PRODUCTS OF THERMAL DECOMPOSITION AND KINETICS FOR IMMATURE AND MATURE KEROGEN FROM THE BAZHENOV SOURCE ROCK FORMATION

Abstract

The kinetic study of sedimentary organic matter (kerogen) transformation to gas and liquid hydrocarbons is required for understanding and modeling of geological (petroleum system modeling) and technological (thermal EOR in application to source/oil shale rocks) processes. Kerogen destruction at elevated temperatures is best modeled by Arrhenius law assuming the number of parallel first-order reactions of hypothetical kerogen components decomposition (Pepper, Corvi, 1995). Two major kinetic approaches are considered in the literature, including bulk kinetics, representing the total yield of hydrocarbons, and compositional kinetics, describing various products yields (Hartwig et al., 2012).