The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Nov. 03, 1987
Filed:
Jun. 30, 1986
Robert H Friedman, Houston, TX (US);
Texaco Inc., White Plains, NY (US);
Abstract
Hydrocarbons may be recovered from subterranean oil shale deposits by penetrating the deposit with a well, applying hydraulic and/or explosive fracturing to the portion of the formation adjacent the well to form a zone of rubberized and/or fractured oil shale material and then introducing it to the treated portion of the formation a hydrogen doner solvent, preferably tetralin, in a sufficient volume to essentially fill all of the void spaces in the formation within the rubberized and fractured portion of the formation, and then applying hydrogen to the well and maintaining the hydrogen at a pressure range of from 50 to 500 and preferably from 250 to 350 pounds per square inch for a period of time in the range of from 50 to 600 and preferably 250 to 350 days, which causes a disintegration of the oil shale minerals. After this first stage pretreatment, the hydrogen is removed and a free-oxygen containing gas such as air is introduced into the pretreated portion of the oil shale deposit which removes organic fragments from the polymeric kerogen component of the oil shale by oxidative scission. A suitable solvent for the organic fragments is also present with the free oxygen containing gas. Fluids are recovered from the formation, since fluids including solvent and the organic fractions, which are separated by sublimation with the solvent being recycled.