Processing of Solid Fossil-Fuel Deposits by Electrical Induction Heating

A study has been made to determine the feasibility of extracting the energy commodities-electricity, gas, petroleum, chemical feedstocks, and coke-from the solid fossil fuels-coal, oil shale, oil sand, and heavy oil-by the electrical induction heating of the deposits. Available electrical, physical, and chemical data indicate that this process may be technically and economically feasible. Some basic data are missing, and it has been necessary to indicate possible ranges of values for some parameters. The tentative conclusions drawn are the following. i. All four solid fossil fuels can be processed successfully underground. ii. All five energy commodities can be produced economically in adequate quantities for a period of a century or more in North America, without recourse to any other major energy source. iii. The development and construction time required is short enough to permit an uninterrupted supply of all energy commodities as present sources decline.