BOARD01567

• Board Meeting Date: 5/1/1975
• Description: Agenda or Table of Contents, Minutes, Memos
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Meeting

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lease, and partly with surface water from the White River. Pending
analysis of long term pumping tests in large diameter bore-holes on
Tract C-a and the resolving of legal issues, we do not as yet have a
fix on the amQunt of ground water that could be used.

Since the extent to which our water requirements can be supplied from
the underground sources is unknown at present, and in view of our esti-
mated ultimate project capacity of jOO,OOO barrels per day, our present
plan is to acquire sufficient water from combined surface and under-
ground sources to meet a maximum requirement of a net 60,000 acre-feet
per annum.

In planning the water requirements for our project, we have attempted
to utilize, to the maximum extent possible, the lower quality waters
derived from de-watering operations and underground sources. We have
thus sought to minimize the amount of surface water which must be with-
drawn from the White River or other sources. In addition, our planning
is directed toward utilizing lower quality groundwaters derived from our
development program in such a fashion that the poorer quality water will
not enter surface stream systems, but will be fully consumed for such
purposes as the compaction of spent shale.

A zero water discharge concept will be used in developing the water
management plan for Tract C-a. The basic flow diagram of total water
reuse as applied to C-a oil shale operation is shown by slide No.1.
This slide shows the major consumptive uses of water in an oil shale
processing faCility. Considerable quantities of raw water are required
for dust suppression in the mine, at the crushing facilities and on the
processed shale embankment. Revegetation will require a modest amount
of water in the early years of the project. Later, as the area to be
revegetated expands, a more significant quantity of water will be
required. Raw water must be treated for in-plant uses. A portion is
used for potable and sanitary water for plant workers and for fire water.
A second portion goes to boilers where steam is produced from fired and
waste heat boilers, for a multitude of uses within the plant. Some of
this steam is inevitably lost to the atmosphere. The bulk of it goes
to the retorting and upgrading pr.oc~ss units. An increment of the
treated water is used to replace water which is lost to evaporation in
the cooling towers. The amount of evaporation required is set by the
cooling needs of the retorting and upgrading units. Treated water and
steam is used in the retorting and upgrading steps. A large portion of
the waste water from these units is used for moisturizing the spent
shale. A significant increment is used to produce hydrogen which is
needed to produce a high quality syncrude. Finally, scrubbing of the
flue gas streams leads to a major loss of water. You will note that
all water in our proposed oil shale processing facility is totally
consumed, and hence, there is no discharge of pollutants to the river
system. Most of the water is either evaporated to the atmosphere or
locked in the spent shale.

A breakdown of the 10,000 acre-feet estimate is shown on slide 2. OVer
40 percent of the water is required for spent shale and the combined loss
of water vapor to the atmosphere is about 50 percent. The balance is

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