Charles William Matthews
Engineers in Denver, CO

4032618, Jun 28, 1977

May 11, 1976

5/685484

Charles W. Matthews - Denver CO

The United States Energy Research and Development Administration - Washington DC

C01B 2100, C01B 100, C01B 400, C01B 600

423351

A method is provided for removing ammonia from the sour water stream of a coal gasification process. The basic steps comprise stripping the ammonia from the sour water; heating the stripped ammonia to a temperature from between 400. degree. to 1,000. degree. F; passing the gaseous ammonia through a reactor containing a sulfided catalyst to produce elemental hydrogen and nitrogen; and scrubbing the reaction product to obtain an ammonia-free gas. The residual equilibrium ammonia produced by the reactor is recycled into the stripper. The ammonia-free gas may be advantageously treated in a Claus process to recover elemental sulfur. Iron sulfide or cobalt molybdenum sulfide catalysts are used.

4231617, Nov 4, 1980

Dec 14, 1978

5/969328

Olaf A. Larson - O'Hara Township, Allegheny County PA
Charles W. Matthews - Lakewood CO

Gulf Oil Corporation - Pittsburgh PA

E21C 4110

299 2

Shale oil is recovered from an underground oil shale deposit by in-situ retorting of rubblized shale in a retort formed in the deposit. Oil shale in a volume in the range of ten to fifty percent of the volume of the retort is mined from the deposit and delivered to the surface to provide void space for the expansion of the shale that occurs on rubblization to form the in-situ retort. The oil shale delivered to the surface is retorted at the surface. After completion of the in-situ retorting, boreholes are drilled downwardly through the retorted shale and a pipe lowered through the borehole to a level near the bottom of the retort. Spent shale from the surface retorting operation is slurried and pumped into the lower end of the in-situ retort. Pumping is continued to squeeze the slurry into the fissures between blocks of spent shale. The slurry is delivered into successively higher levels of the retort and the pumping and squeezing operation repeated at each level.

4158467, Jun 19, 1979

Dec 30, 1977

5/865916

Olaf A. Larson - Pittsburgh PA
Charles W. Matthews - Denver CO

Gulf Oil Corporation - Pittsburgh PA

E21B 4324, E21C 4110

299 2

An improved process for recovering shale oil from in-situ shale comprising the steps of: (1) mining a first portion of said shale; (2) fragmenting a second portion of said shale; (3) introducing into said second portion a mixture of gases comprising a molecular oxygen supplying gas, carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide while maintaining a temperature sufficient to convert kerogen in said second portion to shale oil and to produce carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, gaseous hydrocarbons and other combustion and inert gases; (4) separating said shale oil from an offgas containing said carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, gaseous hydrocarbons and other combustion and inert gases; (5) separating hydrogen sulfide and a first portion of carbon dioxide from a gas of low sulfur content and increased heating value comprising said gaseous hydrocarbons and other combustion and inert gases and a second portion of said carbon dioxide; and (6) recycling said hydrogen sulfide and said first portion of said carbon dioxide to step (3).

4222850, Sep 16, 1980

Feb 15, 1979

6/012500

Charles W. Matthews - Lakewood CO

Gulf Research & Development Company - Pittsburgh PA

C10G 102

208 11R

This invention relates to a process for retorting raw shale comprising the following steps: (1) passing raw shale downwardly through the upper zone of a two-zoned vertical retort; (2) introducing a gas comprising molecular oxygen and flue gas at a temperature of about 590. degree. to about 760. degree. C. , and ambient pressure into said upper zone and passing the same upwardly through said upper zone in contact with said raw shale; (3) recovering from an upper part of said upper zone a product comprising shale oil and retort gas; (4) passing the treated shale from a lower part of said upper zone downwardly through the lower zone of said two-zoned retort; (5) introducing molecular oxygen at a temperature of about 25. degree. to about 100. degree. C. and flue gas at a temperature of about 25. degree.