Standard Oil Company (indiana)

Gulf Oil Corporation

Colin G Grieves

Dean G Venardos

An oil shale process is provided to retort oil shale and purify oil shale retort water. In the process, raw oil shale is retorted in an in situ underground retort or in an above ground retort to liberate shale oil, light hydrocarbon gases and oil shale retort water. The retort water is separated from the shale oil and gases in a sump or in a fractionator or quench tower followed by an API oil/water separator. After the retort water is separated from the shale oil, the retort water is steam stripped, carbon adsorbed and biologically treated, preferably by granular carbon adsorbers followed by activated sludge treatment or by activated sludge containing powdered activated carbon. The retort water can be granularly filtered before being steam stripped. The purified retort water can be used in various other oil shale processes, such as dedusting, scrubbing, spent shale moisturing, backfilling, in situ feed gas injection and pulsed combustion.

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Oswego, IL, United States of America

Colin G Grieves