The pyrolysis reactions and jet fuel potential of a Green River shale oil

Abstract

Oil shale deposits constitute a possible large reserve of oil stocks. The immense Green River shale deposits can potentially be used as a source of middle distillate fuels, such as jet fuel. A major requirement for the jet fuel distillation cut is a high (37%) n-alkane content. Quantities of n-alkanes in the Green River shale oil are insufficient to explain the observed amounts of n-alkanes in jet fuels made from this oil. To study the thermal chemistry of the Green River shale oil, it was separated into three fractions; a saturate, an aromatic, and a polar fraction by distillation and silica-gel desorption. The fractions were pyrolyzed for 15–120 min reaction time periods at temperature and pressure conditions similar to the refining process known as delayed coking. Each fraction was assayed by combined capillary column GC/MS for n-alkane and 1-alkene content. All fractions attained similar n-alkane + 1-alkene yields, with the saturate fraction giving the highest yield of aliphatic compounds.