Using neoteric solvents in oil shale studies

The liquefaction, gasification, and other chemical modifications of oil sha le art: challenging goals of chemistry and chemical engineering. The use of new solvent systems, such as supercritical fluids and ionic liquids, repre sents new avenues in the search of environmentally benign technologies. Sup ercritical fluid extraction (SFE) with carbon dioxide is particularly effec tive for the isolation of substances of medium molecular weight and relativ ely low polarity. At elevated temperatures it is possible to unite the brea king chemical bonds in the kerogen organic matter and convert the former in to oil with extraction using supercritical fluids. Quantitative and qualita tive information obtained at different temperatures during SFE is providing some insight into the speciation of hydrocarbons in geological samples. Io nic liquids were studied as potential solvents for kerogen extraction. Howe ver, these chemical processes are favored at elevated temperatures up to th e thermal degradation temperature of kerogen, approximate to 400 degreesC. There were observed significant differences in the chemical composition of extracted oil and from the oil from the classical semicoking process of oil shale. An additional application would be a combination of the two methods -the use of supercritical carbon dioxide to recover nonvolatile organic com pounds from room-temperature: ionic liquid without using organic solvents.