Torbanite
Torbanite, also known as boghead coal, is a variety of fine-grained black oil shale. It usually occurs as lenticular masses, often associated with deposits of Permian coals.[1][2] Torbanite is classified as lacustrine type oil shale.[3]
Torbanite is named after Torbane Hill near Bathgate in Scotland, its main location of occurrence.[4] Other major deposits of torbanite are found in Pennsylvania and Illinois, USA, in the Transvaal of South Africa, in the Sydney Basin, New South Wales, Australia,[5] the largest deposit of which is located at Glen Davis, and in Nova Scotia, Canada.[1][4]
Organic matter (telalginite) in torbanite is derived from lipid-rich microscopic plant remains similar in appearance to the fresh-water colonial green alga Botryococcus braunii.[1][2][4] This evidence and extracellular hydrocarbons produced by the alga have led scientists to examine the alga as a source of Permian torbanites[6] and a possible producer of biofuels.[7] Torbanite consists of subordinate amounts of vitrinite and inertinite; however, their occurrence vary depending of deposits.[4]
Torbanite typically comprises 88% carbon and 11% hydrogen.[1] Paraffin oil can be distilled from some forms of torbanite, a process discovered and patented by James Young in 1851.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d Yen, Teh Fu; Chilingar, George V. (1976). Oil Shale. Amsterdam: Elsevier. pp. 4–5; 28. ISBN 9780444414083. http://books.google.com/?id=qkU7OcVkwaIC&pg=PA4. Retrieved 2009-07-06.
- ^ a b Lee, Sunggyu (1990). Oil Shale Technology. CRC Press. p. 20. ISBN 9780849346156. http://books.google.com/?id=N0wMCusO6yIC&pg=PA20. Retrieved 2008-05-11.
- ^ Hutton, A.C. (1987). "Petrographic classification of oil shales". International Journal of Coal Geology (Elsevier) 8 (3): 203–231. doi:10.1016/0166-5162(87)90032-2.
- ^ a b c d Dyni, John R. (2003). "Geology and resources of some world oil-shale deposits (Presented at Symposium on Oil Shale in Tallinn, Estonia, November 18-21, 2002)" (PDF). Oil Shale. A Scientific-Technical Journal (Estonian Academy Publishers) 20 (3): 193–252. ISSN 0208-189X. http://www.kirj.ee/public/oilshale/2_dyni_2003_3.pdf. Retrieved 2007-06-17.
- ^ Brian Ayling. "Shale mining relics at Airly, Genowlan Creek and Torbane, NSW". http://web.aanet.com.au/bayling/airly.html. Retrieved 2010-01-30.
- ^ Meuzelaar, Henk L. C.; Windig, Willem; Futrell, Jean H.; Harper, Alice M.; Larter, Steve R. (1986). "Pyrolysis mass spectrometry and multivariate analysis of several key world oil shale kerogens and some recent alginites". In Aczel, Thomas. Mass spectrometric characterization of shale oils: a symposium. Philadelphia: ASTM International. pp. 81–105. ISBN 9780803104679. http://books.google.com/?id=X8ZJDf8Od4sC&dq=Mass+spectrometric+characterization+of+shale+oils%3A+a+symposium&q=105. Retrieved 2009-07-06.
- ^ Lee, Robert E. (1999). Phycology (3 ed.). Cambridge, [England]: Cambridge University Press. pp. 246–247. ISBN 9780521638838. http://books.google.com/?id=JbTg1QkFycgC&pg=PA246.
[edit] External links
- Torbanite at answers.com
