advances in the tell ertl oil shale repository: highlights of the archive and an interactive review...

33rd Oil Shale Symposium

Colorado School of Mines 14-16 October, 2013

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Advances in the Tell Ertl Oil Shale Repository: Highlights of the archive and an interactive review of oil shale retorts

Julie Carmen

Research Librarian, Oil Shale Information Office, Center for Oil Shale Technology and Research,

Colorado School of Mines, Golden CO 80401

Abstract

This paper will provide a status report of projects associated with the Tell Ertl Oil Shale

Repository within the Arthur Lakes Library at the Colorado School of Mines (CSM). We

announce this year that the Proceedings of the 1st through the 25th Oil Shale Symposia held at

CSM are now available full text on CSM’s digital repository. Those hyperlinks are also linked into the oil shale database to the library’s catalog. Technical reports have been digitized of the

gas-combustion retort processes at Bureau of Mines’ Anvil Points Oil Shale Research Center in

the 1960s and are now available full-text. New additions to the oil shale database show the

breadth of research documented about the oil shale industry, and highlights the discovery of specific collections that will lead to more digital posting of oil shale materials in the future. The

presentation will also show the navigation process through the oil shale archive database, to

highlight the diversity and value of the information listed there. A quick overview of navigation

through the oil shale database and web site will provide step-by-step discovery assistance for future researchers. An interactive overview of the history of the oil shale retort, offering

attendees opportunities to share their insights on various retorts from the late 19th century

through the late 20th century, all described in documents from the repository, will wrap up the

presentation. Some of the retorts covered include: The Thompson-Beeler Re-fluxing Retort

(perhaps one of the earliest efforts to enhance the product of traditional oil shale retorting to produce more gasoline), the Lamb Continuous Oil Shale Retort, and the Catlin Oil Shale Retort.

The presentation will provide research papers, correspondence, drawings, and photos about

some early stages of what we understand today as the oil shale retort. The Tell Ertl Oil Shale

Repository is housed in the Arthur Lakes Library at the Colorado School of Mines and represents the largest known collection about the oil shale industry.

Status of Projects within the Tell Ertl Oil Shale Repository

This past year has been productive for the

Tell Ertl Oil Shale Repository (TEOSR), in

Arthur Lakes Library. With the support of

Shell Oil we continued to work on cataloging projects, accessioning in new

collections and digitization of the Socony-

Mobil materials with access on the digital

repository and more re-housing and preservation. A thorough inventory of

remaining needs was processed, assessing

remaining needs yet to be done. Since

October, 2012, with the help of CSM student employees, we digitized 132

documents and added 52 of the documents

for full-text access. Over 3,500 items were

cataloged and nearly 2,500 folders of papers and photos have been re-housed for

long-term preservation. The slide below shows the past 4.5 years, beginning in July,

2009 and ending in December 2013.

0 5 10

2009

2009-2012

Re-housing

Digitization

Cataloging



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Cataloging is the act of putting information (data) of an item into a library catalog or

database to make it findable to a

researcher. This process of making

information more findable will be referred

to hear as accessible or accessibility. Librarians are charged to make information

of all types more accessible. Cataloging is

one way of doing this, and the containment

of this information is referred to as a catalog record.

The above chart represents the 28 current

collections within the repository. Within

these collections are approximately 35,388

items identified as photos, maps, drawings,

slides, documents, and obsolete media such

as film, VHS tape, cassette tape, etc...

Many records in the catalog represent

folders which contain newspaper clippings,

ephemera, and other items which will not

be cataloged individually, but are included

in a folder-level record. Of the 35,379

potential catalog records, the database

currently has 9,945 records, with some

needing more information added to them.

This shows a 28% of total possible records

cataloged to date. From the total amount of

technical reports within the collections,

87% of these reports have been cataloged.

The remaining cataloging needs are within

five collections: The Oil Shale Information

Office, Shell, Garfield County Library, Joe

Virgona, and Howard Earnest.

There are two common approaches to

cataloging: Copy and Original.

1) Copy cataloging: item is copied

from an existing library record

usually from another existing

library then edited to fit the

standards of the library the item

is being added to. Time to

complete one record: 8 - 10

minutes.

2) Original cataloging: item is not

copied from another record but is

created with all information

added by librarian. Time to

complete one record depends on

details available to add to the

record: for approximately 10 to

15 minutes per record.

Accessibility can also include any search

tool developed to assist the searcher in

discovering potential information.

Cataloging and digital repositories are in

the category of discovery, as are

databases. Xcel spreadsheets (databases)

were developed to list the various photos,

maps and drawings within the collections.

Students added to these spreadsheets as

part of their processing of maps and

drawings.

The spreadsheets have been converted into

PDFs and uploaded onto the Tell Ertl web

site. These PDFs are word searchable via

the Internet. Information of interest to

researchers can be followed up by

contacting the library for further access to

these materials.

Those identified as priority for cataloging

include film, cassette tapes (oral history),

technical reports, and books. This comes to

approximately 11,500 items which need

individual records of which there are

approximately 9,945 cataloged. The



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remaining priority items to be cataloged

come to an estimated 1,500 items to be

added to the catalog. If each record takes

between 10 to 15 minutes to catalog, then

it would take approximately 250 to 375

hours to add these items.

Remaining Digitization needs:

The librarian was charged to make items

digitally available full-text via the library’s

catalog. Duties included identifying worthy

collections for digitization, finding copyright

holder/s and requesting permission to

digitize in writing. Once permissions were

granted, the librarian made sure each item

was fully cataloged on the oil shale

database. All these steps must be met

before digitization. Each project must have

a digitization plan to be submitted and

approved by the Systems Librarian. Each

collection that has been identified as a

possible digital project must have its own

digitization plan.

Socony-Mobil materials about the Anvil

Points Mine are found in various collections

within the repository. Permission for

digitization was granted to COSTAR by

Exxon Mobil to digitize the 410 items and

share them on the CSM Digital Repository.

