The history of the oil shale industry started in ancient times. The modern industrial use of oil shale for oil extraction dates to the mid-19th century and started growing just before World War I because of the mass production of automobiles and trucks and the supposed shortage of gasoline for transportation needs. Between the World Wars oil shale projects were begun in several countries.Dyni (2010), pp. 103–122
After World War II, the oil shale industry declined due to increased accessibility to conventional crude oil. As of 2010, oil shale was commercially used in Estonia, China and Brazil, while several countries are considering to start or restart commercial use of oil shale.
Early history Humans have used oil shale as a fuel since prehistoric times, since it generally burns without any processing. It was also used for decorative purposes and construction. Britons of the Iron Age used to polish and form oil shale into ornaments. Around 3000 BC, "rock oil" was used in Mesopotamia for road construction and making architectural adhesives.
As a decorative material, oil shale was also used over the Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Umayyad and Abbasid periods to decorate mosaics and floors of the palaces, churches and mosques.
Shale oil was used for medical and military purposes. Mesopotamians used it for medical purposes and for caulking ships, Mongols used to cap their arrows with flaming oil shale. In the 10th century, the Arabian physician Masawaih al-Mardini (Mesue the Younger) described a method of extraction of oil from "some kind of bituminous shale".Forbes (1970), pp. 41–42 In the early 14th century, the first use of shale oil was recorded in Switzerland and Austria. In 1350, a knight Berthold von Ebenhausen was awarded a right to exploit the Seefeld oil shale in Tyrol. Oil shale was used for production of shale oil using an early retorting method of heating the crushed oil shale put in crucibles.Forbes (1970), p. 251 The healing properties of a mineral oil distilled from oil shale were noted in 1596 by the personal physician of the Duke of Württemberg Frederick I.
In Skåne, the Swedish alum shale dating from the Cambrian and Ordovician periods was used for extracting potassium aluminium sulfate by roasting it over fire as early as 1637.Dyni (2010), p. 118 In Italy, shale oil was used to light the streets of Modena at the turn of the 17th century. The British Crown granted a patent in 1694 to three persons named Martin Eele, Thomas Hancock and William Portlock who had "found a way to extract and make great quantities of pitch, tarr, and oyle out of a sort of stone."Cane (1976), p. 56 Shale oil was produced by extracting Shropshire oil shale.Francu et al. (2007), p. 1 Later sold as Betton's British Oil, the distilled product was said to have been "tried by divers persons in Aches and Pains with much benefit."Forbes (1970), p. 250 In 1781, Archibald Cochrane, 9th Earl of Dundonald, registered a patent for an extraction process to produce tar, pitch and oil from coal and bituminous shales, using masonry retorts and wooden condensers.Addison et al. (1985), p. 35
In Russia Peter the Great initiated an investigative program of Ukhta oil shale in 1697. Data on physical and chemical properties of Ukhta oil shale was published by a correspondent member of the Russian Academy Tertii Bornovolokov in 1809. In 1769, Peter Simon Pallas described oil shale of the Volga Region. In the 1830s Germain Henri Hess investigated Baltic oil shales with resulting determination of the semicoking process product yields.
Oil shale in Australia was referred to for the first time by François Péron, et al., in Voyage de Découverte aux Terres Australes which was published in Paris in 1807, describing what was probably torbanite from the Newnes deposit.
Start of the modern industry
The modern industrial use of oil shale for oil extraction started in France, where oil shale commercial mining began in Autun in 1837. The shale oil production started in 1838 by using Selligue process, invented by Alexander Selligue. In 1846 the Canadian physician and geologist Abraham Gesner invented a process for retorting an illuminating liquid from coal, bitumen and oil shale.Nersesian (2010), p. 124Forbes et al. (1957), p. 3 In 1847 the Scottish chemist James Young prepared "lighting oil," lubricating oil and wax from cannel coal and since 1862 from torbanite.Prien (1976), p. 235 In 1850 he patented the process of retorting and refining shale oil and purifying paraffin wax from it.Trass (2011), p. 9 Commercial scale shale oil extraction from lamosite started in 1859 by Robert Bell in Broxburn, West Lothian. After the expiry of Young's patent in 1862 many small shale oil works were opened. By 1865, there were about 120 shale oil works in Scotland. In 1866 Young established Young's Paraffin Light and Mineral Oil Company at Addiewell. Other notable shale oil companies were the Broxburn Oil Company established in 1878 and the Pumpherston Oil Company established in 1892.
