an overview of the current state of research and development of this important natural resource

Economic evaluation of oil shale and tar sands resources located in the state of Utah: Phase 1

reportManaging public lands for maximum social benefit is becoming an increasingly complex task. The growing need for domestically produced mineral raw materials and energy, and the conflicting interests over the use of public lands, have added new dimensions to the management issues. This report covers the first phase of a longterm program initiated by the Division of State Lands to improve their capability to evaluate the tar sand and oil shale resources in Utah. The scope of this phase of the study was limited to the examination and analysis of existing information and to the development models for data processing and resource evaluation. The study has been effective in identifying problem areas and demonstrating the potential value of the proposed systems for the management of state lands. The more important findings and conclusions are summarized below

Upgrading of bitumen by hydropyrolysis -- A process for low coke and high syncrude yields

BookThe Department of Fuels Engineering at the University of Utah has been conducting research on the chemistry and engineering of hydropyrolysis for several years. It was previously observed (Ramakrishnan, 1978; Shabtai et al., 1979) that under certain reaction conditions hydrocarbon species undergo cracking reactions with no evidence of products possessing molecular weights greater than those of the starting material. In work involving heavy feedstocks with significant (>10%) carbon residue properties, and using a coiled tube reactor, it was further observed (Bunger, 1979; Bunger et al., 1978,1981) that conversion to gaseous and liquid products with yields greater than 99% was possible. The general conditions that result in these yields are 450-600°C, 1200-2000 psig H2, and 1-30 sec residence times. The prospect of developing a noncataly tic process for conversion of heavy oils and bitumens, which also may contain a high content of metals, was very attractive

Shale oil value enhancement research - Quarterly report: April 1 - June 30, 1995

reportA review of the marketing, compositional analysis, and process data has pointed to a simplification of the process scheme envisaged for the phase-II continuous process work. This translates into a higher probability of success, both for the R&D and the likelihood of securing an industrial partner for future commercialization.. The phase-II PDU construction work is well-along and will be completed in the next quarter. The high efficiency distillation unit is complete and the liquid-liquid extraction unit is operable at ambient temperature and pressure conditions. In the last quarter, JWBA experienced a personnel change. Dr. Prasad Devineni who was handling most of the information gathering including market research took a job with a chemical marketing consulting firm. In his place we hired Dr. Chung-Hsi (Jesse) Tsai who has extensive experience in process development. His services will greatly enhance the productivity in phase-II. We also commissioned the consulting services of Dr. Geoff Dolbear to assist in the industrial liaison. We also employed two chemistry students for work over the summer and possibly into the school year. The current team is well-suited for the forthcoming tasks of running the PDlPs and preparing samples for introduction to potential buyers and partners