240 of those items have been digitized with

52 being uploaded on the digital repository.

This is an on-going process and takes time,

so this project is still being worked on.

In addition, researchers contact the

librarian and request specific books or

technical reports to be digitized. Recently, a

request for a digital copy of the book; Oil

Shale Technology by Sunggyu Lee, was

made by a researcher. The librarian

contacted the publishing company and

received permission to digitize. This book

has been added to the queue to be digitized

at a later date.

The digitization process includes physical

opening of the flatbed scanner for each

page, scanning each page, editing,

cropping, and bookmark additions. Time

involved for each item will depend on the

number of pages that are being digitized.

In addition, once a PDF is created for an

item, Metadata in xml format must be

created to make each item accessible on

the digital repository. Items digitized by

student employees will require a quality

check, editing, and cropping if needed by

the librarian, which is a case-by-case time

requirement based on the skills of the

student and the cropping needs of the PDF.

Timeline for digitization for Socony-Mobil

Project:

1) Digitization on scanner: It takes

approximately 1 hour to scan 30

pages. Editing, cropping and

bookmarks takes an additional

20 minutes per item. For every

item that is 90 pages or more,

for example, would take 3.5

hours to get it ready for the

uploading to the digital

repository.

2) Metadata: for each item takes

about 10 minutes per item.

3) Remainders of the Socony-Mobil

Collection requiring digitization



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are 51 technical reports, for a

total of 3,387 pages to be

scanned. Time to complete this

portion of digitization needs

would be: 113 hours.

Additionally, to create the

Metadata for the 51 PDFs would

be an additional 9 hours for a

total of 122 hours.

4) Quality Check: of the remaining

items which have been digitized

but still need quality checked in

addition to Metadata created

number 200. Time to process

these items would be 10 minutes

for Metadata and time required

for quality check for each PDF.

The estimate comes to 34 hours

for Metadata and 94 hours for

quality check/cropping needs.

5) Total estimation of time to finish

this digitization project is

projected to be: 250 hours.

Remaining Re-housing/Preservation needs:

Re-housing is a form of preservation which

includes placing papers and photos into

acid-free envelopes or folders, creating an

acid-free environment. This process helps

to protect them from the aging process of

exposure to light, air, humidity, or heat.

Paper items last the longest in dark, cool,

and dry places, but not too dry. A room

such as the repository, which stays at a

constant temperature of 75 degrees, is

considered too warm for the perfect storage

place, and yet the constant temperature

and acid-free boxes makes it a good place

to keep them for long-term. The constant

temperature, even if too high, is better

than a colder room which warms up

inconsistently throughout the year.

Re-housing also creates an organized

approach to finding materials. From a

chaotic box of research papers, even those

in the researcher’s original folders and

descriptions, can be improved by replacing

with acid-free folders and pencil-written

descriptions on the tabs based on the

library’s standards. This creates an

accurate location process for rare works,

photos, maps, etc… as they are well

identified in the folders and the boxes.

From a prior gift from Shell we have many

acid-free boxes, sleeves, and dividers to re-

house our fragile cassette tapes, film,

paper, and photos.

1) It takes about 10 minutes to re-

house a folder filed with paper,

more if there are numerous rusty

paperclips or staples to be

removed. 15 minutes is

estimated to re-house one

folder, including the hand-written

description of each folder’s tab.

2) In addition, newspaper-clippings,

photos, maps take more time to

fold out and put into acid-free

containment. To allow time for

these items an estimation of 20

minutes per folder is figured,

including label creation and

affixing to boxes.



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Timeline for Re-housing:

From the fall of 2012 through August of

2013, student employees were hired and

trained to begin the processing of re-

housing fragile papers and photos within

the oil shale repository. Since this time,

approximately 19% of the collections have

been placed in acid-free containment and

officially labeled for enhanced accessibility

and preservation. A total of 2,014 folders

have been completed with an estimated

8,472 folders still to be processed. For 20

minutes per folder for processing the

estimation for time it will take to process

the remaining items would be 2,824 hours.

Total estimation of time to finish this re-

housing project is projected to be: 2,824

hours.

The inventory helped with finding rare

treasures not cataloged, enhanced

accessibility by being arranged in well-

labeled folders, and better preserved from

being placed in acid-free environments.

Should funding run out, work in the

repository will stop until new resources are

available to hire the needed staff to

continue this work. No additional collections

will be pursued for new digital projects

unless a librarian is available to pursue

those goals.

Navigation through Resources

The Arthur Lakes Library contains historical

and current information on oil shale. Since 2009, COSTAR and the TEOSR have created

additional resources about oil shale to

combine with the resources at the library.

One way to find all of these resources in one stop is on the COSTAR web site.

Access the COSTAR web site, select Tell Ertl

Database to search catalog records of

collections.

This web site includes links to the library,

the oil shale repository and other oil shale

related sites. www.mines-costar.org Select the Tell Ertl Database on the left.

Use the search bar to enter Author, Title, or Subject to find resources. The direct link to

the database is:

http://tellertl.coalliance.org/vwebv/searchB

asic?sk=en_US

To find the Tell Ertl Web site click on the

link to the left.

http://www.mines-costar.org/

http://tellertl.coalliance.org/vwebv/searchBasic?sk=en_US

http://tellertl.coalliance.org/vwebv/searchBasic?sk=en_US



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The first page gives information about the

repository, with links to the oil shale

database, COSTAR, and digital repository. Be sure to scroll down to see everything on

this page. The direct link to the website is:

http://inside.mines.edu/Tell_Ertl

The red arrows to the right show the list of

bios about the collections and the

inventories of maps, photos, and technical

drawings that are on word-searchable

databases. Scroll down to see everything

on this page. Select External Links to get to

the second page.

The first page also offers inventories of

maps, photos, and technical drawings, and

bios about the collections. Be sure to scroll

down to see everything on this page.




