1 12
The Last Resource
sunk down through the cap—rock into the sulphur deposit. The outer
jacket of the pipe encloses another pipe of half its diameter which,
in turn, surrounds an even smaller pipe. The outer sleeve carries
water heated under pressure to about 330°F down to the bottom of
the sulphur deposit. Some of the sulphur melts and, because it is
twice as heavy as water, moves to the bottom of the pipe. The
pressure behind the hot water tends to force the liquid sulphur up
the middle sleeve of the pipe. The sulphur does not come all the
way unaided, however, for to complete its journey compressed air
is forced down the small central pipe to foam and hence lighten the
sulphur and carry it to the surface. Here, the still molten sulphur
is separated from the air.
The Freeport Sulphur Company constructed the largest steel
island ever built at sea to exploit the sulphur deposit found by
Humble. The island cost some 3330 million and houses drilling and
production equipment, a power plant, heliport, ofces, and sleeping
and recreation quarters for 120 men. It is a self—contained com—
munity out at sea. From the island the molten sulphur is pumped
ashore along a heated submerged pipe.
It is not a very large step in the imagination to move from the
Frasch process
to another for the recovery of oil and natural gas
using underground explosions. Whereas in the Frasch process
superheated steam under pressure frees the sulphur, the explosion
would break up the rock releasing the trapped hydrocarbons so that
they could be drawn to the surface. In other cases, the energy
'
released might be used to extract oil from oil shale. In the Peceance
Basin, Colorado, such a technique might yield anything up
to
160,000,000,000 barrels of oil, assuming only half of the oil is
recoverable! In fact the deposits of oil—rich shales in the United
States alone might provide yields equivalent to several ‘Persian
Gulfs’. Project Gasbuggy, the rst American experiment using a
nuclear explosion to release natural gas, took place in December
1967 when a 24—kiloton device was set off at a depth of 4,000 feet in
New Mexico. The Russians are known to be experimenting with
large charges of conventional explosives, along similar lines to those
used by the United States.
Could these techniques be extended to the retrieval of minerals in
the bed-rocks of the sea oor? It is tempting to hope so, but both
the Frasch and the explosive processes rely on the fact that the end
products will flow through a pipe. Of course solids can ow if they
The Last Resource
sunk down through the cap—rock into the sulphur deposit. The outer
jacket of the pipe encloses another pipe of half its diameter which,
in turn, surrounds an even smaller pipe. The outer sleeve carries
water heated under pressure to about 330°F down to the bottom of
the sulphur deposit. Some of the sulphur melts and, because it is
twice as heavy as water, moves to the bottom of the pipe. The
pressure behind the hot water tends to force the liquid sulphur up
the middle sleeve of the pipe. The sulphur does not come all the
way unaided, however, for to complete its journey compressed air
is forced down the small central pipe to foam and hence lighten the
sulphur and carry it to the surface. Here, the still molten sulphur
is separated from the air.
The Freeport Sulphur Company constructed the largest steel
island ever built at sea to exploit the sulphur deposit found by
Humble. The island cost some 3330 million and houses drilling and
production equipment, a power plant, heliport, ofces, and sleeping
and recreation quarters for 120 men. It is a self—contained com—
munity out at sea. From the island the molten sulphur is pumped
ashore along a heated submerged pipe.
It is not a very large step in the imagination to move from the
Frasch process
to another for the recovery of oil and natural gas
using underground explosions. Whereas in the Frasch process
superheated steam under pressure frees the sulphur, the explosion
would break up the rock releasing the trapped hydrocarbons so that
they could be drawn to the surface. In other cases, the energy
'
released might be used to extract oil from oil shale. In the Peceance
Basin, Colorado, such a technique might yield anything up
to
160,000,000,000 barrels of oil, assuming only half of the oil is
recoverable! In fact the deposits of oil—rich shales in the United
States alone might provide yields equivalent to several ‘Persian
Gulfs’. Project Gasbuggy, the rst American experiment using a
nuclear explosion to release natural gas, took place in December
1967 when a 24—kiloton device was set off at a depth of 4,000 feet in
New Mexico. The Russians are known to be experimenting with
large charges of conventional explosives, along similar lines to those
used by the United States.
Could these techniques be extended to the retrieval of minerals in
the bed-rocks of the sea oor? It is tempting to hope so, but both
the Frasch and the explosive processes rely on the fact that the end
products will flow through a pipe. Of course solids can ow if they