Adapted from an article by Paul Owen of Dragon Shale, October 2, 2018
VERNAL, Utah, October 02, 2018: Dragon Shale LLC (Dragon), having been awarded a grant by USTAR (the Utah Science Technology And Research initiative) has now successfully completed its first milestone, production of Kerogen Oil from its novel retorting process. This validates the first step in the Dragon Shale Process that was co-developed by Stites & Associates (SALLC). Ron Stites of SALLC is the Principle Investigator in the USTAR TAP Project. Mr. Stites worked with Petroleum Engineering Interns, Sami Kahn and Cameron Giometti and a number of Vernal, Utah, contractors to design, build, commission and test the prototype device. The prototype met all of the operational requirements set by the USTAR TAP contract. The prototype successfully extracted the Kerogen Oil from the oil shale at good yields while preserving the high-value petrochemical feedstocks.
Kerogen Oil is rich in chemicals that have high value in the petrochemical and related industries. Instead of destroying these chemicals to make fuels Dragon intends to extract and separate them. The operating performance of the prototype device validates this plan.
Completion of this first milestone demonstrates the benefits of the ex-situ Dragon Shale cross-flow process technology. This technology will enable construction of small, modular, environmentally friendly commercial plants. These smaller plants with their minimal process water requirements can be sited where the oil shale richness, infrastructure constraints and environmental sensitivities align.
Dragon Shale is now adding continuous feed and product separation capabilities to the prototype system. This will enable us to complete the second milestone by providing samples of kerogen oil for analysis by manufacturers seeking new sources of petrochemical feedstocks.
Mr. Stites of SALLC continues to spend most of his time in Vernal, Utah, working on this exciting and challenging project.
Ron Stites is the Founder and Principal at Stites & Associates, LLC, a group of technical professionals who work with clients to improve decision making in technology driven companies by applying good management judgment based on objective evidence and sound scientific thinking. For more information see: www.tek-dev.net or email us at [email protected] .
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