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Select External Links to get to the second

page. The direct link to the website is:

http://inside.mines.edu/Tell_Ertl The

second page of the web site has links

outside of the library and repository. Many

are websites offering more oil shale

information and related topics.

www.mines-costar.org Access the COSTAR

web site, select Arthur Lakes Library to

search the library’s catalog records. The direct link to Arthur Lakes Library is

http://library.mines.edu/

Within the Arthur Lakes Library Catalog, you can also find the Oil Shale Database

from a drop-down menu to search the oil

shale special collections.

Find the digital repository on the drop down

menu. Search here for oil shale full text items from the TEOSR.


http://www.mines-costar.org/

http://library.mines.edu/



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Find more resources by looking “Beyond Mines” to find more resources to other

libraries or Internet sites which may offer

full-text items.

Find more resources by looking “Beyond

Mines” to find more resources to other

libraries or Internet sites which may offer

full-text items.

This research result shows how a full-text

article from United States Geological Survey

(USGS) can be accessed from the Mines’ library. Items that are part of a subscription

database such as American Association of

Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) are not

accessible by off-campus, non-CSM users.

Overview of Oil Shale Retorts

From reference questions of researchers,

and discoveries within the TEOSR, this

paper was created for a brief look back at

some retorts from the late 19th to early 20th centuries. This paper will go over 8 retorts,

even though it is estimated that there were

at least 100 processes created within a few

years before 1924 (Kirkpatrick, 1924). Reports found of particular interest were

from 1920-1932 and were typed on rice

paper, faded and yellowing with time. These reports were never published, so the

reader will notice many quotes in this paper

in order to experience the words from the

original authors. This report is historical in

nature, so hearing directly from those specialists of the time might be additionally

more interesting.

One good historical resource from the

TEOSR is the set of five volumes pertaining to the Post Hearing Brief and Appendix for

the Contestant; United States of America,

Contestant, v. Frank W. Winegar,

Contestee, Shell Oil Company, Intervenor (Contest Colorado 359), and United States

of American, Contestant, v. D.A. Shale,

Inc., Contestee (Contest Colorado 360),

found in the Andrew Gulliford Collection. The Paul Russell Collection has photocopies

of several pages of Volumes II and III of

this same hearing, in which he underlined

heavily for his research. His collection also

has an entire Volume II of this hearing, with a note written on it, “save for historical

purposes”. Anyone not familiar with this

resource should be informed of its thorough

record of the oil shale industry in the early 20th century worldwide. It goes into great

detail to describe who, what, where, when,

and how in the oil shale world. Be aware

that when you go to look for it, it may be difficult to find, as different libraries appear

to catalog it differently. It has not been

digitized at this time, so you may have

better luck in finding it through a law library

near you. However, the law library I contacted either didn’t have it, or had it

cataloged in such a way that they could not

locate it. The apparent author of these

volumes is the United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management.

(United States Department of the Interior,

1968).

Brown Retort

The Brown Retort was a horizontal, rotary

type, consisted of 3 tubes 30 inches in

diameter and 20 feet long. The tubes were

made of 3/8 inch steel filled with helical fin which advances the shale 2 feet with each

revolution of the retort (Russell, 1980, p.

46).

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CC8QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aapg.org%2F&ei=dl-fUsjOK5CWjAKlroCQBQ&usg=AFQjCNHnDeY75BagmEZbkV76s-9i0tfWmw&sig2=KSX0yCPIclvRbDUegJxg6A&bvm=bv.57155469,d.cGE

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CC8QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aapg.org%2F&ei=dl-fUsjOK5CWjAKlroCQBQ&usg=AFQjCNHnDeY75BagmEZbkV76s-9i0tfWmw&sig2=KSX0yCPIclvRbDUegJxg6A&bvm=bv.57155469,d.cGE



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It was invented by Harry L. Brown, and was used as a test retort by Dr. Baxter at

Colorado School of Mines and was also the

retort used at the Index Oil Shale Company

near De Beque, Colorado in the 1920s.

From a report from Baxter about the Estonian shale he tested, he explains a

metric ton of the shale produced 4600

standard cubic feet of gas. He also shows

the composition of the shale as follows:

Carbon Dioxide………………………14.6%

Illuminants (as ethylene)……….8.4

Oxygen…………………………………..3.4

Hydrogen………………………………..7.3 Carbon Monoxide…………………….3.8

Paraffins (1.9C per mole)……….9.8

Nitrogen (by difference)……….52.7

100.0 At the end of his report he states:

“As a result of this test, I

recommend the Brown retort as a

machine for the eduction of oils from

Estonian Shale” (Baxter, 1930).

Dr. Baxter was hired by Baron N. Von

Poppen of Estonia to run the tests at CSM.

This retort was most likely the largest camp

and oil shale operation in Colorado by 1920 (Russell, 1980).

“The Brown Retort was in three

sections, about sixty-six to seventy-

five feet long, and two and a half feet in diameter. The retort itself

was rotated and had angled flanges

attached in the inside to move the

shale through the retort as it was

tumbled. This rotating retort was set inside a five-foot diameter, cast-

iron, outer shell. The retort was

heated by a fire fed by gas injected

between the shells, thus the retort was externally heated.” (United

States Department of the Interior,

1968).

Brown on left, Jaque Minet on right, in front

of the Brown Retort, location not identified

(Baxter gift, Arthur Lakes Library Donations

Collection, 1930)

Catlin Retort

The Catlin Retort was designed by Robert

Mayo Catlin, Sr. a mining engineer, who

worked in Tuscarora as a geologist, outside

of Elko, Nevada. In 1917, he created Catlin

Shale Products Company, whereby he produced paraffin wax and shale oil. He A

good write-up to his story was found in a

copy of The Nevadan, Sunday, November

24, 1974 issue, with 3 pages devoted to Catlin and his legacy. The newspaper pages

were found in Paul Russell’s collection along

with a photocopy of Catlin’s hand written

notes, describing his journey in oil shale



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experimentation as early as 1875.

