Process for recovering and upgrading hydrocarbons from oil shale and tar sands

Claim 1

A process for recovering hydrocarbons from oil shale or tar sands solids and simultaneously for cracking, hydrogenating, desulfurizing, demetalating, and dentrifying the recovered hydrocarbons, comprising contacting the oil shale or tar sands solids with a water-containing fluid under super-atmospheric pressure, at a temperature in the range of from about 600° F. to about 900° F., in the absence of externally supplied hydrogen, and in the presence of an externally supplied catalyst system containing a sulfur- and nitrogen-resistant catalyst selected from the group consisting of at least one soluble or insoluble transition metal compound, a transition metal deposited on a support, and combinations thereof, wherein said catalyst is present in a catalytically effective amount, wherein said transition metal in said catalyst is selected from the group consisting of ruthenium, rhodium, iridium, osmium, palladium, nickel, cobalt, platinum, and combinations thereof, wherein sufficient water is present in the water-containing fluid and said pressure is sufficiently high so that the water in the water-containing fluid has a density of at least 0.10 gram per milliliter and serves as an effective solvent for the recovered hydrocarbons; and lowering said temperature or pressure or both, to thereby make the water in the water-containing fluid a less effective solvent for such hydrocarbons and to thereby form separate phases.