Experimental Study on Solvent Extraction of Quseir Oil Shale in Egypt

Abstract

In the present work, the effect of solvent on the extraction of the organic matter from Quseir’s oil shales was studied. The experimental results revealed that the extraction yield obtained by the tetrahydrofuran was very high compared to other solvents. In addition, the solvent had a significant effect on the yield and the composition of the obtained oil. The analysis carried out on the extracted oil showed that the tetrahydrofuran was a very efficient solvent for oil shale extraction, giving a better quality of the oils extracted containing a large proportion of aromatics compounds and fewer amounts of sulphur and paraffin compounds.