The ever increasing demand for energy and the progressive depletion of crude oil resources, have renewed interest in oil shale as an alternative fuel resource. Weathered oil shale samples were assembled from El-Nakheil phosphate mine in Quseir area, Eastern desert, Egypt. The oil shale samples were prepared and analyzed by XRD (X-ray diffraction), XRF (X-ray flourescence spectrometry), and optical microscopic techniques. Rock-Eval pyrolysis and total organic carbon were used to study shale hydrocarbon potential. A leaching procedure using inorganic and organic acids was used to selectively dissolve the oil shale associated ash forming minerals.XRD results showed that calcite is the dominant carbonate mineral, whereas primary silicate minerals are quartz and montmorillonite. SEM (Scanning Electron Microscopy) observations indicated that the organic matter is dispersed throughout the rock matrix. The acid soluble fraction upon leaching was determined to be 37.59 and 42.74 wt% by using 5% HCl and 10% HCl, respectively. The TOC has been increased from 20.78 to 29.88 and 34.09 wt% by using 5% HCl and 10% HCl, respectively.
The necessity to satisfy the increasing demand for energy and the progressive depletion of crude oil resources have renewed interest in oil shale as an alternative fuel resource. This paper aims at determining the potential for upgrading El-Nakheil oil shale, Egypt, using froth flotation. Samples were prepared by comminution followed by sieving into different size fractions. The flotation behavior of the material and extent of cleaning were studied with respect to non-ionic and ionic collectors of anionic and cationic types. The organic rich portions of samples could not be rendered sufficiently hydrophobic by the collectors used and the selectivity towards surfactant was very low.
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