Catalytic hydrothermal pyrolysis behaviors of oil shale under restrained conditions

Abstract The effect of oil shale expansion and the addition of FeCl3 on its pyrolysis behavior was studied by hydrothermal pyrolysis experiments of cylindrical oil shale at 350 °C. The expansion of oil shale promotes the development of pores and fractures, which leads to the drastic pyrolysis of ker...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Yihan Wang, Shijie Kang, Lulu Jiao, Yalu Han, Zhao Liu, Chengcai Jin
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nature Portfolio 2025-07-01
Series:Scientific Reports
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Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-05840-1
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Summary:Abstract The effect of oil shale expansion and the addition of FeCl3 on its pyrolysis behavior was studied by hydrothermal pyrolysis experiments of cylindrical oil shale at 350 °C. The expansion of oil shale promotes the development of pores and fractures, which leads to the drastic pyrolysis of kerogen and the discharge of pyrolysis products. Besides, when the radial swelling increment of the oil shale is 33% of the free expansion, the pyrolysis reaction is basically guaranteed. When the radial expansion increment of the oil shale is greater than 33% of the free expansion amount, FeCl3 can effectively improve the yield of expelled oil by promoting the fracture of polycyclic structure and C-O bond in the kerogen, accelerating the migration of bitumen and urging the water to participate in the reaction. In addition, when the radial swelling increment of oil shale increases, the content of small molecule compounds in the expelled oil is reduced. These findings demonstrated that hydraulic fracturing of oil shale reservoirs and adding FeCl3 can effectively guarantee the success and economy of in-situ oil shale mining.
ISSN:2045-2322