Dragon Shale is delighted to announce that is has been successful in its application for a USTAR TAP grant. USTAR, the Utah Science Technology and Research initiative is a state funded program aimed at accelerating development of technologies that will bring economic benefits to Utah.
Oil shale has long been seen as an economic asset of great importance to Utah. However despite the vast deposits, hundreds of millions of dollars (foreign and domestic) and many years of work Utah has not seen much in the way of sustained income. Dragon believes this is because existing approaches have targeted the wrong end product, fuels. While an obvious target the complexities of converting Oil Shale into fuel end products have typically resulted in failed projects.
Kerogen, extracted from the Oil Shale is rich in a variety of organic products. Many of these have significant value themselves to a number of industries. So Dragon asked itself the question, what if we try and extract these products rather than simply destroy them in order to make low quality refinery feedstocks?
With this grant Dragon has set itself an ambitious timeline, taking its previous bench scale and theoretical studies and constructing pilot scale operations to test and refine its approach. With its partner at Paragon Automation, Dragon will now move its base of operations to Vernal, Utah where construction of its new pilot facility will take place.