Interaction of Kerogen Combustion and Pyrolysis and Continuous Oil Production during In Situ Combustion for Oil Shale Upgrading
Publication: Journal of Energy Engineering
Volume 150, Issue 2
Abstract
Oil shale is a potential strategic resource with large reserves and widespread application potential, and in situ combustion is an effective method to exploit oil shale. However, the interaction mechanism between pyrolysis and combustion reaction is still not clear; hence, the evolution of components and temperature in the reservoir is hard to describe, limiting the application of in situ combustion in oil shale. In this paper, we established a comprehensive reactive flow model to describe the in situ combustion in oil shale, and the in situ combustion process is analyzed in detail. During the in situ combustion, only pyrolysis reactions occur in the matrix system, while combustion reactions only occur in the fracture system. Under the interaction mechanisms of these two kinds of chemical reactions, in situ combustion upgrading can be carried out continuously. The produced oil and hydrocarbon gas per unit volume of oil shale are and , respectively, but about of is produced that needs to be stored subsequently when air is directly injected into the reservoir to maintain the combustion reactions. Increasing oil content and air injection rate can increase the cumulative oil and gas production, but there are optimal values above which the increase rate slows down. The energy conversion efficiency of in situ combustion is 49.5, and it is much higher than the energy conversion efficiency in other in situ upgrading methods for oil shale.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request. Reactive flow simulation model; Simulation results; and Table 3.
Acknowledgments
This research was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 42202349), the National Natural Science Foundation of Hubei Province (No. 2021CFB189), the Knowledge Innovation Program of Wuhan-Shuguang Project (No. 2022010801020219), the Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation (2021A1515110688), by the pilot test scheme for in situ transformation of oil shale by physicochemical composite heating (P23159), the State Key Laboratory of Shale Oil and Gas Enrichment Mechanisms and Effective Development, and the State Center for Research and Development of Oil Shale Exploitation.
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Information
Published In
Journal of Energy Engineering
Volume 150 • Issue 2 • April 2024
Copyright
© 2024 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jul 14, 2023
Accepted: Nov 5, 2023
Published online: Jan 3, 2024
Published in print: Apr 1, 2024
Discussion open until: Jun 3, 2024
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Chemical processes
- Chemistry
- Combustion
- Energy efficiency
- Energy engineering
- Energy sources (by type)
- Engineering fundamentals
- Environmental engineering
- Field tests
- Fuels
- Geology
- Geotechnical engineering
- Heat treatment
- Hydraulic engineering
- Hydraulic structures
- Non-renewable energy
- Oils
- Petroleum
- Reservoirs
- Rocks
- Shale
- Tests (by type)
- Waste management
- Waste treatment
- Water and water resources
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