The Nevadan, Sunday, November 24, 1974

From Russell’s book:

“Frank Wadleigh (Railroad Red

Book) reported that Catlin’s second

large-scale retort, a circular-

cylindrical model, was ‘about 90 percent completed at the present

time [Wadleigh visited Catlin in

March 1919] and ought to be

running within thirty or forty-five

days at the outside.’ He described the retort as eight circular retorts

‘surrounding a big cylindrical tank’,

indicating the arrangement with a

diagram showing eight smaller circles surrounding a larger, central

circle” (Russell, 1980).

The Catlin Oil Shale Distillation Plant, Elko,

Nevada, (CSM Quarterly v.20 n. 1, The Oil

Shale Industry; A Resume for 1924).

“The Catlin Shale operation at Elko,

Nevada, represented the largest, best technically oriented and best

financed effort to develop the

western oil shales during the 1917-

1930 periods. Catlin’s production of

shale oil probably was in excess of 12,000 barrels. No western oil shale

plant exceeded this total production

until the Union Oil Company

operation of 1957-58, on Parachute Creek, Colorado” (Russell, 1980).

“The plant of the Catlin Shale

Products Co., ….is located about 1 ½

miles south of the city of Elko, Nev.,

and the same distance, therefore,

from the main lines of two

transcontinental railroads, the

Southern Pacific and the Western

Pacific. The plant consists

essentially of mining, retorting and

refining equipment particularly

adapted to the production of

paraffin, paraffin-base lubricating

oils and fuel oils. The plant is

normally run at a daily capacity of

90 to 100 tons, although its full

capacity is considerably greater,

having been made to handle as

much as 144 tons in 24 hours.



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The shale, which yields roughly 35

to 40 gal. of oil to the ton, is mined

from a 5-ft. seam outcropping about

30 ft. above the level of the plant

site. The outcrop has been entered

by two inclined shafts which dip with

the shale at about 22 to 25 deg. The

shaft directly back of the retort

reaches a depth of 350 ft., while the

other extends to more than twice

this depth” (Kirkpatrick, 1924).

From Catlin’s hand-written notes found in

the Paul Russell Collection:

“In 1901 I visited Broxburn,

Scotland and studied the Scotch

methods for making shale oil.

Nothing was done until 1912 after

my return from Africa. The great

variety of possible by-products

attracted my attention for a time but

ultimately I realized that this first

problem to be realized was the most

suitable method for producing the

crude shale oil. Amongst the by-

products the spent-shale was

obviously the most plentiful. On

examination this proved to contain

some 12 to 14% of fixed carbon; the

molecular structure of which

indicates that a substitute for Bone

Char might be made from it.

May 20, 1928: At the request of

[McOwen] B. Jones, I will attempt to

describe my experience in the

research which I have done on oil

shale and shale oil. In June 1875 I

noted the presence of paraffin shale

beds exposed by the C.P.R.R. Co.

[Central Pacific Rail Road Company]

in their explorations of the lignite

seams on the Humboldt river at Elko

Nevada. Though at the time they

were said to be the same shales as

composed the great oil shale cliffs in

Colorado and Utah, now so well

known. They attracted little

attention because they presented no

massive cliffs thousands of feet high

like those in Colorado and Utah for

the obvious reason that they were in

a comparatively flat country through

which no great-caverns had been

eroded to expose sections of the

underlying strata and had the

Humboldt cut a cavern as deep as

that of the Grand River it seems

quite probable that similar shale

cliffs would have been exposed …...

In November, 1890, I distilled 100

lbs of their shale in an amalgam

retort and obtained 22 lbs of crude

oil 75% which proved to be a

mixture of paraffin of various

melting points; and on December

19th, 1890, purchased the land the

shale samples came from, being

moved to study more closely what

seemed to be a neglected natural

resource very widely distributed and

having potentialities of unusual

interest” (Catlin, 1928).

The above paragraph from Catlin’s notes is

also found in History of Western Oil Shale

and the United States Interior’s Post

Hearing Brief - Colorado Contests 359 and

360. Catlin was admired in his time for

producing the most oil shale and creating

other marketable products. However, he

soon resigned himself to the fact any

current production of shale oil would not

compete with the drilling petroleum being

produced in the United States at that time.

The Colorado 359 Post Hearing Brief from

the USBM provides an explanation to

Catlin’s decision:

“We can point to three processes

that were molded into, what we



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might call, either the pilot stage or

the experimental-prototype stage.

The first was an inclined-tube retort.

(G-270, U.S. Patent 1,272,377) The

second consisted of a series of

cylindrical units arranged in a

circular pattern around a central

cylinder. (Ibid., 1,503,093) The third

was a gas producer type. (Ibid.,

1,509,667) This last retort was put

into operation in December of 1920.

(G-722, Part I, p. 20) Catlin realized

in mid-1921 that if any retorting

process would work, it would be this

final retort. It was not until mid-

1924, however, that he was ready,

from a retorting technology

standpoint, to decide whether or not

he should proceed with anything

other than an experimental oil shale

project. (Ibid., p. 43) But during this

time he was learning that he could

not make products of a quality and

at a price to compete with petroleum

products. Since his experiments did

not solve the problems that required

solution, and since no reasonable

prospect for their solution appeared,

he decided that further efforts and

the expenditure of additional capital

were not warranted. Thus, in the fall

of 1924, Catlin permanently closed

his experimental plant near Elko,

Nevada” (United States Department

of the Interior, 1968)

Dr. Alderson introduces Catlin as the

“Grand-daddy of the Oil Shale Industry” at

the National Oil Shale Conference in

Sacramento, California (Alderson, 1924). In

this quarterly the meeting minutes are

recorded with many speakers visiting bout

oil shale with Alderson as Chairman. Catlin

speaks quite a bit about his process:

“With this operation of ours the draft

is upwards; I understand that with

the downward draft it is supposed

that the gases and oil and vapors do

not come into contact with high

temperatures; in either case they

are swept toward a cooler zone. We

seek to maintain a pretty even fire

bed; first the ash zone on the

grates, then the fire-bed, and then

the distillation zone above. To effect

that distillation, and for another

purpose, we use a pre-mixture of an

inert gas with air. This was a double

function. The inert gas acts as a

scavenger, so to speak, to carry off

the products of distillation as fast as

they are formed, and also to convey

the heat from the fire zone to the

shale above. Our idea is that it goes

through the fire zone. The

temperature of that fire zone may

be kept down by this inert gas. If

you want your heat o increase you

increase the air in the mixture.

