Pyrolysis mechanism and kinetic model of Mudanjiang oil shale in the Songliao Basin, China

• Main Authors: Dexun Liu, Shuheng Tang, Qun Zhao, Hongyan Wang, Dazhong Dong, Nan Wang, Wei Guo, Feng Liang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: SAGE Publishing 2017-07-01
• Series: Energy Exploration & Exploitation
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1177/0144598717709665

In recent years, a lot of work on the development of oil shale has been done with regard to the Chinese oil shales. However, the research is mainly with respect to the processing aspects of oil shale. The pyrolysis mechanism of oil shale has been limited, to some extent, by instrumentation and analytical techniques. In this paper, pyrolysis kinetics characteristics of oil shale samples obtained from Mudanjiang were investigated by Rock-Eval analysis. The weight loss data, pyrolysis mechanism, and properties of oil shale were analyzed at different heating rates (10, 15, 20, 25, 30℃/min) in the temperature range from 200 to 600℃. In this paper, a distribution function of apparent activation energy and a relationship equation of apparent energy with frequency factor have been obtained. A special kinetic model was developed, fully suitable for the pyrolysis characteristics of oil shale. This model was also verified by experiment. Throughout the analysis of pyrolysis kinetics, it was observed that the pyrolysis reaction mechanism at different temperatures could be explained. The results may provide the theoretical basis for further effective and economical exploitation of oil shale.