Green River Oil Shale Pyrolysis: Semi-Open Conditions

Oil shale is a petroleum source rock that has not undergone the natural processes required to convert its organic matter to oil and gas. However, oil shale kerogen can be converted artificially to liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons by pyrolysis. Heating oil shale in place (in situ) has a number of operational, economic, and environmental advantages over surface retorts, particularly when the shale is too deep to mine. This work describes experiments conducted at temperatures and pressures appropriate to commercially viable in situ pyrolysis. The data are needed to construct models to plan, interpret, and optimize field experiments and commercial operations. The experiments also provide insights into the chemical compositions of the native state shale and all the products of pyrolysis—hydrocarbon and nonhydrocarbon gases, oil, bitumen, remaining pyrolyzable kerogen, residual organic matter, and inorganic matter—as functions of thermal maturation. Numerous studies of Green River oil shale pyrolysis have been p...