Nothing can burn without oxygen.

Hydrogen is not inflammable without

oxygen. Burning is oxygenation.

Here we have the inert gas acting as

a scavenger, and also for the

purpose of taking up the heat from

the fire, that is down where the

fixed carbon is burning and

conveying that heat to the shale

above” (Alderson, 1924).

This is just a small bit of what Catlin talks

about at this meeting representing a

valuable historical resource from this time

period. This volume has been digitized and

is fully accessible on the CSM Digital

Repository and through the Tell Ertl

Database.



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Catlin Retort, Google Analytics, (Catlin, 1924)

In the CSM Quarterly of 1925, Catlin is also reported as making strong advances in oil

shale interests for the State of Nevada in

1924, his creative approach is hailed due to

his ability to produce the useful by-products with oil shale (Alderson, 1925).

Ginet Retort

The Ginet Retort was used by The Monarch

Shale Oil Company, located on Conn Creek, about 12 miles north of DeBeque, Colorado.

It was invented by Joseph H. Ginet, who

was noted as having a way with mechanics

and created the Monarch Company as well

as was its president from 1919 to around 1925 or perhaps later.

“The retort had been constructed to

full size and tested in a building at

the Colorado School of Mines for a year or two before the corporation

started constructing its plant above DeBeque.

The retort was eighteen to twenty-

five feet long and three and one-half

feet in diameter. It was a continuous

retort with a center, rotating shaft with twenty-six scoops or shovels

attached to this shaft which moved

the crushed shale through the

retort. The retort was set on fire brick over a combination of gas-oil

burner and thus, was externally

heated. Its capacity was around

fifty tons of shale per day. The oil vapors came off the retort in thirty-

nine pipes into four towers where

they were cooled by atmospheric

temperatures. The distillation equipment was extremely crude and

some changes were made in it

shortly before 1924.” (United States

Department of the Interior, 1968).

Wedleigh (as cited in Russell, 1980, p.58) writes:

“In summary, the Monarch Oil Shale

Company produced about 75 barrels

of oil, mined and shipped about 2.5 tons of oil shale to others, and

shipped 25 barrels of shale oil to the

City of Glenwood Springs, Colorado,

to be used to surface streets, 10 or 12 barrels to Aspen, Colorado, 5 or

6 barrels to Memphis, 3 or 4

shipments of 1-3 barrels each to

various mining concerns in Colorado,

and 12 barrels to Mascot, Tennessee” (Russell, 1980).



14

Ginet Retort, Google Patents (Ginet, 1925)

Lamb Continuous Retort

The Lamb Continuous Retort was developed

by William A. Lamb in 1920. One description of the retort can be found on

Google Patents, which basically describes

the retort as a vaporizing chamber with a

heated floor providing a transverse depression. An element in the chamber is

mounted to rotate about an axis

longitudinal of the depression, comprised of

agitating blades which process the

materials in the depression (Google Patents, September 19, 2013).

In the 1920’s Robert A. Baxter was a

professor teaching and conducting research

at CSM. A report found in his gift is based on his testing oil shale samples with the

Lamb Continuous Shale Retort. His report

was dated March 20-21, 1925, and showed

analysis of shale oil made by the Uintah Company. The total thru put for 13 hours

and 3,224 pounds showed a result which he

estimated to be 3 tons of shale per day for

24 hours. The shale used was assayed at

49 gallons of oil per ton, which the results were a recovery of 27.4 gallons of oil per

ton or a 34.7 produce of oil.

Lamb Continuous Retort, Google Patents (Lamb, 1923)

He reports that the reason for such a low

yield was due to the extreme shortness of the test machine. He also gives details

about the American Petroleum Institute

(API) gravity of the shale oil. He writes:

“The oil made during the test was composited to give a mean gravity

of 35 A.P.I., …, but the machine

actually made oil of between 37 and

38 A.P.I for the last eight hours of the run, having increased from 30

A.P.I. on the oil produced at the end

of the fourth hour… The gravities are

in all instances vastly different from

those of material of similar volatility derived from petroleum. During the

run a total of 2,670 cubic feet of 450

Btu.gas was made. This is the

equivalent of 1,660 cubic feet per ton. However, it must [be]

remembered that the “spent” shale

from this test contained twenty six



15

gallons per ton or more than half the oil originally in the shale. The

difference in the oil content of the

shale and the sum of the oil

recovered and the oil remaining in

the “spent” shale was six gallons, a large part of which was probably lost

while the hot shale was cooling in

the pit and when it was later being

shoveled out, weighed, and sampled. The power used to operate

the machine was 41 Kilowatt Hours

for the thirteen hours of the run,

which is equal to 25.5 kilowatt hours per ton of shale treated.” (Baxter,

1925).

Lamb-Continuous Retort, Google Patents (Lamb, 1923)

Products produced from this shale oil

included: kerosene, gas oil, paraffin distillate, and fuel oil. Baxter reports:

“Bottoms contained more wax and

less asphaltum than a 13˚gravity

bottoms from petroleum. Bottoms

were like unto those of a highly

cracked petroleum fuel oil, being somewhat less viscous than a 13˚

gravity heavy tar. A sulphuric acid

treatment of these bottoms resulted

in 80% sludge loss” (Baxter, 1925).

