Characterization of DOE reference oil shales: Mahogany Zone, Parachute Creek Member, Green River Formation Oil Shale, and Clegg Creek Member, New Albany Shale

Technical Report · Tue Sep 01 04:00:00 EDT 1987

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/5535457· OSTI ID:5535457

Miknis, F. P.; Robertson, R. E.

Measurements have been made on the chemical and physical properties of two oil shales designated as reference oil shales by the Department of Energy. One oil shale is a Green River Formation, Parachute Creek Member, Mahogany Zone Colorado oil shale from the Exxon Colony mine and the other is a Clegg Creek Member, New Albany shale from Kentucky. Material balance Fischer assays, carbon aromaticities, thermal properties, and bulk mineralogic properties have been determined for the oil shales. Kerogen concentrates were prepared from both shales. The measured properties of the reference shales are comparable to results obtained from previous studies on similar shales. The western reference shale has a low carbon aromaticity, high Fischer assay conversion to oil, and a dominant carbonate mineralogy. The eastern reference shale has a high carbon aromaticity, low Fischer assay conversion to oil, and a dominant silicate mineralogy. Chemical and physical properties, including ASTM distillations, have been determined for shale oils produced from the reference shales. The distillation data were used in conjunction with API correlations to calculate a large number of shale oil properties that are required for computer models such as ASPEN. There was poor agreement between measured and calculated molecular weights for the total shale oil produced from each shale. However, measured and calculated molecular weights agreed reasonably well for true boiling point distillate fractions in the temperature range of 204 to 399/sup 0/C (400 to 750/sup 0/F). Similarly, measured and calculated viscosities of the total shale oils were in disagreement, whereas good agreement was obtained on distillate fractions for a boiling range up to 315/sup 0/C (600/sup 0/F). Thermal and dielectric properties were determined for the shales and shale oils. The dielectric properties of the reference shales and shale oils decreased with increasing frequency of the applied frequency. 42 refs., 34 figs., 24 tabs.

• Research Organization: Western Research Inst., Laramie, WY (USA)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Fossil Energy (FE)
• DOE Contract Number: FC21-86MC11076
• OSTI ID: 5535457
• Report Number(s): DOE/MC/11076-2448; ON: DE88005703
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

04 OIL SHALES AND TAR SANDS
040500* -- Oil Shales & Tar Sands-- Properties & Composition
A CODES
BENCH-SCALE EXPERIMENTS
BITUMINOUS MATERIALS
CALIBRATION STANDARDS
CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION
CHEMICAL PROPERTIES
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
COMPUTER CODES
DECOMPOSITION
DISTILLATION
ENERGY SOURCES
FEDERAL REGION IV
FISCHER ASSAY
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
GEOLOGIC FORMATIONS
GREEN RIVER FORMATION
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
KENTUCKY
KEROGEN
MASS SPECTROSCOPY
MATERIALS
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
MINERAL OILS
MINERAL RESOURCES
MINERALOGY
MINERALS
NEUTRON ACTIVATION ANALYZERS
NMR SPECTRA
NORTH AMERICA
OIL SHALE DEPOSITS
OIL SHALES
OILS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC MATTER
OTHER ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
RESOURCES
RETORTING
SAMPLE PREPARATION
SEPARATION PROCESSES
SHALE OIL
SPECTRA
SPECTROSCOPY
STANDARDS
USA
WATER