Abstract
The chemical composition of hydrocarbon fractions of artificially matured (pyrolyzed) Green River oil shale were studied by optical (visible–near-infrared, vis–NIR) spectroscopy. The shale samples were pyrolyzed to several maturities, allowing the compositions of the hydrocarbon fractions to be analyzed as a function of maturity. Oil (the hydrocarbon fraction volatile at pyrolysis conditions but liquid at room temperature), bitumen (the hydrocarbon fraction nonvolatile at pyrolysis conditions and soluble in organic solvent), and asphaltene (the fraction of bitumen that is insoluble in heptane) were all found to show an exponential increase in optical absorption with increasing optical frequency. A similar exponential increase has been observed in other hydrocarbon mixtures and is described by the Urbach tail formulation. The optical properties of the oil are found not to change with maturity, likely because oil is released by volatilization throughout the maturation process, thus producing a distilled pro...
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