Twelfth oil shale symposium proceedings

Abstract

From the foreword: Each year since 1972, the dependence of the United States with respect to liquid and gaseous fuels has increased. Since 1972 the amount of this country's imported needs has increased almost 300 percent. Present and past government policies encourage importation of needs over domestic production. The distortion of the industry position by news media has created a crisis with respect to industry credibility and a chasm between those dependent upon petroleum fuels and those most able to supply their needs. A viable synthetic fuels industry would not only produce sufficient motor fuel to mean the difference between a supply adequate for essential needs and long waiting lines at service stations, but could serve to tip the scales to our advantage in negotiations with OPEC countries. Exchange of technical information with respect to all aspects of shale oil production serves to increase the effectiveness of everyone working in this area. This Symposium's presentations covered the spectrum from environmental, socioeconomic, and public policy issues to the technical and theoretical aspects of shale oil processing. The authors and their sponsors are to be commended for the quality of the presentations. To speedup the publication process, the authors were requested to supply their papers in a publication ready mode and to use both metric and English units of measurement. Fortunately, most of the authors were very cooperative and the majority of the papers met good journalistic criteria. In one or two instances, I made the decision that it was more important to publish the paper and make the results available in written form as soon as possible than to delay the Proceedings and insist on the desired form. Two papers were not available at the time of going to press and will be included in the next Proceedings. One paper has been added to complete a series started in the Symposia. Acknowledgment is given to the American Institute of Chemical Engineers for permission to publish the paper by Arvids Judzis, Jr. This year, especially, I wish to acknowledge the help of R. E. Poulson in putting the environmental session together and editing the papers, of J. K. Richmond for setting up the safety portion of the program, and of Mrs. Ruth Jarnagin and Mrs. Marjorie Rinehart in doing the follow-up necessary to put the Proceedings into print. James H. Gary Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of Faculty Colorado School of Mines