Fuels from Oil Shale, Tar Sands, Biomass, Waste

Abstract

Oil shale is a fine-grained sedimentary rock. It consists mostly of inorganic material (rock), with smaller amounts of organic material that is generally hydrocarbon in nature, but with various other atoms in many of the molecules. In the field of chemistry organic chemistry is basically the chemistry of compounds containing carbon. For purposes of this discussion, and as the term is used in relation to fuels, organic material may be considered to be carbon-based material that can be burned. The inorganic material is a shale and may be considered to be rock, which cannot be burned.