Word: retort
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...Colorado's Parachute Canyon not far from Grand Junction, the seed of an oil revolution was planted. Union Oil Co. of California last week fired up a $7,000,000 prototype retort to produce oil from shale rock, the biggest such attempt by private enterprise. As 400 top oilmen and Government officials gathered for the dedication, Colorado's Governor Steve McNichols put their dream into words: "All around us is one of the greatest potential sources of energy materials ever to be found on this earth...
...Million Bet. Union strip-mines the oil-bearing rock in high butte country, then transports it by conveyor belt to the new retort. Crushed to small pieces, the rock is rammed upward in the six-story-high retort by a huge piston, meeting a stream of fire-fed gases that distill out shale oil at a rate of about 30 gal. per ton of rock. The raw oil is carried by truck to Union's Brea, Calif, plant...
...retort has produced more than 4,000 bbl. of oil, can handle some 400 tons of rock a day. With a nest of such retorts, commercial production would be at least 20,000 bbl. a day. But that goal is five years off, warned Union President Albert C. Rubel. In arid Colorado, a big problem for industry is water. Though Union's experimental retort needs no water, the waxy shale crude does not flow well in a pipeline unless carried along by water, and the nearest source is the Colorado River 15 miles away. Even more important, Rubel thinks...
...fuel-oil fires to distill out the shale oil. Though the oil recovery may not be high, the Sinclair idea would save mining machinery, possibly produce lighter oil for the pipelines. In Denver, the Oil Shale Corp. has a small new pilot plant designed to test the Swedish Aspeco retort process; this distills out the oil by whirling crushed shale mixed with superheated porcelain and aluminum balls in a rotating drum, also by-produces natural...
Tough-minded A.F.L.-C.I.O. President George Meany was unimpressed. In his prompt retort to the Galveston resolutions, Meany made it clear that the united labor movement would go ahead and pass judgment on Beck & Co. whether they showed up to defend themselves or not. "The only accuser of Mr. Beck," said Meany, "will be Mr. Beck-his own testimony, his lack of testimony, and the record...