MCB 410

PETROLEUM MICROBIOLOGY
LECTURE NOTE 4
ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS OF OIL
SHALE OXIDATION

BY:
DR. M.A. ADEFISOYE
Environmental aspects of oil
shale oxidation
ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS OF OIL SHALE OXIDATION

• Oil shale is a type of fine grained sedimentary rock which

contains up to 50% organic matter and bituminous matter.
•
• Most oil and gas starts life as microscopic plants and animals
that live in the ocean.

• When the plankton dies it rains down on sea bed to form an

organic mush

• If there are any animals on the sea bed these will feed on the
organic particles

• With little or no oxygen in the water animals cannot survive and

the organic mush accumulates

• Where sediment contains more than 5% organic matter, it

eventually forms a rock known as a Black Shale.
 • As Black Shale is buried, it is heated.

Organic matter is first changed by

the increase in temperature into
kerogen, which is a solid form of
hydrocarbon.
Around 90oC, it is changed into a
liquid state, which we call oil.

Around 150oC, it is changed into

gas.

A rock that has produced oil and gas in this way is known as a
Source Rock
• Shale oil consists of hydrocarbons being trapped in the pores of the source
rock.
 The oil itself is still in a premature status, called kerogen.
• Once extracted from the ground, the rock can either
be used directly as fuel for a power plant,

• or be processed to produce shale oil and other

chemicals and materials.

• Destructive distillation of the oil shale

combustible gas + a little quantity of kerogen oil
(highly-flammable).

• The combustible gases and oil are insoluble in all

organic solvents.

• Early uses traced back more than 100 years.

10 Trillion Barrels of Shale Oil Worldwide

Russia
Canada Estonia

France Italy
United States Israel China
Morocco Jordan
Egypt

Zaire

Brazil

Australia

Countries With Oil Shale Deposits

• It is widely distributed around the world
 some 600 deposits are known, these deposits are little
exploited.

 competition from gas and liquid oil, environmental

considerations and other factors make exploitation of oil shales
relatively unattractive.

• Estonia is the only country with a large share of shale oil on

its energy balance. Oil Shales share in power production in
Estonia is over 95%
Eesti Power Plant 1615 MW

Black Shale

Worlds biggest oil shale power plant is Eesti PP

Estonia
 Types of Oil Shale
• Oil shales are divided into three major groups:
.
Types of Oil Shale
•Oil shales are divided into three major groups:

 Terrestrial Oil Shale:

Oil Shale with high lipid content and organic
matter like waxy cuticles, resin spores and stems of
vascular terrestrial plants are called terrestrial oil
shale.
This category is mainly found in bogs and swamps.

 Lacustrine Oil Shale:

 This kind of oil shale is also rich in lipid content.
 But they are formed from algae which lived in fresh
water, brackish and saline lakes.

 Marine Oil Shale:

 The lipid content of this kind of oil shale came from
acritarchs, marine dinoflagellates and other marine
algae.
Oil Shale mining and processing
•Depending on depth, thickness, richness, and
accessibility, Oil shale is usually mined using,
i. Surface mining (room and pillar method) and
 Oil Shale mining and processing

ROCK
KEROGEN

PYROLYSIS

Pyrolysis: a thermochemical decomposition of organic

material at elevated temperatures in the absence of oxygen (or
any halogen). UPGRADE

It involves the simultaneous change of chemical composition

and physical phase, and is irreversible.
Oil Shale mining and processing
•Depending on depth, thickness, richness, and accessibility,
Oil shale is usually mined using,
ii. Underground mining or heated in-situ (i.e., in the
ground).
•Deeper and thicker beds will likely be produced in-situ.
Oil Shale mining and processing

•After mining, the oil fraction is separated from the

mineral fraction by heating.

•This process is called retorting.

•After retorting, the oil is upgraded by further

processing before it is sent to a refinery.

•Used shale is disposed of in surface impoundments,

or to fill previously mined areas.
The two methods of retorting:
.

Resource

Resource
 ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS OF OIL SHALE OXIDATION ON
MICROBIAL ECOLOGY OF SEAS AND SOILS (Contd.)
There are two methods of retorting: surface retorting and in-situ retorting.

