Symposium of studies and researches in the oil shale industry, A

Abstract

Introduction: The oil shale chemist, or the oil shale engineer as a product of specialized and technical education, or as a product of practical experience, does not exist. Those who are doing the research and experimental work in the present early stages of the oil shale industry are invariably men who have had experience only in allied subjects. The author of these articles, Arthur J. Franks, is a member of the faculty of the Colorado School of Mines in the department of chemistry. As far as general training and study would fit a man to attack the present chemical problems involved in the retorting of oil shale and the refining of shale oil, Mr. Franks has been fortunate in his preliminary college training. With Professor S. W. Parr of the University of Illinois, he did special work in the treatment of coal and oil. Under Professor W. D. Harkins of the University of Chicago, he did extensive research in physical chemistry, which subject is now recognized as of the utmost importance in the solution of the more abstract problems of hydrocarbon chemistry. Mr. Franks has attacked the problems of the industry with enthusiasm, with energy and with a mental ability which characterizes all of his work as of high quality and importance. It is indeed a pleasure for the authorities of the Colorado School of Mines to combine these articles into one publication as a small tribute to the advancement of the oil shale industry. Victor C. Alderson.