Lamb-Continuous Retort, Google Patents

(Lamb, 1923)

N-T-U Retort

While re-housing the Arthur Lakes Library

Donations Collection a rare manuscript

entitled “Shale Oil and its Recovery” was found. Documents within the manuscript

suggest it was made from the 1920’s with

photos from this period carefully affixed to

construction paper and including typed pages or historic documentation. The

information suggests the invention of the

N-T-U retort or at least the gas combustion

retort. The author is not identified but has

included a letter with attached report from Hamilton Beauchamp & Woodworth,



16

Metallurgical Engineers to G. W. Wallace of the N.T.U. Company. The report was based

on floatation tests performed on ore from

the California Rand Silver Inc, of

Randsburg, California, dated December 1,

1922. The tables show comparisons of this ore to other samples from the same lot in

July, 1921, and show results of assay,

content, and distribution.

“In comparing the results of the two tests, the assays of tailing should be

considered rather than the

percentage distribution for the

reason that the difference shown in percentage in head value between

the two samples tested, the tailing

assays for gold and silver being

almost identical in each case with a slight advantage in favor of Shale oil

in the silver extraction.

The advantages in favor of “Shale”

oil, as far as the ore under

investigation is concerned, seem to be that it tends toward producing a

cleaner concentrate and reduces the

amount of other frothing oils needed

to give the right frothing condition.

Shale oil is easily mixed into the

pulp with a minimum of agitation

and appears to be an excellent

flotation reagent” (Beauchamp, 1922).

In the beginning of the manuscript the

author describes how far back oil shale is

identified, including Sir Walter Raleigh’s

report of the “pitch lake” in Trinidad in 1595, or even earlier, mentioning Marco

Polo’s description of the “oil springs” in

Baku toward the end of the 13th century.

What I found interesting was his introduction on how what appears to be the

gas combustion process was envisioned.

The author writes:

“In May 1922, Mr. D. J. L. Davis, a pioneer in the development of the

shale oil industry and its recovery,

learned of a process for the

extraction of oil from shale; and the extreme simplicity of the process,

together with its overcoming the

necessity of external heat, brought him to the determination that here

was the key to the problem. The

process is simplicity itself and might

be described as identical with the

smoking of a pipe, inasmuch as shale is placed in a container,

lighted at the top, and suction

applied at the bottom, thus drawing

the zone of combustion moves downward there must be a zone of

distillation just ahead of it, and very

naturally this zone of distillation will

be a of a lower temperature than the within the shale are released and

withdrawn through the pipes which

provide the suction. Laboratory

tests show that as the zone of distillation releases the oil and the

suction removes it, no oil is burned

in the process, the source of heat

being only the fixed carbon in the

shale

It was realized that this was the

natural and logical method of oil

recovery and after securing rights to

this extremely simple process, the services of Mr. G. W. Wallace a

Consulting Engineer were secured

and a twenty ton plant erected at

Santa Maria, California, to verify the conclusions drawn. On June 26,

1922, this plant was placed in

operation and the results were most

gratifying” (Beauchamp, 1922).

The pictures show people, automobiles, and the retorts, as well as shale outcrop

comparisons between California oil shale

and Utah oil shale. There is no

identification of the people, but the retorts and the land are carefully identified.

The Nevada, Texas, Utah Retort, or N-T-U

Retort was developed by Roy C. Dundas

and Raymond T. Howes in 1923. Their patent can be found on Google Patents

under the title ‘Treatment of oil shale’.

“This retort was first mentioned about 1924 and was operated in

California. It was later adopted for

experimental use by the [United



17

States] Bureau of Mines at the Rulison Project (1925-1929)and the

Anvil Points Project (1944-1956)”

(United States Department of

Interior, 1930).

N-T-U Retort, Google Patents, Treatment of Oil Shale. (Dundas, 1923)

Part of its description is as follows: “It consists simply of a steel cylinder

23 ft. tall lined with firebrick,

supported by a structural-steel

assembly on a reinforced-concrete foundation. Its internal diameter is 7

ft. 3 ins. at the bottom and 6 ft. 10

ins. at the top at the spring line of the

dome, and it has a charging capacity of approximately 30 tons of crushed

oil shale. It is closed at the bottom by

a horizontally sliding door the full

circumference of the retort and at the

top by a charging door 2 ft. 6ins. in diameter. Two 6-in. gate valves are

fitted into the top to admit air and gas

needed in the retorting process. In

addition to the retort proper, the N-

T-U equipment includes pipes that lead gases and vapors from the unit

through coolers and condensers

which also are a part of the

equipment for liquefying the oil extracted from the shale. The vapors

are drawn through the coolers and

condensers by an exhaust fan

(Kraemer, 1938).

The N-T-U retort was used at the Bureau of

Mines Rulison Project. The test results of

the use of this retort for the project are best explained by Russell:

“From January 17 through June 26,

1927, 29 runs were made and a

total of 788 tons of shale were put

through the retort. The total oil recovered was 13,750 gallons, an

average of 17.5 gallons per ton of

shale retorted. Operations of this

retort continued during the life of the Rulison project, and its

performance was considered

satisfactory” (Russell, 1980).

Another discovery during re-housing of the Tell Ertl Collection was a 1930 report,

giving details to the Bureau of Mines’ oil

shale plant. It is entitled “Notes on

Operations of Bureau of Mines Experimental

Oil-Shale Plant”. It is not clear who wrote this report, but on the last page is typed,

“R.G.T., June 1, 1930”. From the

introduction:

“The Bureau of Mines experimental oil-shale reduction plant was located

near Rulison, Garfield County,

Colorado, on Naval Shale Reserve

No. 3.

