Solar heated oil shale pyrolysis process

摘要

A bed (76, 202) of oil shale particles (10) are pyrolyzed in a retort (70, 200) by means of a heated carrier gas stream passing through a central conduit (54, 202) within the bed (76, 202) and then upwardly through a fixed bed (76) or fluidized bed (202) of the shale. The shale is subjected to pyrolysis and evolves kerogen liquid, thermally and pyrolyzed liquids and gases which enter the carrier gas to form a pyrolysis gas. The liquid pyrolysis oil is separated from the pyrolysis gas ion separator (94, 224) and a portion of the separated gas is recycled to a solar heat exchanger (50, 204) and heated to a temperature of at least 350 DEG C. before being fed to the central conduit (54, 202).