Replies to post #76967 on Biotech Values

[OakesCS]

OT] Re: Natural-Gas Production Goes from Bust to Boom

re oil shales and water.

1. oil shale development is a long ways off even at $75/bbl. semi-wildass guess would be that we'd need sustained $120/bbl for oil companies to start doing more than treating it as a long term research project.
2. the water is to distribute heat into the oil shale. the organic material in the shale is mostly algal kerogen which if heated to about 300 C will quickly 'mature' into oil and gas, i.e. man could accomplish in months what would take nature millions of years. The useful characteristic of hot water or steam is that it has a higher heat capacity than many other cheap fluids. People are looking at other means of getting heat into the rock with a minimal number of holes, e.g. radio- or micro-wave heating, but those suck up a lot of power which is where alternative power sources such as wind come into play. That process would also generate water as the kerogen is decomposed and that would help distribute the heat and might also open up permeability but I have my doubts if that will be as effective or as cheap as injecting hot water.

Nature's cruel twist on the matter is that much of the rock within which the kerogen is interspersed has a high solubility in water (e.g. some of the mineral matter is baking soda). So if there was an abundant supply of water nearby and folks wouldnt get bent out of shape about environmental problems, then it might be possible to solution mine the oil shale. Unfortunately none of that is the case - at least at the moment.