In the United States early oil-shale industry concentrated on the eastern oil shale deposits. An oil distillery was built in 1855 at Breckinridge County, Kentucky to produce oil from locally mined cannel coal. By the following year it was producing . In 1860, there were 55 companies in the United States extracting oil from locally mined cannel coal.Ashley (1918), pp. 42–43 Commercial-scale shale oil extraction, other than cannel coal processing, began at shale oil retorts using the Devonian oil shale along the Ohio River Valley in 1857. However, the discovery of cheap and abundant petroleum in the same region, starting with the Drake Oil Well at Titusville, Pennsylvania in 1859, put the American oil shale industry out of business by 1860.OTA (1980), p. 110 The largest deposit, Green River Formation, was accidentally discovered in 1874 but not utilized until beginning of the 20th century.
In 1857, oil shale industry started in Germany.OTA (1980), p. 109 In Canada, the Craigleith Shale Oil Works started to retort oil shale of the Ordovician Whitby Formation near Collingwood, Ontario, on Lake Huron in 1859. In 1861 it became economically infeasible due to the discovery of petroleum nearby.
In Australia, the first oil shale mine was commenced in 1865 at American Creek, Mount Kembla in New South Wales. At the same year, the first shale oil was produced by the Pioneer Kerosene Works at American Creek.Kraemer et al. (1951), p. 4 A number of other mines and shale oil plants were opened in New South Wales; however, in the beginning of the 20th century they were closed due to the import of cheaper crude oil.Kraemer et al. (1951), pp. 6–7
In Austria, oil shale was used in 1840–1882 for production of asphalt mastic, naphtha and asphalt tar. In Sweden, the first attempt to extract oil from alum shale was made in 1864. Shale oil production started in the 1890s and lasted few years.Dyni (2010), p. 96 In Brazil, oil shale was first exploited in 1884 in Bahia.Dyni (2010), pp. 105–106 In 1900 shale oil extraction industry was initiated also in New Zealand.
In 1894, the Pumpherston retort (also known as the Bryson retort) was invented, which is considered as a separation of the oil shale industry from the coal industry.Addison et al. (1985), p. 38 It stayed in use until 1938.
Operations during the 19th century focused on the production of kerosene, lamp oil, and paraffin wax; these products helped supply the growing demand for lighting that arose during the Industrial Revolution. Fuel oil, lubricating oil and grease, and ammonium sulfate were also produced.
Beginning of the 20th century
The oil shale industry expanded immediately before World War I because of limited access to conventional petroleum resources and the mass production of automobiles and trucks, which accompanied an increase in gasoline consumption. Oil shale production in Scotland peaked in 1910–1912 with more than three million tonnes. That time Scottish shale oil industry contributed 2% of global oil production. After that, production declined with exception of the period of World War II. In 1919, five survived shale oil companies (Young's Paraffin Light & Mineral Oil Company, Broxburn Oil Company, Pumpherston Shale Oil Company, Oakbank Oil Company, and James Ross & Company Philpstoun Oil Works), were merged into Scottish Oils, a subsidiary of Anglo-Persian Oil Company.Bamberg et al. (1994), p. 177Marwick (1964), p. 175
In the United States the government started to create the Naval Petroleum and Oil Shale Reserves in 1909. The reserves were seen as a possible emergency source of fuel for the military, particularly the Navy. The government reserved the Roan Plateau near Rifle, Colorado which later became a federal demonstration and test site. First attempt to produce oil from the western deposits was made in Nevada by local businessman Robert Catlin by acquiring oil-shale properties in the 1890s and erecting the first retorts in 1915 and 1916. Although the attempt was commercially unsuccessful, in 1917 he incorporated Catlin Shale Products Company which made several unsuccessful attempts to sold shale oil products until it was dissolved in 1930.EPA (1979), pp. C-1–C-2 The first attempts to exploit the Green River Formation deposit was made by establishment of The Oil Shale Mining Company in 1916. In 1917, they erected the first commercial retort at the head of Dry Creek, near De Beque, Colorado. However, also these attempts were unsuccessful and by 1926 the company had lost its property. In addition, companies like Cities Service, Standard Oil of California, Texaco and Union started their oil shale operations in 1918–1920. In 1915–1920 about 200 companies were established to exploit oil shale and at least 25 shale oil retorting processes reached to the pilot-plant stage. Discoveries of the large quantities of petroleum in eastern Texas ended the oil-shale boom. One of technological achievements before World War II was invention of the N-T-U retort. In 1925, the NTU Company built a test plant at Sherman Cut near Casmalia, California. In 1925–1929, the retort was also tested by the United States Bureau of Mines in their Oil Shale Experiment Station at Anvil Point in Rifle, Colorado.Carter et al. (1939), p. 373
During World War I, the German Army produced shale oil from the Jordan oil shale at the Yarmouk area to operate the Hejaz Railway. In 1915 an oil shale industry was established in Switzerland.Mushrush (1995), p. 39 About 1920, a small mall shale oil extraction plant was opened at Kinnekulle, Sweden. In 1922, a small shale oil extraction plant was opened in Puertollano, Spain.EPA (1979), p. C-9