• Surface retorting:
This is a very new kind of
technology employed for oil
extraction. It is still being
developed. The process is not used
at a commercial level yet.

•In-situ retorting:
Electric heaters are placed in vertical
holes that are drilled through a part of
oil shale.

The oil shale is heated at a temperature

of 650-700 degree Fahrenheit for a
period of two to three years.

The oil that is produced is collected in

wells placed within the heated area.
Oil Shale mining and processing
The environmental impacts of Oil
Shale mining
The environmental impacts of Oil Shale mining

1. Land Impacts Associated with Oil Shale

The potential impacts on soil and geologic resources
vary somewhat according to the different technologies.
Many of the impacts are common to each technology.

a.) Open-Pit (surface) mining

 Involves significant surface disturbance and can
impact surface-water runoff patterns, subsurface
water quality, flora, and fauna.

 Experience in coal mining and other mining industries

has demonstrated that impacted lands can be very
effectively reclaimed with minimal long-term effect.
 The environmental impacts of Oil Shale mining
1. Land Impacts Associated with Oil Shale

b.) Underground mining

 Involves much less surface disturbance.

 Surface impacts can be limited but will include run-off

and

 Dust emissions from shale transport and storage.

Land Impacts Associated with Oil Shale (contd.)

c.) In-situ
Production may involve limited mining to access the
resource or drilling heater holes and production wells
at very close spacing.

Impacts will be similar to those experienced in oil

and gas drilling operations.

Heater holes and wells will likely require plugging

and abandonment when heating and production
operations cease.
Land Impacts Associated with Oil Shale (contd.)

d.) Other surface impacts

It will occur in association with construction of
surface facilities, including retorting, upgrading,
storage, and transportation.

New pipelines, roads, and utilities, will also have

surface impacts.
Generally, Oil shale operations pose an
impact on soil resources.

How?
 significant concern is increased soil erosion
resulting from ground disturbance.

 Soil erosion by water and wind is common.

 Soil erosion can be increased in areas disturbed

through construction activities.

 The degree of the impact depends on factors such

as
 soil properties,
 slope,
 vegetation,
 weather, and
 distance to surface water.
ii.Oil shale mining badly affects the original
ecosystem diversity:
 Compared to normal soils, spent oil shale soils
are characterized by
 drastic negative impact on indigenous
microbial communities in shale land.
 low numbers of microorganisms, very reduced
numbers of bacteria, actinomycetes, and fungi,

 depressed values of bacterial diversity and

richness, and

 the lowest indices of richness and diversity

indicative of a
 high level of environmental stress, and no
 decomposition of cellulose
 After open pit mining, most of the lands are never
reclaimed.

 Most mine owners and local officials take no interest

to re-establish the original biodiversity.

 Remedy

 Conditioning by weathering, fertilization, and

revegetation does have a partially restorative effect
on the microbial community; the degree of restoration
progressively increasing with increasing length of
time of these environmental conditions.
iii.Also, non-symbiotic nitrogen fixation in surface
soils may be especially sensitive to the presence
of retorted oil shale.
 necessary to assure that sufficient surface soil is
used to cover retorted oil shales to allow
development and functioning of a diverse
vegetation-microbiological community.

iv.These unstable sub-surface mined zones become

highly susceptible to landslides and debris flows.
2. Air Quality Impacts of Oil Shale
2. Air Quality Impacts
i. Oil shale combustion generates harmful atmospheric
emissions.
• Most western oil shale ore is a carbonate-based,
kerogen-bearing marlstone.
• Heating carbonate rock to 450 to 500oC generates not
only kerogen oil and hydrocarbon gases but also a
slate of other gases, including:
 oxides of sulfur and nitrogen,
 carbon dioxide, a major green house gas,
 particulate matter, and
 water vapor.
• The emitted huge quantity of toxic gaseous products
like sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and hydrogen
chloride when inhaled can cause severe respiratory
ailments. 
2. Air Quality Impacts

ii. Oil shale mining also produces dust pollution. 

ii. Fugitive dust and fine particulates may also pose concern.

