Design of a Pyrolysis Plant to Produce Shale Oil

Abstract

Shale oil is an alternative energy resource for oil production and can be obtained from the pyrolysis of oil shale. In Peru, a deposit has been in the Lancones basin that has geological and geochemical characteristics that indicate the possible existence of oil shale. A pyrolysis plant for oil shale in the Lancones basin-Peru was designed and simulated, the pyrolysis kinetics was determined by applying the KAS isoconversional method, three reaction zones were identified and was obtained for the conversion range [0.05,0.20] 𝑬 𝒂 of 97.7 kJ/mol and an 𝑨 𝒂 equal to 1.64E+04 min-1, with an f(α) of the D3 type; for the conversion range <0.20,0.50] an 𝑬 𝒂 of 158.8 kJ/mol and an 𝑨 𝒂 equal to 7.63E+07 min-1 with an f(α) of type D1 and for the conversion range <0.50,0.95] an 𝑬 𝒂 of 163.8 kJ/mol and an 𝑨 𝒂 equal to 4.87E+07 min-1, with an f(α) of type R2. The pyrolysis plant comprises three stages: drying, pyrolysis and condensation. For a load of 375 t/h of oil shale and a period of 4 hours, a conversion of 90% of the organic material was obtained with a production of 3 t/h (611.8 bbl/d) of shale oil. This production is greater than the production of oil fields II and IX located in the same basin.