Skip to main content

OIL SHALES


Oil shales is a fine grained sedimentary rock that has Crude oil in it but does not readily give it out except when heated in-situ or mined.

Extraction by mining and transporting it to a heating place for extraction,subjects the entire region mined to geohazards. The ‘pit’ created by the mining will be vast and may not be entirely refilled thereby posing a threat to those living nearby and the ecosystem.

The best and commonest way of extraction of oil from the Oil Shales is by heating it in-situ. This is usually done at temperatures of 425-475oC.  This method is called Pyrolysis. This way, Oil and Gas are driven out from the Kerogen. Oil from Oil Shale is known to contain heavy and radioactive metals.
However, this method also posses a threat because, some of the oil, gets leached out and enters the Groundwater thereby polluting the Groundwater.


Oil Shales are predominant in countries like The United States (Utah and Wyoming), Brazil, Argentina, and Northern Germany.

Comments

Post a Comment

COMMENT

Popular posts from this blog

GROUNDWATER POLLUTION (vis-à-vis Groundwater Quality) AND CAUSES

Groundwater in it’s natural state is made up of dissolved substances including gases. These contribute greatly to it’s quality. The surrounding environment (Formations), anthropological and bacterial activities influence it’s quality as well. Below is a rundown of factors that determine the quality of any groundwater: They can be categorised into: 1.    Physical factors; 2.    Bacterial factors; 3.    Chemical factors; 4.    Anthropological factors. Physical factors can be easily seen with the eyes without first being analysed in the laboratory. They are apparent to the physical senses of sight, smell, taste and in some cases, touch. It can be known physically if a groundwater is polluted or not by Colour changes, Odour, presence of suspended materials. The presence of suspended materials make the water appear cloudy. Commonsensically, no sane person will like to consume anything, let alone, water tha...
2 comments
Read more

THE AGE OF THE EARTH - THE OLDEST MAN ON EARTH IS THE EARTH

THE AGE OF THE EARTH Hey … Just as we celebrate our birthdays to commemorate the day we were born, has it ever occurred to you to ponder on the age of the earth? Don’t you think that there was a day (way back) when the earth was formed? Don’t get it twisted!!! This is no myth. It is a reality. It is REAL!!! The Earth is approximately 4.6 billion years old!!! Sounds absurd??? Well, this figure did not come as a result of fiction or imagination – but by radiometric dating in the early 20 th century. Lead in uranium-rich minerals when dated by early scientists,  were able to discover that they were billions of years old. Another pointer to this is that small crystals of Zircon obtained from Jack Hills, Western Australia when dated, was around 4.4 billion years old. One may ask: “How is this possible”? Rocks are aggregate of minerals. Some of these minerals have radioactive elements like Uranium and Thorium. In the process of their decay (radioac...
11 comments
Read more

Lead in Drinking / Groundwater

Possible sources of lead in groundwater Places well known for lead-zinc (Pb-zn) deposits are in danger of having their groundwater contaminated with Lead. Lead is a known silent killer especially in infants and children as it has high affinity for Hemoglobin. Another reason it is a silent killer is because it accumulates (bioaccumulation) in the body gradually stealthily. The fatality of lead is that it gets stored in the bones (as Calcium is stored) and becomes part of the body. From there, it gets released directly into the body. Pregnant and nursing women are the most hit because the Calcium which their bodies require for the growth of the fetus and for breast milk production may be mixed with Lead. The detrimental effects of lead are enormous and felt among infants / children, pregnant women and adults. Among the children , these (but not limited to the following) are pronounced: Ø   Anemia Ø   Slowed / stunted growth Ø   Poor body developmen...
10 comments
Read more