It
has remained controversial throughout the last three decades
whether highly mature solid bitumen derived from petroleum degradation
can engage in thermochemical sulfate reduction (TSR)an organic–inorganic
interaction that occurs in sedimentary basins. To investigate the
kinetic characteristics of thermal sulfate reduction by thermogenic
pyrobitumen, hydropyrolysis experiments with magnesium sulfate (MgSO4) and a model compound, coronene (C24H12), were performed at 300–500 °C under controlled laboratory
conditions. The experimental results indicate that detectable amounts
of H2S from the designed simulation system were formed
at a threshold temperature of 400 °C. Thermodynamically, coronene-initiated
sulfate reduction is an exothermic process at 100–220 °C
with the reaction heat of 221.0–248.3 kJ/mol hydrocarbon. TSR
of coronene is characterized by a first-order reaction with an apparent
activation energy of 193.0 kJ/mol. Interactions between C24H12 and MgSO4 are kinetically categorized as
a slow TSR system because the high stability of coronene restricts
the formation rate of H2S gas relative to rapid TSR systems
containing C2+ hydrocarbons. When extrapolated to the temperature
range of typical oil and gas reservoirs (100–200 °C),
the reaction rate of TSR by coronene is slightly higher than that
of TSR involving methane, gypsum, and MgCl2 solutions [Hydrothermal experiments involving methane
and sulfate: insights into carbon isotope fractionation of methane
during thermochemical sulfate reductionHeK.ZhangS. C.WangX. M.
He, K.
Zhang, S. C.
Wang, X. M.
Org.
Geochem.2020149104107]. Depletion of some organic carbons by
TSR may contribute to the increase of S/C ratios in the molecular
structure of thermogenic pyrobitumen. In deep carbonate reservoirs
of methane-dominated TSR, hydrothermal reduction of sulfates by thermogenic
pyrobitumen most likely occurs as a less well-recognized geochemical
process.