Estonian shale oil obtained at shale industrial retorting contains up
to 26 % phenols. Phenols are highly marketable and could be considered
compounds already upgraded on retorting. Production practice includes
washing out phenols with water and sodium hydroxide. The question is
whether to prefer the hydrogenation of total or dephenolated oil. The
aim of this work was to elucidate both the changes in the composition
of phenols occuring during their hydrogenization and distribution of p
roducts, to solve the problem of preference stated above - i.e. to obt
ain the phenols as washed-out final products or additionally decompose
them in the composition of fetal oil to get constituents of the upgra
ded oil.