Hydrous pyrolysis of crude oil in gold-plated reactors

Curiale, Joseph A.; Lundegard, Paul D.; Kharaka, Yousif K.

doi:10.1016/0146-6380(92)90100-c

Cited by 19 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 37 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The behaviors of several hydrocarbon-based molecular parameters during thermal processing of organic matter rich source rocks have been reported from laboratory heating experiments. Hydrous pyrolysis is one of the most widely used organic geochemical techniques for carrying out artificial maturation studies of source rocks and crude oils . Hydrous pyrolysis has been used to investigate the molecular changes occurring during thermal treatment of kerogens and whole rocks .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Hydrous pyrolysis is one of the most widely used organic geochemical techniques for carrying out artificial maturation studies of source rocks 4 and crude oils. 5 Hydrous pyrolysis has been used to investigate the molecular changes occurring during thermal treatment of kerogens 6 and whole rocks. 4 The studies have provided insights into the behavior of molecular parameters and the reaction mechanisms (free radial vs cationic 7,8 ) during thermal treatment of organic matter.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Identification and Characterization of Reaction Proxies for Monitoring the Progress of Thermal Processing of Heavy Oils and Tar Sands under Vis-Breaking Conditions

et al. 2007

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The vacuum residue prepared from Athabasca bitumen was heated at 380 °C for up to 5.5 h under visbreaking conditions. The level of conversion was indicated by weight loss due to generation and removal of light ends from thermal cracking reactions. Classical molecular parameters that are commonly applied to indicate the level of thermal maturity of petroleum source rocks during burial maturation have been investigated toward indicating the extent of bitumen conversion under vis-breaking conditions. The molecular parameters known to monitor chemical reactions such as isomerization, carbon-carbon bond cracking, and aromatization showed strong correlations with the level of conversion during vis-breaking. The reaction mechanisms based on simple precursor-product relationships appear inherently more complex when quantitative molecular data are considered. For example, generation of Tm influences the behavior of Ts/(Ts + Tm), while changes in the triaromatic steroid parameter C 20 /(C 20 + C 28 S + C 28 R) is controlled by the apparent relative stabilities of the C 28 vs C 20 compounds. The behaviors of a number of parameters based on saturated and aromatic hydrocarbons are mainly controlled by the relative stabilities of individual compounds. However, in view of the strong positive correlations shown by saturated and aromatic hydrocarbon parameters in response to the extent of conversion, the parameters may be used to indicate maturity levels achieved under the vis-breaking conditions.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Identification and Characterization of Reaction Proxies for Monitoring the Progress of Thermal Processing of Heavy Oils and Tar Sands under Vis-Breaking Conditions

et al. 2007

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…However, research results on the stability of petroleum in a subsurface environment are controversial. Laboratory simulation experiments indicated that petroleum may be rapidly decomposed to gaseous hydrocarbons in the presence of natural catalysts at moderate temperatures of less than 200 °C. − On the other hand, hydrocarbons were believed to be stable in subsurface reservoirs for billions of years , and were only slowly degraded via thermal cracking at reservoir temperatures. Discoveries of high-temperature, high-pressure oil reservoirs suggest that hydrocarbons may be more stable than previously thought. , Recent laboratory studies also suggested that hydrocarbons in crude oils are stable and complete cracking of oil to dry gas below 200 °C is difficult …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Laboratory simulation experiments indicated that petroleum may be rapidly decomposed to gaseous hydrocarbons in the presence of natural catalysts at moderate temperatures of less than 200 °C. [4][5][6][7] On the other hand, hydrocarbons were believed to be stable in subsurface reservoirs for billions of years 8,9 and were only slowly degraded via thermal cracking 10 at reservoir temperatures. Discoveries of high-temperature, high-pressure oil reservoirs suggest that hydrocarbons may be more stable than previously thought.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Formation of Alkanes during Hydrous Pyrolysis of an Oil and n-C₂₄ at High Temperatures

Tuo

Qian

2004

Energy Fuels

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A crude oil and pure tetracosane (n-C24) were separately heated with kaolin, diatomite, and graphite at temperatures of 350−550 °C in closed hydrous pyrolysis systems for 72 h. Recoverable chloroform extractable organic matter (EOM) accounted for 20−40% of the initial amount of oil and 50−95% of the initial amount of n-C24 for different mineral matrixes at 350 °C. The amount of EOM decreased to less than 1% of the initial material with an increase of temperature. Mass balance calculation suggests that the initial organic material was nearly quantitatively converted to gaseous compounds at high temperatures. Composition analysis showed that the alkane composition at 350 and 400 °C was similar to the composition of the oil, whereas only a minor amount of short-chain alkanes was detected in the pyrolysate of n-C24. At 450−500 °C, the alkane products from both the oil−mineral and n-C24−mineral pyrolysates were shifted from light hydrocarbons to bimodal distribution of both light and heavy alkanes, with light hydrocarbons being more abundant than long-chain hydrocarbons. At 550 °C, n-alkane compositions were dominated by long-chain hydrocarbons of n-C21+ with only a minor amount of n-C20 -. The systematic changes of the alkane composition with an increase of temperature suggest that the thermal cracking of alkanes from long-chain hydrocarbons to light compounds was the dominant process at temperatures of 350−400 °C, whereas the formation or preferential preservation of long-chain alkanes became the dominant processes at 450−550 °C.

