Global Journal of Researches in Engineering, E: Civil & Structural, Volume 23 Issue 2

The use of Oil Shale for Road Coating Mohamed Amine Alouani α , Dennoun Saifaoui σ , Abdelkader Alouani ρ & Younes Alouani Ѡ I. G eneral I ntroduction and B ackground he world's strong economic growth and increasing populations have generated a remarkably growing demand for resources, especially energy. Current conventional sources cannot meet the future needs. Efforts are being focused on renewable energies, deep- sea oil and the development of new techniques to value heavy oils, tar sands and oil shale. This could bridge the gap between energy demand and supply. Several countries with oil shale deposits have launched projects to examine the possibility of exploiting these deposits. Morocco is one of these countries, with significant oil shale deposits in the Middle Atlas (Timahdit), Tarfaya, Tangier and Grand Atlas regions (Fig. 1) [1]. Morocco has a reserve of around 53 billion barrels of oil shale, in addition to a rich capacity for shale gas and oil. The exploration works for these unconventional hydrocarbons, which began several years ago, has proved highly encouraging. The first research into the development of oil shale in Morocco began in Tangier, with the creation of the oil shale company of Tangier. The company built a pilot plant with a daily capacity of 80 tons of oil shale. The Timahdit and Tarfaya deposits were discovered in the 1960’s. These last two deposits have been the subject of several geological and mining studies, laboratory studies, as well as pyrolysis and direct combustion tests. Their oil shales have been tested by several pyrolysis processes throughout the world mainly in the United States, Europe, the former USSR, Canada and Japan. They have been the subject of numerous technical and economic feasibility studies. This geological, mining and laboratory work, which began in 1975 and continues to this day, has enabled us to identify the characteristics of these reserves in the deposits of Timahdit and Tarfaya oil shales. These studies showed that Moroccan shales could be upgraded by pyrolysis to produce hydrocarbons. This led Morocco to launch its own experiment and develop the T3 process (Acronym of the three deposits of Tangier, Tarfaya and Timahdit) [2]. Morocco has significant oil shale resources, ranking 6 th worldwide after the USA, Russia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Brazil and Italy, with a Hassan II University, Faculty of Sciences Ain Chock, Renewable Energies and System Dynamics Laboratory, International Center for Studies R&D and Consulting. e-mail: amine.alouani@gmail.com potential of 53 billion barrels of oil in field. This includes over 37 billion barrels in the two main deposits of Timahdit and Tarfaya. Oil shale is used for a number of purposes, including conversion into hydrocarbons through the chemical process of pyrolysis and low-grade combustion for power generation. It is equally used as a raw material (chemical industries, agriculture, construction) for heavy oils particularly suited to diesel engines, lubricating oils and tar used in the manufacture of sealants and asphaltites. At the international level, oil shale is exploited at a limited scale despite how important the reserves are. This is related to a double-fold problematic. The first one concerns economic challenges; the production of petroleum from oil shale does not become economically viable unless the price of a barrel is at a profitability threshold. The second issue is related to environmental challenges: the combustion and thermal processing of oil shale generate waste and emit carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. In our studies and research program, we have developed solutions to exploit oil shale deposits within the framework of sustainable development, using renewable energy sources, unconventional waters and carbon dioxide collection techniques. In addition, we integrate other uses, to make the overall exploitation of oil shale deposits profitable, by reducing the impact on the global environment in a remarkable manner. To make the exploitation of oil shale deposits profitable, our research has been directed towards the development of other possible uses, such as road and runway coating, cement production and the manufacture of carbon plates. In this article, we develop the use of shale for road coating. T © 2023 Global Journals Global Journal of Researches in Engineering ( ) E Volume XxXIII Issue II Version I 43 Year 2023 Author α σ ρ Ѡ :