SUCT’s New Oil Shale Refining Technology Put into Practice

Liaoning Jinlongxi New Technology held its construction commencement ceremony in Benxi, Liaoning province on July 26. The company employs the technology of internal moving bed oil shale directional dry distillation, developed by the scientific research team led by Professor Xu Guangwen of Shenyang University of Chemical Technology supported by the national “973” program.
The technology, funded by Liaoning Xinfeng Investment Limited, is expected to address the plight of high costs, economic losses and plant shutdowns faced by the oil shale refining industry in Liaoning. It is a revolutionary new technology in oil shale refining and has been patented in China, the US, Canada, the EU, Russia, etc.
Investment in Liaoning Jinlongxi New Technology totals RMB100 million. The first phase of the project mainly includes constructing a 100 000 t/a demonstration project and a technological industrialization project center and developing a industrialization technology process package, in a bid to promote 1 million ton-level industrialization engineering application to help a number of “zombie enterprises” of oil shale refining to turn the corner and to buoy up the oil shale refining industry in Liaoning.
Liaoning is rich in oil shale, a kind of petroliferous shale, with its geological reserve totaling 10.9 billion tons. Oil shale dry distillation refiners are scattered in the province, such as Fushun, Fuxin, Beipiao of Chaoyang, and Kangping of Shenyang. However, most local oil shale refiners are shut down, as prices of crude oil refined by the current Fushun Dry Distillation Furnace process are as high as US$55-60/bbl, higher than today’s market level, which is below US$50/bbl, due to a low oil yield rate and being unable to use the small-granule feedstock, which makes up one third of the mining output.
The new technology may reduce crude oil prices to US$30-33/bbl, which may guarantee a profit of around 40% for the oil shale refining industry.