Shell Internationale Research Maatschappij, B.v.

Heinz Voetter

Richard C Darton

Rajamani Krishna

Hubrecht C Van Meurs

Pieter J Schuurman

Ian Poll

Franciscus J Konings

Container suitable for preheating, retorting and cooling of shale under pressure comprising a vessel (2) and a primary stiffener system comprising side stiffeners (16, 17), a top stiffener (20) and a stiffener connecting system (21), wherein the primary stiffener system (11) prevents excess bending of the walls (3, 4, 7, 8) of the vessel (2), and wherein, when heated, the stiffener connecting system (21) forces the primary stiffener system (11) to give way so as to allow some expansion of the walls of the vessel (2).

Container

Process and apparatus for the combustion of coke present on solid particles from which hydrocarbons have been substantially removed by heating, and for the production of recoverable heat from hydrocarbon-bearing solid particles, in a series of at least two combustion stages. The process comprises the followng steps:

Process for the combustion of coke present on solid particles and for

Hydrocarbons are extracted from a hydrocarbon-bearing substrate, e.g. shale oil, bituminous coal, tar sand, in the substantial absence of oxygen at temperatures above 400.degree. C., by passing substrate particles through a plurality of successive stages in which the substrate is mixed with a solid heat-bearing medium, the mixture being maintained in a fluidized-bed condition, and the liberated hydrocarbons being removed by passage of an inert stripping gas in cross-current flow with respect to the passage of the substrate particles. The average cross-sectional area of at least one or more of the stages subsequent to the first one is preferably smaller than the average cross-sectional area of one or more of the preceding stages. An apparatus for carrying out the process is described.

Process for the extraction of hydrocarbons from a hydrocarbon-bearing

Hydrocarbon-bearing substrate particles are pre-heated by heating the same with a solid heat-bearing medium by indirect counter-current flow using a series of heat transfer loops each containing a circulating heat transfer medium chosen such that the whole series permits a staged rise in temperature of the substrate particles and a staged drop in temperature of the solid heat-bearing medium. Preferably the heat transfer fluid in the loops circulates between the substrate and the hot spent substrate by means of the so-called thermosyphon effect. An apparatus for carrying out the method is described.

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The Hague, Netherlands

Heinz Voetter