FUEL 236 |
| Detailed and systematic structural characterization studies were carried out on kerogen concentrates of Green River oil shale (GROS) and Rundle Ramsay Crossing oil shale using isotopically labeled reagents under selective and non-destructive derivatization conditions followed by solid state 13C- and 29Si-NMR analysis to quantify the hydrocarbon, oxygen and nitrogen functional groups. In addition, in-depth MS and NMR characterization of the structural features of the shale oils produced from GROS and RXOS under mild conditions which afford high organic conversions (>85%) were carried out. The purpose was to elucidate the detailed structure of the kerogens in selected oil shales in order to better understand how they were formed and then broken down in natural environments. The results of these studies have been combined and incorporated into molecular models of the structure of the representative organic material in GROS and RXOS. The models agree well with experimental values for elemental composition, aromaticity, distribution of chain lengths and ring system sizes, hydrocarbon and heteroatom functionalities and the proportion of kerogen and bitumen. The models developed led to studies of the thermal reactivity of the cross-linked macromolecular kerogen network structures and also to the reactivity of organic molecules, with structures derived from the models, in superheated aqueous environments. The parallel thermal and aqueous mechanisms contribute to the generation of petroleum.
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Workshop on Oil Shale Samples
1:55 PM-4:00 PM, Wednesday, August 22, 2007 Boston Park Plaza -- Cambridge Rm, Oral
Division of Fuel Chemistry |