Composition and kinetics of oil generation from non-isothermal oil shale retorting

Oil shale retorting has been carried out under non-isothermal conditions between 623 and 773 K and at different pressures(78 and 765 kPa). The shale oil is separated into five individual components: polar, weak polar, saturates, aromatics and olefin, using a comprehensive analytical procedure. The effects of retorting pressure and heating rate have been studied. The oil yield under high pressure (765 kPa) is ≈10% less than the oil yield under ambient pressure (78 kPa). Much of this reduced yield can be accounted for by the reduced amount of polar component formed at high pressure. Heating rates of 1.67 × 10^?2, 6.67 × 10^?2and 8.33 × 10^?2Ks^?1 have been used; a higher heating rate causes a delay in the appearance of the oil. A simplified kinetic scheme is proposed which includes the distribution of liquid products and pressure effects. The activation energies and frequency factors of generation reactions for total oil and individual components have been obtained.