Real-time imaging of oil shale pyrolysis dynamics at nanoscale via environmental scanning electron microscopy

Bin Pan, Xia Yin, Zhengru Yang, Amin Ghanizadeh, Chris Debuhr, Christopher R. Clarkson, Feifei Gou, Weiyao Zhu, Yang Ju and Stefan Iglauer

Applied Energy, 2024, vol. 363, issue C, No S0306261924004768

Abstract: Pyrolysis is a promising technology to increase pore and fracture connectivity in oil shale and thereby accomplish commercial recovery of unconventional hydrocarbons. Herein, real-time oil shale pyrolysis dynamics are imaged at nanoscale via environmental scanning electron microscopy (imaging resolution of 58 nm/pixel, imaging speed of 1 frame per second, and heating temperature up to 750 °C). It is counterintuitively observed that 1) inorganic nano-fractures started to appear below 100 °C; 2) inorganic nano-fracture width had a non-monotonous relationship with temperature; and 3) organic kerogen areas decreased monotonously with increasing temperature. These findings will establish a standard benchmark for unconventional resource recovery, promote fundamental understanding of oil shale pyrolysis dynamics at nanoscale and provide key guidance on oil shale extraction at reservoir scale.

Keywords: Oil shale pyrolysis dynamics; Real-time imaging at nanoscale; Inorganic nano-fractures; Kerogen; Environmental scanning electron microscopy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261924004768
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:appene:v:363:y:2024:i:c:s0306261924004768

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/405891/bibliographic
http://www.elsevier. ... 405891/bibliographic

DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2024.123093

Access Statistics for this article

Applied Energy is currently edited by J. Yan

More articles in Applied Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().