Oil shale pyrolysis products and the fate of sulfur

Abstract

Oil shale (OS) is a solid hydrogen rich fossil fuel whose organic part can, under appropriate conditions, be turned into liquid fuel. The obtained shale oil is a mixture of a large number of organic compounds. However, the exact composition and yield of shale oil depend not only on the composition of oil shale, but also on the type of the reactor where oil was produced, as well as on process parameters like heating rate, pyrolysis temperature, pyrolysis time, and the size of oil shale particles fed to the reactor. In this paper, we present the results of the full chemical analysis of Estonian Ojamaa oil shale – characteristics of oil shale and shale oil and distribution of sulfur. The results of ultimate, proximate, major components and pyrolysis mass balance analyses are also presented and the characteristics of crude shale oil and oil fractions are provided. Special emphasis is put on the analysis of sulfur and its distribution between the pyrolysis products. Additionally, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) results are provided.