skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Model representations of kerogen structures: An insight from density functional theory calculations and spectroscopic measurements

Journal Article · · Scientific Reports
 [1];  [2];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [3]
  1. Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
  2. Univ. of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV (United States). Dept. of Physics and Astronomy
  3. Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States). MultiScale Materials Science for Energy and Environment (MSE2), The Joint CNRS-MIT Lab. Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering; Aix-Marseille Univ., Marseille (France). Interdisciplinary Center of Nanoscience of Marseille (CINaM)

Molecular structures of kerogen control hydrocarbon production in unconventional reservoirs. Significant progress has been made in developing model representations of various kerogen structures. These models have been widely used for the prediction of gas adsorption and migration in shale matrix. However, using density functional perturbation theory (DFPT) calculations and vibrational spectroscopic measurements, we here show that a large gap may still remain between the existing model representations and actual kerogen structures, therefore calling for new model development. Using DFPT, we calculated Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra for six most widely used kerogen structure models. The computed spectra were then systematically compared to the FTIR absorption spectra collected for kerogen samples isolated from Mancos, Woodford and Marcellus formations representing a wide range of kerogen origin and maturation conditions. Limited agreement between the model predictions and the measurements highlights that the existing kerogen models may still miss some key features in structural representation. A combination of DFPT calculations with spectroscopic measurements may provide a useful diagnostic tool for assessing the adequacy of a proposed structural model as well as for future model development. This approach may eventually help develop comprehensive infrared (IR)-fingerprints for tracing kerogen evolution.

Research Organization:
Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA); SNL Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program; National Research Agency (ANR) (France)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC04-94AL85000; ANR-11-LABX-0053; ANR-11-IDEX-0001-02
OSTI ID:
1399488
Report Number(s):
SAND2017-0775J; 650701
Journal Information:
Scientific Reports, Vol. 7; ISSN 2045-2322
Publisher:
Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 14 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (28)

Nanoconfinement effects on the reversibility of hydrogen storage in ammonia borane: A first-principles study journal June 2011
Generalized Gradient Approximation Made Simple journal October 1996
Geochemical evolution of produced waters from hydraulic fracturing of the Marcellus Shale, northern Appalachian Basin: A multivariate compositional data analysis approach journal June 2014
Direct correlation between the measured electrochemical capacitance, wettability and surface functional groups of CarbonNanosheets journal June 2014
Hydrogenation of Single-Wall Carbon Nanotubes Using Polyamine Reagents:  Combined Experimental and Theoretical Study journal February 2008
Organic–inorganic interactions in petroleum-producing sedimentary basins journal November 2003
van der Waals forces and confinement in carbon nanopores: Interaction between CH4, COOH, NH3, OH, SH and single-walled carbon nanotubes journal May 2016
Projector augmented-wave method journal December 1994
"Fingerprinting" of oil by infrared spectrometry journal November 1971
Time-Resolved Infrared Reflectance Studies of the Dehydration-Induced Transformation of Uranyl Nitrate Hexahydrate to the Trihydrate Form journal August 2015
Layered uranium( vi ) hydroxides: structural and thermodynamic properties of dehydrated schoepite α-UO 2 (OH) 2 journal January 2014
Petroleum Formation and Occurrence book January 1984
Nanostructural control of methane release in kerogen and its implications to wellbore production decline journal June 2016
Efficient iterative schemes for ab initio total-energy calculations using a plane-wave basis set journal October 1996
Designing carbon nanoframeworks tailored for hydrogen storage journal May 2007
From ultrasoft pseudopotentials to the projector augmented-wave method journal January 1999
Solar Energy Storage in Phase Change Materials: First-Principles Thermodynamic Modeling of Magnesium Chloride Hydrates journal February 2014
Natural Gas From Shale Bursts Onto the Scene journal June 2010
Uncloaking the Thermodynamics of the Studtite to Metastudtite Shear-Induced Transformation journal July 2016
Molecular Modeling of the Volumetric and Thermodynamic Properties of Kerogen: Influence of Organic Type and Maturity journal December 2014
Mechanical properties of zirconium alloys and zirconium hydrides predicted from density functional perturbation theory journal January 2015
Rapid, Nondestructive technique for infrared identification of crude oils by internal reflection spectrometry. Qualitative differentiation of crude oils originating from natural seepages and platform "A" in the Santa Barbara Channel journal February 1970
Dynamical matrices, Born effective charges, dielectric permittivity tensors, and interatomic force constants from density-functional perturbation theory journal April 1997
Kerogen origin, evolution and structure journal May 2007
Nanogeochemistry: Nanostructures, emergent properties and their control on geochemical reactions and mass transfers journal June 2014
Realistic molecular model of kerogen’s nanostructure journal February 2016
Dehydration of uranyl nitrate hexahydrate to uranyl nitrate trihydrate under ambient conditions as observed via dynamic infrared reflectance spectroscopy conference May 2015
Control of pertechnetate sorption on activated carbon by surface functional groups journal January 2007

Cited By (2)

Organics preserved in anhydrous interplanetary dust particles: Pristine or not? journal November 2019
Review of Molecular Simulation Method for Gas Adsorption/desorption and Diffusion in Shale Matrix journal September 2018

Similar Records

Chemical, Molecular, and Microstructural Evolution of Kerogen during Thermal Maturation: Case Study from the Woodford Shale of Oklahoma
Journal Article · Wed Mar 21 00:00:00 EDT 2018 · Energy and Fuels · OSTI ID:1399488

SUGAR: An improved empirical model of Type Ia supernovae based on spectral features
Journal Article · Wed Apr 01 00:00:00 EDT 2020 · Astronomy and Astrophysics · OSTI ID:1399488

Improved Kerogen Models for Determining Thermal Maturity and Hydrocarbon Potential of Shale
Journal Article · Fri Nov 30 00:00:00 EST 2018 · Scientific Reports · OSTI ID:1399488

Related Subjects