Equity Oil Company BX in situ oil shale project, Piceance Basin, Colorado. Environmental quarter report, March 1-May 31, 1981

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

10.26434/chemrxiv.7336160 ◽

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>

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Simulated effects of oil-shale development on the hydrology of Piceance basin, Colorado

Open-File Report ◽

10.3133/ofr74255 ◽

1974 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

John B. Weeks ◽

George H. Leavesley ◽

Frank A. Welder ◽

George J. Saulnier

Keyword(s):

Oil Shale ◽

Piceance Basin

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Numerical simulation of in situ exploitation of oil shale by injecting high-temperature steam

Oil Shale ◽

10.3176/oil.2019.4.03 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 36 (4) ◽

pp. 483

Author(s):

D Yang ◽

Y Zhao ◽

Z Kang

Keyword(s):

Numerical Simulation ◽

High Temperature ◽

Oil Shale ◽

High Temperature Steam

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Integrated plan for off-gas environmental control technology research and development in in-situ oil shale retorting

10.2172/6723294 ◽

1979 ◽

Author(s):

Not Given Author

Keyword(s):

Research And Development ◽

Oil Shale ◽

Environmental Control ◽

Control Technology ◽

Technology Research

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

Energies ◽

10.3390/en14154570 ◽

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.

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