Pyrolysis characteristics of a North Korean oil shale

• Published in: Petroleum science 2014-09, Vol.11 (3), p.432-438
• Main Authors: Wang, Wei, Li, Shuyuan, Li, Linyue, Ma, Yue, Yue, Changtao, He, Jilai
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Earth and Environmental Science; Earth Sciences; Economics and Management; Energy Policy; Industrial and Production Engineering; Industrial Chemistry/Chemical Engineering; Mineral Resources; 一级动力学; 动力学数据; 干馏气; 汽油馏分; 油页岩; 温度表; 热解气体; 热解特性
• ISSN: 1672-5107; 1995-8226
• DOI: 10.1007/s12182-014-0358-x

Pyrolysis characteristics of a North Korean oil shale and its pyrolysates were investigated in this paper. The pyrolysis experiments were conducted below 600 ℃ at a heating rate of 10, 15, 20 and 25 ℃/min, respectively. The kinetics data were calculated using both integral and differential methods with the assumption of first order kinetics. The results show that the averaged oil content of the North Korean oil shale is about 12.1 wt% and its heat value is 13,400 kJ/kg. The oil yields at different retorting temperatures show that the higher the retorting temperature the greater the oil and retorting gas yields. The optimal retorting temperature for the North Korean oil shale is about 500 ℃. The properties of the North Korean shale oil including density, viscosity, flash point and freezing point are found to be relatively low compared with those of shale oil from FuShun, China. The gasoline fraction, diesel fraction and heavy oil fraction account for 11.5 wt%, 41.5 wt% and 47 wt%, respectively. The major pyrolysis gases are ca4 （the most abundant）, H2, CO2, H2S, CO, and C2-C5 hydrocarbons. The heat value of retorting gas is more than 900 kJ/mol, and the retorting gas has high sulfur content.