The Pumpherston retort at the plant

was in operation from September

17, 1926 to July 1, 1927; the N-T-U

retort was in operation January 17, 1927 to June 26, 1927, during which

period 29 runs were made in the N-



18

T-U retort and a total of 788.4 tons of shale retorted, which yielded

13,774 gallons of oil, an average

recovery of 17.47 gallons per ton of

shale. A total of 2,129.7 tons of

shale was retorted in the plant while it operated, 1,341.3 tons passed

through the Pumpherston retort and

788.4 tons passed through the N-T-

U retort.” (United States Department of Interior, 1930).

It goes into detail about the production of

oil from each retort. It states a rated

capacity of 24 tons per charge for the N-T-

U retort. The report further gives much

more detail as to the N-T-U retort

functions:

“The N-T-U retort differs in principle

from the Pumpherston retort in that

it is a downdraft type; i. e. the

heated gases pass downward

through the charge instead of

upward as in the Pumpherston

retort. The N-T-U retort uses a

direct-heating process in which

combustion of the gas and carbon of

the spent shale takes place within

the retort or by means of steam or

gases heated outside being passed

through the retort in direct contact

with the share charge. This form of

retort may be continuous in

operation or intermittent and tends

toward rapid distillation and rapid

removal of the products of

combustion.

Theoretically, there are two methods

of operating the N-T-U retort: (1) In

this method a portion of the gases

resulting from the distillation of the

shale is returned to the top of the

retort and burned with air above or

in the upper part of the shale

charge. In-sufficient air is admitted

for complete combustion of the

returned gas so that combustion

may be maintained at the top of the

charge. The hot products of

combustion flow downward and a

zone of distillation moves downward

through the charge to the grates.

Carbon monoxide and hydrogen are

formed from the carbon dioxide and

water in the products of combustion

and from the carbon of the spent

shale in the zone of hot spent shale

between the top of the charge and

the zone of distillation. (2) The main

source of heat by this method is

from the combustion of the carbon

in the spent shale. Combustion is

regulated by diluting the incoming

air with a portion of the fixed gases

of distillation and combustion. A

zone of combustion which is

preceded by a zone of distillation

passes downward through the

charge. Producer gas is formed in

the combustion zone and between

the zone of distillation and the zone

of combustion. The hot spent shale

above the zone of combustion

preheats the incoming air-gas

mixture” (United States Department

of Interior, 1930).

Summary of the Rulison Operations:

“Under Congressional authorization

of the United States Bureau of Mines

conducted an experimental oil shale

program near Rulison, Colorado,

from 1925-1929, with a respite of

almost one year in 1927-1928.

There was no design to carry out

mining research at Rulison, but to

mine sufficient shale to supply the

experimental retorts. The mining

experience at Rulison, however,



19

permitted mining cost estimates to

be made.

The principle purpose of the Rulison

operation was to conduct retorting

research to see if oil shale would

yield a dependable supply of fuel oil

for the U.S. Navy. The Scottish

Pumpherston retort and the

American NTU retort were erected

and tested to determine if either

could be utilized on an industrial-

scale.

Doubts about the ability of the

Pumpherston retort to handle the

richer grades of Colorado Green

River oil shale were confirmed. While

able to process leaner grades, the

higher-grade, coking shales

rendered the retort inoperable from

a practical standpoint.

On the other hand, the NTU retort

was able to produce oil from all

grades of oil shale, and from that

standpoint, preferable to the

Pumpherston. However, because of

economic reasons, there was no

likelihood that the NTU could be put

to commercial use in Colorado”

(United States Department of

Interior, 1930).

Randall Retort

The Randall Retort was invented by J. W.

Randall, a New York engineer. A description of the retort from the Shale Review (as

cited in Russell, 1980):

“The retort is being constructed by

the Vulcan Iron Works of Wilkesbarre, Pa….and is of the

continuous type. Some idea of its

mammoth size may be gained from

its shipping weight, 244,700 pounds.

It is a circular tube 110 feet long, and therefore, has a weight of over

one ton per foot of length. In general it consisted of a long hollow

cylinder, which lies horizontally and

is revolved over gas

burners…Randall retorts have been

used on a commercial scale for the manufacture of acetone, acetic acid,

wood alcohol and similar products of

destructive distillation...”(Russell,

1980).

Randall Rotary Retort, Google Patents (Randall, 1922)

“Lackawanna first thought it would

use a Wallace Retort but later

contracted for a Randall Retort… to be built at Wilkes Barre,

Pennsylvania…. The retort had been

used to extract chemicals from wood

pulp. .. It was to be 100 feet long and six feet in diameter. The



20

cylindrical body was to be rotated over a gas fire.... The evidence does

not indicate if the fabrication was

ever completed. However, the retort

was never shipped from

Pennsylvania”(Department of Interior, 1968).

Thomas-Beeler Re-fluxing Retort

The first time I read about this retort was

while processing the Robert A. Baxter Collection within the TEOSR. I found an old

report which was difficult to read. I

scanned and printed it out to get a better

view of the ink which was produced by a manual typewriter. The report was written

and signed by Henry C. Beeler, mining

engineer, and dated July 30, 1925. The

title was “The Mechanical Production of Petroleum Oils by the Thompson-Beeler Re-

fluxing Process” and described the

challenges of processing petroleum and

why his design was more productive

compared to his competitors.

He goes into detail how oil shale is

particularly difficult to process given to the

processes for heating up, cooling down,

loading, re-loading, and clean-up. He further explains how shale eduction is a

process necessary to produce shale oil. On

a side note, the word “eduction” is difficult

to use in text as most dictionaries and spell check programs thinks the word is

education.

He writes:

”Shale eduction is essentially simple in

itself and is merely to get the shale continuously in contact with the proper

heat, take off the vapors, condense

them into oils and get the spent shale

away without tons of time or handling. The shale itself contains all the

elements necessary for its own

successful and complete eduction and

any added element is simply superfluous.

