The Pumpherston retort was a type of oil-shale retort used in Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 at the end of 19th and beginning of 20th century. It marked separation of the oil-shale industry from the coal industry as it was designed specifically for oil-shale retorting. The retort is named after Pumpherston

Pumpherston

Pumpherston is a small dormitory village in West Lothian, Scotland. Originally a small industrial village to the nearby shale mine and works, it now adjoins the new town of Livingston, which was constructed alongside Pumpherston in the late 1960s and quickly grew much larger than its...

 town in Scotland, which was one of the major Scottish oil shale areas. The retort was commercialized by Pumpherston Oil Company.

History

The Pumpherston retort was invented and patented in 1894 by William Fraser, James Bryson, and James Jones of Pumpherston Oil Company. By 1910, 1,528 Pumpherston retorts were used in Scotland. In addition, the retort was used in Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 and Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

.

Design

The Pumpherston retort was a 35 feet (10.7 m) high cylindrical vessel containing two main sections. The upper section was made of iron and the lower section was made of fire bricks. The raw oil shale was fed on the top of retort. Shale oil

Shale oil

Shale oil, known also as kerogen oil or oil-shale oil, is an unconventional oil produced from oil shale by pyrolysis, hydrogenation, or thermal dissolution. These processes convert the organic matter within the rock into synthetic oil and gas...

 and oil shale gas

Oil shale gas

Oil shale gas is a synthetic gas mixture produced by oil shale pyrolysis. Although often referred to as shale gas, it differs from the natural gas produced from shale, which is also known as shale gas.-Process:...

 were distilled at the upper section at the temperature of 750 °F (398.9 °C) to 900 °F (482.2 °C). At the lower section, the heat rose to 1300 °F (704.4 °C) and steam was added to produce ammonia

Ammonia

Ammonia is a compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the formula . It is a colourless gas with a characteristic pungent odour. Ammonia contributes significantly to the nutritional needs of terrestrial organisms by serving as a precursor to food and fertilizers. Ammonia, either directly or...

. The process required approximately 1000 barrels (163.7 m³) of water equivalent of steam per one ton of oil shale.

The retort had a 15 ton capacity, and the residence time was 24 hours. It was started up by combustion of coal, but after the process started it was switch to the produced oil shale gas.