Prediction of the Permeability of a Fragmented Oil Shale Bed during In - Situ Retorting with Hot Gas

1976 ◽  
Author(s):  
R.B. Needham
Keyword(s):  
Oil Shale ◽  
Hot Gas

A Feasibility Study of an In Situ Retorting Process for Oil Shale

1968 ◽  
Vol 8 (03) ◽  
pp. 231-240 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allen L. Barnes ◽  
Allen M. Rowe
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Oil Shale ◽  
Gas Injection ◽  
Thermal Capacity ◽  
Order Partial Differential Equation ◽  
Conduction Heat Transfer ◽  
Hot Gas ◽  
Transfer Study ◽  
Vertical Fractures

Abstract A heat transfer study was made of hot gas injection into oil shale through wells interconnected by vertical fractures. This analysis involved the simultaneous numerical solution of a nonlinear, second-order partial differential equation that describes two-dimensional conduction heat transfer in oil shale and a non linear first-order partial differential equation that describes convection heat transfer in the fractures. Three nonlinear, temperature-dependent coefficients were used in this work; they are thermal conductivity, thermal capacity and retorting endothermic heat losses of oil shale. Vertical fractures were considered to be of finite height. Although vertical conduction heat transfer was not considered, an estimate of the error resulting from this limitation was made. How retorting efficiency was affected by injected gas temperature, injection rate, system geometry, cyclic injection and time were investigated. Results from this study show that the rate of retorting oil shale is a direct function of both injection temperature and rate, and the theoretical producing air-oil ratio:(AOR) is an inverse function of temperature. Retorting rates are constant until "breakthrough" of the 700 F isotherm at the producing. well, assuming constant injection parameters. Retorting rates for bounded systems are higher than the analogous unbounded systems and likewise AOR's are less. The use of an alternating injection-soak routine with high injection rates is less efficient than continuous injection at lower rates. These results indicate that injection temperatures on the order of 2000 F or greater may give theoretical AOR's in the economic range. Introduction Over half of the known oil shale reserves are located in the U.S., and most of them lie in the Piceance Creek basin of Western Colorado. The Colorado oil shale outcrops on the edges of the Piceance Greek Basin. At the outcrops the shale beds are relatively thin, from 25 to 50 ft thick. In the center of the basin the oil shale is as great as 2,000 ft thick and is covered with 1,000 ft of overburden. It has been estimated that there are over 1,000 billion bbl of oil in shales having an oil content over 15 gal/ton in this basin. Oil shale does not contain free oil but an organic matter called kerogen. Kerogen yields petroleum hydrocarbons by destructive distillation. It must be heated to approximately 700 F, at which temperature it decomposes into shale oil, gases and coke. The U.S. Bureau of Mines and, more recently, oil companies have conducted considerable research on surface retorting methods to economically recover oil from this shale. Another approach to exploit the oil shale deposits, in particular that portion having 1,000 ft of overburden, is to retort the oil shale in place and produce the liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons through wells drilled into the shale. Some research has been done on this approach. There are several variations to the in situ retorting approach. These variations fall into one of two groups, depending upon the geometry of the system:retorting in a highly fractured or broken up matrix;retorting from single fractures between production and injection wells. The latter is the group studied. Several investigators, using various assumptions, have studied flow of heat through horizontal systems. The objective of this work was to make a heat transfer study of in situ retorting oil shale by hot gas injection through wells interconnected by single vertical fractures of finite height. The oil shale thermal conductivity, thermal capacity and retorting endothermic heat losses were considered to be functions of temperature. SPEJ P. 231ˆ

Spectro-mechanical Characterization of Aromaticity and Maturity of Kerogens in Oil Shale at 6 nm Spatial Resolution

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Devon Jakob ◽  
Le Wang ◽  
Haomin Wang ◽  
Xiaoji Xu
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Resolution ◽  
Oil Shale ◽  
Infrared Imaging ◽  
Mechanical Characterization ◽  
Optical Diffraction ◽  
Chemical Compositions ◽  
Valuable Insight ◽  
Eagle Ford Shale

<p>In situ measurements of the chemical compositions and mechanical properties of kerogen help understand the formation, transformation, and utilization of organic matter in the oil shale at the nanoscale. However, the optical diffraction limit prevents attainment of nanoscale resolution using conventional spectroscopy and microscopy. Here, we utilize peak force infrared (PFIR) microscopy for multimodal characterization of kerogen in oil shale. The PFIR provides correlative infrared imaging, mechanical mapping, and broadband infrared spectroscopy capability with 6 nm spatial resolution. We observed nanoscale heterogeneity in the chemical composition, aromaticity, and maturity of the kerogens from oil shales from Eagle Ford shale play in Texas. The kerogen aromaticity positively correlates with the local mechanical moduli of the surrounding inorganic matrix, manifesting the Le Chatelier’s principle. In situ spectro-mechanical characterization of oil shale will yield valuable insight for geochemical and geomechanical modeling on the origin and transformation of kerogen in the oil shale.</p>

scholarly journals Cyclic Subcritical Water Injection into Bazhenov Oil Shale: Geochemical and Petrophysical Properties Evolution Due to Hydrothermal Exposure

