Mechanisms of thermal alteration of shale oils

✍ Scribed by Christopher J.R. Fookes; Gregory J. Duffy; Pinky Udaja; Martin D. Chensee

• Book ID: 103093191
• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1990
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 403 KB
• Volume: 69
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0016-2361
• DOI: 10.1016/0016-2361(90)90071-w

✦ Synopsis

Evidence is presented for three distinct causes of shale oil alteration, when in contact with hot shale solids.

Thermal cracking, which is independent of the solid material, generates additional alk-1-enes. Active acidic sites in fully combusted spent shale are responsible for coke formation, dealkylation of aromatics, and isomerization of alkenes. These sites are deactivated by carbon coverage, for example in retorted shale. In addition, catalytic dehydrogenation of aliphatics, to give primarily ortho-disubstituted benzenes, is operative on both carbon covered and fully combusted shales.