Shale eduction and oil refining cannot

be carried on in the same retort or

chamber without detriment to both operations but the final product of

eduction may be and is materially benefited by the proper use of all the

elements within the shale and give a

final product for actual refining far

superior to a raw shale oil direct from

the ordinary shale still” (Beeler, 1925).

He goes on to establish that the Thompson

Continuous Re-Fluxing Shale Retort meets

all of the previously mentioned

requirements without breaking down or requiring intermittent clean-up during the

process. His mention of the Screw

Conveyor points to a solution to the

effectiveness of his design. He then includes the breakdown of converting low

grade black oils and wastes into high grade

oils.

Within this same report there is a section explaining a two-system approach in the

process, entitled; “The Thompson

Continuous Re-fluxing Shale Retort and The

Thompson-Beeler Converter Process for

Heavy Oils”. Again, he writes:

“This principle involves the

application of the screw conveyor to

the closed horizontal retort as the

prime means of moving the treated material thru the graduated heat

zones, thereby facilitating the

vaporization of the contained

hydrocarbons, the vapor being drawn thru the vapor ports to the

separation and collection chamber

above where the slight drop in

temperature causes a natural

separation to take place, the lighter vapors passing off to the condensers

beyond and the heavier vapors

falling and condensing in the

chamber are dropped to the incoming material and pass thru the

process again and again, or as many

times as may be, and in each

passing emerge in a different and lighter form, leaving the heavier

carbon forms behind until only

carbon is left”(Beeler, 1925).

He continues to explain the necessary requirements of any oil shale retort and



21

includes specifics to a test run from De Beque, Colorado shale. He writes:

“A shipment of heavy ‘wurtzelite’

shales from the property of the

Colorado Carbon Company near De

Beque, Colorado showed an oil contents of 65 gallons of oil per ton

by the usual laboratory methods of

treating for oil shales (this return

being checked by several chemists) but actual returns from a run on the

same shales in the Thompson Retort

showed 82 gallons per ton of shale

treated, a difference of 17 gallons per ton or over 25% more extraction

in favor of the Thompson system”

(Beeler, 1925).

His report also includes a table of results from tests on various oils by the Thompson-

Beeler Process. 29 different shale samples

were tested and he lists the percentage of

Beryllium found in each as well as the

percentage of saturation.

It was difficult finding the patents for this

retort when searching under the title of the

paper. Eventually 3 designs were found on

Google Patents by looking under “Thompson-Beeler Retort”. The dates

covering these designs were 1921 and

1922, and each has a different drawing

pertaining to the process.

Thompson-Beeler Retort, Google Patents(Beeler,

1925)

The repository is more organized and has grown with additional research materials

made accessible. The assessment

processed in October, 2013, showed the

time required to accomplish the remaining

tasks would take about two additional years. Funding is made possible by

contributions from members of the oil shale

industry directly to COSTAR.

If there is no more funding, the position for the oil shale repository will be closed. For

future information about the special

collections in the oil shale repository, the

best contact will be the Arthur Lakes Library’s reference desk: [email protected] or 303-273-3698.

References Cited

Alderson, V. C., 1924, National Oil Shale Conference, Quarterly of the Colorado

School of Mines, v. 19, n. 4, Golden,

Colorado.

Alderson, V. C., 1925, The Oil Shale Industry; A Resume for 1924, Quarterly of

the Colorado School of Mines, v. 20, n. 1,

Golden, Colorado.

Baxter, R.A., 1925, The Lamb Continuous Shale Retort, Colorado School of Mines,

Golden, Colorado.

Baxter, R. A., 1930, Report on a Test of

Estonian Oil Shale in The Brown

Experimental Oil Shale Retort at The Index Shale Oil Company, DeBeque, Colorado for

Baron N. Von Poppen, Golden, Colorado.

Beauchamp, F. A., 1922, Shale Oil and its

Recovery, San Francisco, California.

Beeler, H. C., 1925, The Mechanical

Production of Petroleum Oils by the Thompson-Beeler Re-fluxing Process,

Denver, Colorado.

Beeler, Henry C. (1925, March 24). Process for Cracking Oil [Online]. Available: https://www.google.com/patents/US1530627

Catlin, R.M., 1928, Handwritten Notes.

mailto:[email protected]

https://www.google.com/patents/US1530627



22

Dundas, Roy. C. (October 2, 1923). Treatment of Oil Shale [Online]. Available: https://www.google.com/patents/US14696

28

Ginet, J. H. (1925, June 9). Apparatus for

Treating Bituminous Shale and the Like [Online]. Available:


35

Harper, D., & Hickson, H. (1974, November 24). Nevada oil shale plant was 50 years

too soon. The Nevadan, pp. 6, 27-31.

Kirkpatrick, S. D. 1924. American progress in retorting oil shale: The status of the

principal processes proposed for oil-shale

distillation and an account of the operations

of the Catlin and Brown retorts. Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering, 31(20), 770-

775.

Lamb, W. A. (1923, October 23). Shale

Retort. [Online]. Available: https://www.google.com/patents/US14714

92

Randall, J.W.H.(1922, April 25). Rotary Retort [Online]. Available: https://www.google.com/patents/US14137

79?

Russell, P.L., 1980, History of Western Oil Shale, East Brunswick, New Jersey.

Thompson-Beeler Retort, Google Patents

United States Department of Interior, Notes

on Bureau of Mines Experimental Oil Shale

Plant, 1930, Washington D.C.

United States Department of the Interior,

1968, Post Hearing Brief and Appendix for

the Contestant, United States Department

of the Interior: United States of America, Contestant, V. Frank W. Winegar,

Contestee, Shell Oil Company, Intervenor.

Contest Colorado 359. United States of

America, Contestant, V. D.A. Shale, Inc., Contestee. Contest Colorado 360,

Washington D.C. v. 2, p. 223-323.







