RETORT. Oil Shale Retorting Simulation
- Argonne National Lab., IL (United States)
RETORT is a one-dimensional mathematical model for simulating the chemical and physical processes involved in the vertical retorting of a fixed or moving rubbled bed of oil shale. The model includes those processes believed to have the most important effects in either the hot-gas retorting mode or the forward combustion retorting mode. The physical processes are: axial convective transport of heat and mass, axial thermal dispersion, axial pressure drop, gas-solid heat transfer, intraparticle thermal conductivity, water evaporation and condensation, wall heat loss, and movement of shale countercurrent to flow of gas. The chemical reactions within the shale particles are: release of bound water, pyrolysis of kerogen, coking of oil, pyrolysis of char, decomposition of carbonate minerals, and gasification of residual organic carbon with CO2, H2O, and O2. The chemical reactions in the bulk-gas stream are: combustion and cracking of oil vapor, combustion of H2, CH4, CHx, and CO, and the water-gas shift. The RETORT model is meant to simulate adiabatic laboratory retorts and in situ retorts that have been prepared with fairly uniform lateral distribution of shale particle sizes, void volume, and permeability. The model`s main role is to calculate, as a function of time and axial location in the retort, the flow rate of the bulk-gas stream and the composition and temperature of both the fluid stream and the shale particles.
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-48
- OSTI ID:
- 145682
- Report Number(s):
- ESTSC-000267I433100; NESC-1083
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: DN: The Cray1 version uses the FORTRAN 77 standard extension for seven-character and eight-character variable names. Subroutine ICLOCK, which returns the elapsed CPU time, and subroutine LOC, which returns the address of its argument, used in the IBM version, are written in Basic Assembler Language.; PBD: 26 Feb 1992
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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