Effects of temperature on pyrolysis characteristics of Indonesia oil sands

Abstract

In this work, pyrolysis experiments were conducted on Indonesia oil sands in a Cracking device at different pyrolysis temperatures. The effects of pyrolysis temperature on total hydrocarbon yield, liquid hydrocarbon production rate and gas production rate were investigated. Below 300 °C, the pyrolysis products were mainly gaseous. However, the proportions of liquid and gas products were identical above the temperature of 300 °C. The relationship between the volume fraction of gaseous products and temperature was analyzed using gas chromatography. The presence of functional groups of methyl, methylene, aldehyde, ketone, acid, fat, alkene and aromatic hydrocarbons in liquid pyrolysis products was investigated at different pyrolysis temperatures. The pore structure, electron microscope and fractal dimension of the chars were also analyzed. The result showed that the amount of adsorbed nitrogen reached the maximum value at 450 °C. The adsorption loop of char was close to the B-type loop, and the pore was mainly the slit hole. In addition, the pore structure was very well developed. The BET specific surface area and pore volume presented their peak values at 450 °C and the fractal dimension was obtained using FHH equation, which peaked at the temperature of 450 °C. The pore structure was loose and there was no obvious connection between the particles. Finally, the overall fractal value was slightly lower than the nitrogen adsorption fractal value.