HYDROPYROLYSIS OF OIL SHALE

Abstract

Oil shale from Ellajjun area southern region of Jordan hydrogenated at different conditions. The impact of temperature on weight loss and product distribution was investigated. The experimental runs were conducted at different temperatures. Hydrogen gas introduced after purging to the retort with nitrogen thus; to avoid oxidization during heating process. A circulating coolant at 2 oC cooled the products. The non-condensable gases were released to the open atmosphere whereas the condensed liquid collected and sent for simple atmospheric distillation at laboratories of Jordan Petroleum Refinery. The rate of weight loss was increased as the temperature increased and the total oil yield increased with increasing temperature at constant hydrogen flow rate. The increasing of reaction temperature resulted in more volume distilled. The effect of temperature on product distribution of the produced shale oil was investigated, the increase in temperature resulted increased the kerosene and residue amount, and a decrease in the amount of diesel, mean while it has no effect on the gasoline – naphtha fraction. The sulfur content of the liquid product was influenced by the presence of hydrogen in reaction environment. The amount of sulfur was increased with the increase of temperature at constant hydrogen flow rate.