Commercialisation Program

Development of the Rendall Process 

The Rendall Process was developed and patented over a period of more than 25 years from its inception in the early 1980s by John Rendall of Albuquerque, New Mexico, until his death in 2008.  The history of its development and the process are described in The Rendall Process

Commercialisation program 

Blue Ensign intends to build a small demonstration plant as the first step in commercialising the Rendall Process.Implementation is expected to cost about US$40 million over 24 months. Designed to process 1 tonne per hour of oil shale ore, the small facility will show the entire Rendall Process operating in continuous mode for the first time. More importantly, it will provide continuous operating and performance data on key process steps to confirm and optimise process and equipment design parameters for the first commercial-scale plant.

The facility will later be used in evaluation and pre-design testing of tonnage samples of other oil shale ores for potential process licensees. 

Since the objectives of the small plant are directed essentially to flowsheet optimisation rather than proving the process, the risk of non-performance is considered to be low. In its independent report in November 2007 on mechanical aspects of the demonstration plant, Shedden Uhde formed the opinion that ”based on the information presented by Blue Ensign, the Rendall Process can be successfully engineered into the required pilot scale shale oil production plant”.

Following successful operation of the demonstration plant, Blue Ensign will to continue commercialisation by implementing a small-scale commercial project rated at about 15,000 BOPD.  This may then be followed by a second project rated at 50,000 BOPD.

The first project is expected to be sufficient to confirm the commercial status of the Rendall Process, thereby providing a firm basis for commencement of international licensing.