Abstract
The volatility of crude oil prices incentivizes the use of domestic alternative fossil fuel sources such as oil shale. For ex situ oil shale retorting to be economically and environmentally viable, we must convert the copious amounts of semi-coke waste to an environmentally benign, useable by-product. Using acid and acid + base treatments, we increased the surface area of the semi-coke samples from 15 m2/g (pyrolyzed semi-coke) to upwards of 150 m2/g for hydrochloric acid washed semi-coke. This enhancement in porosity and surface area is accomplished without high temperature treatment, which lowers the overall energy required for such a conversion. XRD analysis confirms that chemical treatments removed the majority of dolomite while retaining other carbonate minerals and maintaining carbon contents of approximately 10%, which is greater than many fly ashes that are commonly used as sorbent materials. SO2 gas adsorption isotherm analysis determined that a double HCl treatment of semi-coke produces sorbents for flue gas treatment with higher SO2 capacities than commonly used fly ash adsorbents. Computational fluid dynamics modeling indicates that the sorbent material could be used in a fixed bed reactor to efficiently remove SO2 from the gas stream.
Highlights
Over the past several decades, significant fluctuations in oil prices have motivated the search for alternative energy sources including both fossil and renewable fuels
Particles between 150 and 250 μm were used in this study to (1) limit heat and mass transfer limitations during the simulated retorting [20], (2) to enable eventual production of a powdered activated sorbent material, and, (3) since it represented over 50 vol% of the ground particles, to yield sufficient experimental quantities
While most techniques to “activate” semi-carbonaceous materials in the literature use high temperatures to increase surface area and capacity, the present investigation probes the feasibility of using low-temperature activation to convert a U.S oil shale semi-coke to a sorbent material for the removal of SO2 from flue gases
Summary
Over the past several decades, significant fluctuations in oil prices have motivated the search for alternative energy sources including both fossil and renewable fuels. One such alternative fossil fuel is oil shale, which is a sedimentary rock containing proportionally large amounts of kerogen or organic matter. Mountains of semi-coke dot the Estonian landscape where oil shale is used to generate a majority of the country’s electricity. This makes identifying alternatives to open disposal
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