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> the cool. incoming ..hale and ilows over it 10 an outlet at the bottom of the retorl. Union Oil conduCled its. lests Irom 1956 to 1958, when it abandoned the plant fo.J.ving the proce"" could be commercialized ,\ heneveor economic condition<. warranted-\\hich .apparently;.. now. Union just announced plans iar a 5U,OOO-barrel- per-dol\"' plant in Colorado by 1971:1, Paraho relort; This simplified nlindrical ga<;-(om. bus-tion retort Ist-e diagraml is based on a serie... 01 invention.. bv John B. lones. president of Paraho De- velopment Corp.. a Oen\er-ba...ed licensing and en- gineering development (ompan\,. Paraho has gathered iunding irom 17 companies (see accompanying listing) to lest its nt'..\! relort at the Bureau 01 ,\1ioes Anvil Points iacility, which iI has on a 5-year renewable lease. The Paraho retort, \....hich will be t{'sted in both in- ternallv.hf'ated and ellternally-hf'ated versions, is al- ready in ~uccf'ssful commercial operation on lime- stone, a close cousin oj oil-shale rock, madstone. According to its inventors, the Paraho retort "has the widely aneplf'd advantages oi a continuous verticalh-' df'scending bed oi granular material. Inability to main- tain continuous movement has been a major problem with previous gas-combustion test progr"ms." The Paraho proi('cl, which began in September 1Cj73, should complete semi-works scale testing in February 1976. Participating companies will have th(' right to use the proC{....... in their own commercial oil-shale plant., (on favorahle terms\. TaSCa II retort: The first commercial oil-shale plant will probably U<ie the TaSCa II retort, a H.torl devel- oped bv The Oil Shale Corp, nOSC01. For the past 10 years, Colony Development Operation. a consortium oi companies with Atlantic Richiield as the opf'rator since 1%9, has workf'd on oil-shalf' de\('lopment at their pri....ately-owned land near Parachute Creek. Todav plans are already well underwav to build a full-scalf' commercial plant on lhe propertv. According to one oj ARCO's technical experts, Bob Smith, "TOSCO II b a iullv-de\'elopt'd proces!>. 11 is a nOli proces... Unlikf' ~as-combustion retort.. , TaSCa II is a rot.1f"\ type rf'tort that uses hot ceramic balls to heat the ..h,ll(' in the rt'torting prort:>s... The raw shale is crushed to a size oi 1/"2 inch or ..maller, the smallest siZt. used in ,111\' retort, and then preheated belorE' being tf'd into the retort \\ith the ceramic balls. The balls lransier heat to the shale, thu.. eliminating the need lor internal com. bustion, and the oil vapors and gas ri..e to lhe lOp 01 thE' retort \,here the\ are remmed. In-~itu processing: )\;ot all oil-shale retorting nt>ed 10 E\fCl.'TrU \\t~f RI"(H\\"'R~ EOlfIO\ t..!)rUM' 1~-4 be done above ground. For years environmentalist~ and ~cienti~ts have lalked hopefully aboulthe po~sibil- ities of in-situ fin-place) processing where lhe shale is heated underground, eliminating both mining opera- tions and large processing plants. Generally, an in-situ development \\ould involve the drilling of several wells. some 10 introduce heat into the underground shale deposit and some to draw up the oil and gas producf'd bv retorting. Another proposal involves ex- ploding a nuclear device underground to create a chimnev 01 broken rock. Suggestions for underground heating have included lhe creation oj combustion in the oil-shale lormation, the introduction 01 hot nalural gase!'.. or the introduction of superheated steam. One hang-up in in-situ developmenl is permeability. lines ot communication must be opened in the solid rock to allow pass.1ge of gases and liquids. Although some succes!'.fultests have heen carried out on fraclur- ing the underground deposits jor permeability, most industry and governmf'nt sources claim it is still a problem. ThE' other difficulty with the in-silu process is one oi control. Since the retorting is all done under- ground, it is dilficult to control \,'ith any accuracy, the problem most often cited by industry e"'perls. .......'ost oil-industrv spokesmen claim that in.situ is still a "glpam in the t'H'" and won't come of age for alleast a decade. But several oil companies have \.....orked on in-situ in the pa!'.t and are known to be currently working on the proce..s. The in-situ process thaI has received the mo..t attention recent Iv is one developed by Occidenlal Petroleum and the company indicates it mav be rE'adv jor use \,,'ithin .3 to 5 years. Occidental's prucess: In 1972, Occidenlal began testing its new in-silu process on private holdings in Colorado. Recent reports claim that the process has produn;'d .30 to 40 barrels oi shale oil per day, that it can be u..ed on mo..t oil-shale deposits in the Piceance Creek Ba..in, and that it ill\'olves lillle environmental damage. The Occidental process deviates somewhat from thp basic in-..itu proct"ss in that it does require s,ome mining. Instead 01 drilling wells and using e'pla- "iV'e.. for permeilbilih, tht> compan~ digs a large room in the "hille dt>po..it. Then e:\plo<;i\'es detonated in the room iilllt \...ith rubble. or chunks oi oil ..hale. From the surface abO\'e the mine, air and lUel are forced into the room \..hen' they are ignited and bring the shale to relorting temperature. Then the shalt> oil ..eep!> through the rubblE' and gather.. in a sump \\here il can be pumpt'd Irom the mine. Th(' Occidental process ..till contains se,eral iis. irom hO\\ to control retorting on .1 large scale to ,