Oil shales are broadly dermed as petroleum source rocks containing sufficiently high contents of organic matter (above ca 10-15 wt. %) to make utilisation a possibility. Like coal, the world's reserves of oil shales are vast being many times larger than those proven for crude oil. Indeed, some of the largest deposits occur in the USA and Europe where Estonia and Turkey have large reserves. The first recorded interest in oil shale retorting was an English patent in 1694 (Eele, Hancock and Porter, No. 330) which refers to distilling noyle from some kind of stone." The oil shale retorting...
Oil shales are broadly dermed as petroleum source rocks containing sufficiently high contents of organic matter (above ca 10-15 wt. %) to make utilisa...
