TECHNICAL TOPIC 4a - Oil Shale and Oil (Tar) Sands Processing & Environmental Factors

The summary for the TECHNICAL TOPIC 4a - Oil Shale and Oil (Tar) Sands Processing & Environmental Factors grant is detailed below. This summary states who is eligible for the grant, how much grant money will be awarded, current and past deadlines, Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) numbers, and a sampling of similar government grants. Verify the accuracy of the data FederalGrants.com provides by visiting the webpage noted in the Link to Full Announcement section or by contacting the appropriate person listed as the Grant Announcement Contact. If any section is incomplete, please visit the website for the Headquarters, which is the U.S. government agency offering this grant.

TECHNICAL TOPIC 4a - Oil Shale and Oil (Tar) Sands Processing & Environmental Factors: NOTE: This descriptive area provides an overview ofTechnical Topic 4a. YOUMUST READ THE FUNDING OPPORTUNITY ANNOUNCEMENT FOR DETAILS ON ADDITIONALINFORMATION, EVALUATION CRITERIA AND HOW TO PREPARE AN APPLICATION UNDER ASPECIFIC TECHNICAL TOPIC.Funding Opportunity Announcement:http://e-center.doe.gov/iips/faopor.nsf/1be0f2271893ba198525644b006bc0be/cb0e4496d1db52fc85256ff100704103?OpenDocumentSUBTOPIC 4a - Oil Shale and Oil (Tar) Sands Processing EnvironmentalFactorsDomestic synthetic crude oil from either oil sands or kerogens from oilshalehave not been developed. Many steps and massive investment are requiredalongthe path from natural resource to transportable crude or refined productfungible with liquid transportation fuels. Both oil shale and tar sandsresources could increase domestic oil supply.Kerogen from shale (the Green River Formation in Colorado, Utah and Wyomingbeing the World?s largest deposit) had extensive RD D prior to 1988 withonlyscattered development since. Volumes of studies exist but few researchersarecurrently pursuing this immense resource. In March 2004, U.S. DOEpublished?Strategic Significance of America?s Oil Shale Resource, Vol. I, AssessmentofStrategic Issues, and Vol. II, Oil Shale Resource, Technologies andEconomics?. Extraction, processing, tailings disposal and upgrading to afungible liquid fuel are immense challenges.U.S. oil shale contains an estimated hundred times as much resource as U.S.oilsands. It is estimated that approximately two-thirds of the oil shale intheworld is in the United States and approximately half of the oil shale intheworld occurs in the states of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming.Bitumen from oil sands and kerogen from shale, as well as most medium andheavyconventional crude oil requires upgrading of the heavy ends to make liquidtransportation fuels. References to the chemistry of heavy oil propertiesandupgrading include paper 1998.202 ?Composition and Properties of HeavyCrudes?by M.M. Boduszynski, C.E. Rechsteiner, A.S.G. Shafizadeh. Following is aDOE-FE website with useful information about oil shale:http://www.fossil.energy.gov/programs/reserves/npr/NPR_Oil_Shale_Program.htmlThe primary interest of this topic is oil shale. However, applications foroilsands will also be accepted; studies or research methods for alleviatingenvironmental limitations on the development of the US oil sands resourcearerequested.