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Title: Quenched nonisothermal decomposition studies of Department of Energy western reference oil shales: Preliminary results

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:6128539

Quenched nonisothermal pyrolysis studies have been conducted on a Tipton Member, Green River Formation oil shale from Wyoming and a Parachute Creek Member, Green River Formation oil shale from Colorado. These shales have been designated as western reference oil shales by the US Department of Energy. The conversion of kerogen to bitumen and volatiles (oil + gas) was obtained for heating rates of 2 and 10 K/min in the temperature range of 573 to 773 K using a modified thermogravimetric analyzer. Particular attention was paid to the formation of the intermediate bitumen during decomposition of the shale. The maximum amount of extractable bitumen increases with temperature and heating rate. This observation is consistent with an oil shale decomposition model in which the activation energy for kerogen decomposition is greater than the activation energy of bitumen decomposition. This is also consistent with previous isothermal decomposition studies on the same oil shales. A nonlinear least-squares program was used to fit the quenched nonisothermal data to a simple model that incorporates bitumen formation, bitumen decomposition, and volatiles evolution. Although seemingly good fits were obtained the parameter statistics were poor and showed a high degree of linear dependency. 18 refs., 11 figs., 3 tabs.

Research Organization:
Western Research Inst., Laramie, WY (USA)
Sponsoring Organization:
DOE/FE
DOE Contract Number:
FC21-86MC11076
OSTI ID:
6128539
Report Number(s):
DOE/MC/11076-2886; ON: DE90009698
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English