Abstract
Oil shale energy extraction is an urgent issue for modern science and technique. With the help of electrical discharge phenomena it is possible to create a new efficient technology for underground conversion of oil shale to shale gas and oil. This method is based on Joule heat in the rock volume. During the laboratory experiments the problem has arisen, when the significant part of a shale fragment is being heated, but the further heating is impossible due to specimen cracking. It leads to disruption in current flow and heat exchange. Evidently, in the underground conditions these failure processes will not proceed. Cement, clay and glass fiber/epoxy resin armature have been used for modelling of geomechanical underground conditions. Experiments have shown that the use of a reinforcing jacket makes it possible to convert a full rock fragment. Also, a thermal field extends radially from the centre of a tree-type structure, and it has an elliptic cross section shape. It is explained by the oil shale anisotropy connected with a rock laminar structure. Therefore, heat propagation is faster along the layers than across ones.
Highlights
The attention to the development of oil shale energy potential after the «shale revolution» has not decreased until today [1, 2]
The photographs of longitudinal and cross sections of the oil shale fragment after the conversion by the electrophysical method are shown in Figure 1 b,c,d
Gas interlayers are formed between partly separated shale fragments, so, heat transfer is disrupted and a thermal field is redistributed
Summary
The attention to the development of oil shale energy potential after the «shale revolution» has not decreased until today [1, 2]. Shale processing in-situ remains an urgent task, in connection with unprofitability of conventional development methods for these inferior solid fossil fuels. A great number of underground methods for rock processing has been offered, but neither of them has achieved the stage of industrial application, except formation hydrolytic fracturing (hydrofrac). The issue of hydrofrac application in the world practice is still opened, as this technology is low-efficient and provokes extremely negative ecological effects. According to the data of theoretical calculations as well as preliminary successful experiments it follows that electrophysical phenomena, occurring in oil shale under the electromagnetic field action, are enables to create a high-efficient and environmentally safety technology for underground processing of these fuels. Electrophysical impact on oil shale in-situ leads to the formation of an electroconductive channel directly in the rock strata. During preliminary experiments it has been established that the adherence to the geomechanical conditions of bedding is very important for obtaining an adequate model of thermochemical, thermo- and elctrophysical processes
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