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (15) ◽  
pp. 4570
Author(s):  
Aman Turakhanov ◽  
Albina Tsyshkova ◽  
Elena Mukhina ◽  
Evgeny Popov ◽  
Darya Kalacheva ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Energy Demand ◽  
Oil Shale ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Subcritical Water ◽  
Pore Space ◽  
Water Injection ◽  
Microstructural Properties ◽  
Gas Generation ◽  
Geochemical Parameters

In situ shale or kerogen oil production is a promising approach to developing vast oil shale resources and increasing world energy demand. In this study, cyclic subcritical water injection in oil shale was investigated in laboratory conditions as a method for in situ oil shale retorting. Fifteen non-extracted oil shale samples from Bazhenov Formation in Russia (98 °C and 23.5 MPa reservoir conditions) were hydrothermally treated at 350 °C and in a 25 MPa semi-open system during 50 h in the cyclic regime. The influence of the artificial maturation on geochemical parameters, elastic and microstructural properties was studied. Rock-Eval pyrolysis of non-extracted and extracted oil shale samples before and after hydrothermal exposure and SARA analysis were employed to analyze bitumen and kerogen transformation to mobile hydrocarbons and immobile char. X-ray computed microtomography (XMT) was performed to characterize the microstructural properties of pore space. The results demonstrated significant porosity, specific pore surface area increase, and the appearance of microfractures in organic-rich layers. Acoustic measurements were carried out to estimate the alteration of elastic properties due to hydrothermal treatment. Both Young’s modulus and Poisson’s ratio decreased due to kerogen transformation to heavy oil and bitumen, which remain trapped before further oil and gas generation, and expulsion occurs. Ultimately, a developed kinetic model was applied to match kerogen and bitumen transformation with liquid and gas hydrocarbons production. The nonlinear least-squares optimization problem was solved during the integration of the system of differential equations to match produced hydrocarbons with pyrolysis derived kerogen and bitumen decomposition.

In-situ catalytic co-pyrolysis of kukersite oil shale with black pine wood over acid zeolites

2021 ◽  
Vol 155 ◽  
pp. 105050
Author(s):  
Young-Kwon Park ◽  
Muhammad Zain Siddiqui ◽  
Selhan Karagöz ◽  
Tae Uk Han ◽  
Atsushi Watanabe ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Oil Shale ◽  
Black Pine ◽  
Pine Wood ◽  
Acid Zeolites

scholarly journals Ultraviolet Absorption Cross-Sections of Ammonia at Elevated Temperatures for Nonintrusive Quantitative Detection in Combustion Environments

2021 ◽  
pp. 000370282199044
Author(s):  
Wubin Weng ◽  
Shen Li ◽  
Marcus Aldén ◽  
Zhongshan Li
Keyword(s):  
Cross Section ◽  
Cross Sections ◽  
Absorption Cross Section ◽  
Elevated Temperatures ◽  
Uv Absorption ◽  
Energy Utilization ◽  
Quantitative Detection ◽  
Absorption Cross ◽  
Hot Gas

Ammonia (NH3) is regarded as an important nitrogen oxides (NOx) precursor and also as an effective reductant for NOx removal in energy utilization through combustion, and it has recently become an attractive non-carbon alternative fuel. To have a better understanding of thermochemical properties of NH3, accurate in situ detection of NH3 in high temperature environments is desirable. Ultraviolet (UV) absorption spectroscopy is a feasible technique. To achieve quantitative measurements, spectrally resolved UV absorption cross-sections of NH3 in hot gas environments at different temperatures from 295 K to 590 K were experimentally measured for the first time. Based on the experimental results, vibrational constants of NH3 were determined and used for the calculation of the absorption cross-section of NH3 at high temperatures above 590 K using the PGOPHER software. The investigated UV spectra covered the range of wavelengths from 190 nm to 230 nm, where spectral structures of the [Formula: see text] transition of NH3 in the umbrella bending mode, v2, were recognized. The absorption cross-section was found to decrease at higher temperatures. For example, the absorption cross-section peak of the (6, 0) vibrational band of NH3 decreases from ∼2 × 10−17 to ∼0.5 × 10−17 cm2/molecule with the increase of temperature from 295 K to 1570 K. Using the obtained absorption cross-section, in situ nonintrusive quantification of NH3 in different hot gas environments was achieved with a detection limit varying from below 10 parts per million (ppm) to around 200 ppm as temperature increased from 295 K to 1570 K. The quantitative measurement was applied to an experimental investigation of NH3 combustion process. The concentrations of NH3 and nitric oxide (NO) in the post flame zone of NH3–methane (CH4)–air premixed flames at different equivalence ratios were measured.

CHANGES IN OIL SHALE CHARACTERISTICS DURING SIMULATED IN-SITU PYROLYSIS IN SUPERHEATED STEAM

Oil Shale ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 230 ◽  
Author(s):  
L WANG ◽  
D YANG ◽  
J ZHAO ◽  
Y ZHAO ◽  
Z KANG
Keyword(s):  
Oil Shale ◽  
Superheated Steam
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