Solvent Extraction of Bitumen from Jordan Oil Shale Assisted by Low Frequency Ultrasound

Abstract

In this work, the efficiency of 20 kHz frequency ultrasounds versus the classical stirring procedure was investigated on the solvent extraction of Jordanian El-Lajjun oil shale by employing a horn type sonicator. The influence of sonication parameters (sonication time and ultrasonic power) and extraction parameters (extraction solvent and oil shale particle size) on the solubilization of organic matter (bitumen) from oil shale are reported here. The influence of seven individual solvents, namely: tetrahydrofuran, benzene, carbon tetrachloride, chloroform, kerosene, toluene, acetone and a mixture of methanol-acetone-chloroform on the fraction extracted was investigated and it was found that the fraction extracted was 90% after only ten minutes of sonication at 33 W when tetrahydrofuran was used as extraction solvent. It was found that the fraction extracted percentage is strongly influenced by the solvent extraction, ultrasonic power and exposure time and less influenced by the particle size. Under the current experimental conditions and using the tetrahydrofuran as extraction solvent, the extraction time was decreased by four folds while the fraction extracted percentage (E%) was increased by three times.