Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory oil shale project (Aug 1983)

Our general chemical kinetic model for oil shale pyrolysis has been further developed. The reactions included in the model are primary pyrolysis of kerogen, vaporization of liquid oil, coking of liquid oil, hydrogenation of liquid oil, cracking of liquid oil, cracking of oil vapor, secondary and tertiary pyrolysis of char, release of mineral water, and decomposition of dolomite. These reactions are described in terms of 38 condensed-phase species (including 11 liquid oil species that are cokable and 11 liquid oil species that are noncokable) and 29 gas-phase species (again including 11 oil vapor species from the cokable liquid oil and 1 oil vapor species from the noncokable liquid oil). Governing equations for the model are written as 67 first-order, nonlinear, ordinary differential equations specifying the rate of change of each gas-phase and condensed-phase component in terms of one or more of the 92 possible vaporization or chemical reactions.