Remedy

iii.Commercially available stack gas clean-up

technologies, currently in use in electric power
generation and petroleum refining facilities, have
improved over the years and should be effective in
controlling oxides and particulates emissions.
2. Air Quality Impacts (contd.)

iv.Both mining and quarrying process are noisy. Use of

blasting techniques can cause noise pollution and drive
off wildlife.

v.Several inflammable pollutants are used as landfill or

heaps. These compounds pose hazard to the
environment owing to their self-ignition property. 
Remedy
vi.The CO2 produced in large quantities may need to be
captured, used in other commercial applications (such
as improved oil recovery or coal bed methane
operations), or otherwise sequestered. Depleted oil and
gas reservoirs in the local area may provide effective
sequestration targets.
3. Common Impacts on Water
 
The environmental impacts of Oil Shale mining (contd.)
3. Common Impacts on Water
 
3. Common Impacts on Water
Threats to water quality associated with oil shale
operations depend on the technical approach employed,
i.e. mining and surface retorting or in-situ retorting.

i. The primary threat to water quality is generally

considered to be leachate from spent, i.e. retorted,
oil shale,

 which includes salts and some toxic substances

such as arsenic and selenium.

 Runoff from mining and retorting operations can

impact surface and groundwater.
3. Common Impacts on Water

 In-situ operations pose greater risks to

groundwater quality.

 Controls will be required to protect surface and

groundwater.

ii. Waste materials (sulphates, heavy metals, and

polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) can contaminate
ground water which can affect the health of the local
population. 
3. Common Impacts on Water (contd.)
iii.Large amount of water is used for oil shale processing.
 Excess use of water can deplete ground water beds. As a result,
the farm lands will go barren.

 Oil shale mining, in common with most other forms of mining, is

accompanied by a lowering of the water level and the discharge
of mine water into bodies of surface water due to the need to
constantly pump out water which seeps into the active mine.
3. Common Impacts on Water (contd.)
 The source of this drained water is precipitation
water (rain, etc, which falls into open-cast mines),
surface water, subsoil water (unconfined
groundwater) and confined groundwater which
seep into mines.

 Mine water is therefore actually a part of the

natural cycle of water.  

iv.Mining activities have a direct influence on

groundwater quality due to the use of machinery,

i. mining by-products becoming dissolved in the

water, and
ii. minerals formed when the rock is exposed to air
becoming dissolved in the water.
Environmental remediation processes
Environmental remediation processes
•The threat to water quality from oil shale mining, use
and landfill is comparable in nature to the threat from
coal, but

•due to the greater quantity of waste product from oil

shale, the level of the threat will be enhanced.

•However, remediation being put in place are;

• However, remediation being put in place are;
i. Promulgation of e.g. Clean Water Act,
 Clean Water Act,
 Clean Air Act (CAA),
 Resource Conservation and Recovery Act,
 Pollution Prevention Act,
 Toxic Substances Control Act,
 Endangered Species Act.

Maturation of environmental laws and regulations has

resulted in more stringent standards and
requirements.
Environmental remediation processes (contd.)
ii.Commercial operations and environmental control
technologies have advanced to improve efficiency, and
reduce or better control effluents and emissions.

iii.Companies have implemented sophisticated

environmental and safety management systems that
are incorporated into project development and plant
management and operations.

iv.Effective technologies and management processes

already exist and have been demonstrated in other
commercial-scale mining and chemical processing
applications.
Environmental remediation processes (contd.)
v.In-situ processes have been particularly challenged
to protect groundwater from contamination by kerogen
oil or other produced gases and sediments.

vi.Promising freeze-wall technologies are being tested to

isolate ground water from subsurface in-situ
processing areas until post-production flushing and
clean-up of the heated areas has been completed.
Environmental remediation processes (contd.)
vii. Spent shale:
 Surface retorts generate quantities of spent shale.
 Oil shale retorting results in the generation of
slightly over one tonne of spent shale per barrel of
shale oil.
 An industry producing 3 million barrels of shale oil
per day would annually generate over a billion tons
of spent shale per year.
 Retort technology has improved to reduce residual
carbon, making spent shale better suited for landfill.
 Backfilling will be employed in underground and
surface mines. Some spent shale will be used to
make commercial building materials, or landfilled.
 Satisfactory disposal and reclamation has been
achieved in later-generation oil shale operations.