Journal of Southwest Petroleum University(Science & Technology Edition) ›› 2021, Vol. 43 ›› Issue (5): 220-226.DOI: 10.11885/j.issn.1674-5086.2021.02.28.03

• A Special Issue on Unconventional Oil and Gas Development • Previous Articles    

Review on the Characteristics of Pyrolysis During In-situ Conversion of Oil Shale

XU Jinze1, CHEN Zhangxing1, ZHOU Desheng2, NIE Wancai3,4, LI Ran1   

  1. 1. Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta T2N 1N4, Canada;
    2. College of Petroleum Engineering, Xi'an Shiyou University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710065, China;
    3. State Key Laboratory of Oil and Gas Reservoir Geology and Exploitation, Southwest Petroleum University, Chengdu, Sichuan 610500, China;
    4. Yihuang Natural Gas Project Department, Changqing Oilfield Company, PetroChina, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710021, China
  • Received:2021-02-28 Published:2021-11-05

Abstract: Recently, the consumption of global energy gradually increases, and the oil shale is an important substitution for the conventional oil and gas. The oil shale reserves in China are abundant, which ranks the fourth in the world. As the main technology to develop oil shale reservoirs, the in-situ conversion utilizes pyrolysis to expand seepage pathways to obtain shale oil and gas. This paper reviews the characteristics of pyrolysis from four aspects:the stage of pyrolysis, the pyrolysis of kerogen, the impact of minerals and the evolution of pore structures assisted by pyrolysis:(1) thermophysical evolution and thermochemical reactions in different stages of pyrolysis reaction; (2) reaction mechanism of kerogen pyrolysis and its influencing factors; (3) promoting and inhibiting effects of mineral decomposition on pyrolysis; (4) the mechanism of pore structure evolution assisted by pyrolysis and its effects on fracture propagation. This paper is based on the pyrolysis which is the core technical challenge during the in-situ conversion. It will also provide some references for the application of in-situ conversion in oil shale and shale oil with low and medium maturities.

Key words: oil shale, in-situ conversion, pyrolysis, pore structure, kerogen

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