Analysis of the structures of the organic materials in Kimmeridge and Oxford clays

✍ Scribed by S.R. Palmer; A.F. Gaines; A.W.P. Jarvie

• Book ID: 103094941
• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1987
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 804 KB
• Volume: 66
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0016-2361
• DOI: 10.1016/0016-2361(87)90154-2

✦ Synopsis

Two samples of oil shales, an Oxford clay and a Kimmeridge clay, have been demineralized and the organic matter characterized by 13C CPMAS n.m.r. and i.r. spectrometry. The demineralized material was then progressively solubilized utilizing methods used previously for the solubilization of coals. Eventually up to 90% of the Oxford clay and 70% of the Kimmeridge clay were solubilized. The soluble extracts were examined mainly by g.c.-m.s. The dominant volatile species found in the extracts were alkanes, alkylbenzenes, -naphthalenes and -phenols. Distributions of products detectable by g.c.-m.s. in the Kimmeridge clay were similar to those found by Williams and Douglas. The structures of the kerogens showed a close relation with those of coals in that fairly simple mobile molecules appeared to be trapped within a more rigid organic framework, and as diagenesis became more severe the oil shales became more aromatic and the rigid network less tractable.