Ecological and Economic Conditions for Producing Synthetic Crude Oil and Construction Materials at the Estonian Oil Shale Deposit

Abstract

More than 80% of the energy produced in Estonia is provided by heat-and-electric power stations fueled with oil shale. Three oil shale processing chemical plants use oil shale as a raw material to produce synthetic crude oil and gas. There are three open pits and two mines involved in the extraction of the fossil, and three beneficiation mills involved in upgrading the fossil. More than 2 billion tons of commercial resources are concentrated in reserve oil shale fields, whereas about 1 billion tons are in functional ones. Production throughput capacities of the mining businesses, in terms of the mined bulk, are estimated to be 21 mln tons per annum. Of this, the share of the commercial-grade oil shale is 70%. With respect to the active part of the commercially exploitable reserves and the maximum possible level of their use, the exploitation of the Estonian part of the Baltic Oil Shale Basin can be secured for at least 100 years. Upon this, the factor determining such a prospect is availability of up-to-date technologies applicable to environmentally safe extraction and non-waste commercial use of the raw oil shale mined.

Keywords:

• mining-chemical-and-power generation complex
• oil shale