show abstract

“…Almost all pyrolysis experiments related to oil cracking are carried out under anhydrous conditions (e.g., Tian et al, 2007;Wang, T. S. et al, 2007). There is few paper (e.g., Curiale et al, 1992;Tsuzuki et al, 1999) to discuss oil cracking under hydrous conditions, but the work were not related to a comparison of the gas yields between anhydrous and hydrous pyrolysis conditions and did not discuss carbon and hydrogen isotope ratios of the gaseous products from oil cracking. In this study, laboratory pyrolysis experiments of a selected crude oil sample were performed under hydrous and anhydrous conditions in a sealed gold tube system.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of water on yields and isotopic fractionations of gas hydrocarbons generated from oil cracking

et al. 2009

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Few investigations have been made to discuss the influence of water on the yields and carbon and hydrogen isotopic ratios of gas hydrocarbons generated from oil cracking although water occurs in oil reservoirs. In this study, a pyrolysis experiment for a crude oil under hydrous and anhydrous conditions in a gold tube confined system was performed at T = 370°C, P = 21 MPa and times from 1 to 7 days. It is found that water has an obvious inhibition on the gas yields generated from oil cracking and a pronounced influence on the carbon and hydrogen isotopic fractionations of the cracking gas. Compared with the anhydrous pyrolysis, the hydrous pyrolysis has a smaller C 1-5 alkane yields and lighter carbon and hydrogen isotopic ratios of the C 1-3 hydrocarbons within maturity levels investigated. The differences in their C 1-5 alkane yields reach 3-12 ml/g, in their δ 13 CH 4 , δ 13 C 2 H 6 and δ 13 C 3 H 8 values reach 1.0-2.7‰, 0.2-0.8‰ and 0.2-0.3‰, respectively, and in their δD CH4 , δD C2H6 , δD C3H8 values reach 5-16‰, 22-80‰ and 4-13‰, respectively. Moreover, the hydrous pyrolysis experiment formed a greater amount of H 2 and alkenes and a smaller amount of CO 2 than the anhydrous pyrolysis experiment did. The differences of H 2 , ethene, propene and CO 2 between the two experiment conditions are 0.44-2.12 ml/g, 0.03-0.05 ml/g, 0.20-0.34 ml/g and 0.08-0.98 ml/g, respectively. These results indicate that these differences in carbon and hydrogen isotopic ratios of generated gases between the hydrous and anhydrous experiments is possibly because water affects the free radical reactions of oil cracking and inhibits the combination between alkyl and hydrogen to form alkane to some extent, rather than due to the isotopic exchange reactions between water and some pyrolysates as usually believed for kerogen hydrous pyrolysis.

show abstract

Hydrous pyrolysis of crude oil in gold-plated reactors

Cited by 19 publications

References 37 publications

Identification and Characterization of Reaction Proxies for Monitoring the Progress of Thermal Processing of Heavy Oils and Tar Sands under Vis-Breaking Conditions

Identification and Characterization of Reaction Proxies for Monitoring the Progress of Thermal Processing of Heavy Oils and Tar Sands under Vis-Breaking Conditions

Formation of Alkanes during Hydrous Pyrolysis of an Oil and n-C₂₄ at High Temperatures

Influence of water on yields and isotopic fractionations of gas hydrocarbons generated from oil cracking

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About

Hydrous pyrolysis of crude oil in gold-plated reactors

Cited by 19 publications

References 37 publications

Identification and Characterization of Reaction Proxies for Monitoring the Progress of Thermal Processing of Heavy Oils and Tar Sands under Vis-Breaking Conditions

Identification and Characterization of Reaction Proxies for Monitoring the Progress of Thermal Processing of Heavy Oils and Tar Sands under Vis-Breaking Conditions

Formation of Alkanes during Hydrous Pyrolysis of an Oil and n-C24 at High Temperatures

Influence of water on yields and isotopic fractionations of gas hydrocarbons generated from oil cracking

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About

Formation of Alkanes during Hydrous Pyrolysis of an Oil and n-C₂₄ at High Temperatures