Ammonia evolution from western and eastern oil shales

Conference · Tue Nov 01 04:00:00 EST 1988

OSTI ID:6433177

Oh, M S; Crawford, R W; Foster, K G; Alcaraz, A

The study of nitrogen (N) species released during oil shale processing is an important research area because both oil shale and shale oil are rich in N. Combustion of N-bearing fuels can produce nitrogen oxides (NO/sub x/). Ammonia is a major N by-product in oil shale processing. The retort water and pyrolysis gases carry 4% and 0.2% of the total N, respectively, and ammonia accounts for most of the N in these product streams. Ammonia also accounts for half of N in the combustion gas stream, and NO/sub x/ for the other half. The concentrations of HCN and molecular nitrogen (N/sub 2/) in the combustion gas stream were not determined, so they were not included in the balance. The total N balance is poor, probably due to species not measured and to the lack of accuracy in determination of the N content in solids. We studied ammonia evolution by pyrolyzing oil shale under a given time-temperature history and measuring the total yield of ammonia by an ammonia electrode. In this paper, we summarize the on-line ammonia evolution rates for two Green River Formation oil shales and one Eastern oil shale under inert gas (argon) and also under steam. We analyze the contribution of the organic/inorganic sources of N to the NH/sub 3/ yield at different pyrolysis temperatures and show oil shale N-chemistry during pyrolysis. We also compare the kinetics of ammonia evolution with that of other pyrolysis gases. 29 refs., 5 figs., 2 tabs.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-48
• OSTI ID: 6433177
• Report Number(s): UCRL-99703; CONF-8804239-2; ON: DE89006733
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

04 OIL SHALES AND TAR SANDS
040403* -- Oil Shales & Tar Sands-- Refining
500200 -- Environment
Atmospheric-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (-1989)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
AMMONIA
ARGON
BITUMINOUS MATERIALS
CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS
CATALYTIC EFFECTS
CHALCOGENIDES
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION
CHEMICAL REACTION KINETICS
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
COMBUSTION PRODUCTS
DECOMPOSITION
ELEMENTS
ENERGY SOURCES
FLUIDS
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
GASES
GEOLOGIC FORMATIONS
GREEN RIVER FORMATION
HYDRIDES
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
KINETICS
MASS SPECTROMETERS
MATERIALS
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
NITROGEN HYDRIDES
NITROGEN OXIDES
NONMETALS
OIL SHALES
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PYROLYSIS
RARE GASES
REACTION KINETICS
SPECTROMETERS
TEMPERATURE EFFECTS
THERMOCHEMICAL PROCESSES