Current Status of Oil Shale Processing in Solid Heat Carrier Utt (Galoter) Retorts in Estonia

Thermal processing of oil shale in solid heat carrier unit grounds on the effective super-high-speed heat transfer between polydispersed fine-grained solid substances.Small size and large surface areas of the decomposable oil shale and heat carrier particles ensure their close contact in the mixing process in rotary drum reactor and high rate of heat transfer from heat car- rier (ash residue of oil shale) to the shale feed resulting in rapid heating and decomposing of the latter in liquid and gaseous retorting products.The calorific value of the solid residue from reactor semi-coke is used for realizing the whole process and merely combusted ash with minimum content of organic matter is sent to ash-disposal system.The industrial yield of oil products makes up 85-90 % from the standard Fischer Assay.The UTT Retort UTT is an abbreviation of the Russian term for Galoter Solid Heat Carrier (SHC) retorting system developed in Estonia for processing oil shale fines.The authors of this method are from the Power Engineering Institute (JSC ENIN, Moscow) and the Institute of Chemistry (IC) of Tallinn Technical University (TTU).The general designer of UTT-3000 retorts at the late sev- enties was theSt:-Petersburg State Institute Atomenergoproekt [l]. 1. Opik et al. 108 8. Yorudas, K.A., Stelmakh, G.P. Thermal efficiency of carbonate oil shales proc- essing in conditions of SHC // Oil Shale board files.35.IX 1998.