Mutual Influences between Organic Matter and Minerals during Oil Shale Pyrolysis

To better understand the mutual influence between organic matter and minerals during oil shale pyrolysis, Huadian oil shale was treated with HCl-HF acids and eight dominant minerals were added separately into the resulting oil shale for pyrolysis. The pyrolysis experiment was performed on a thermogravimetric analyzer coupled with mass spectroscopy (TG-MS), and the influence was discussed from the viewpoints of mass loss of organic matter and release of light volatile products (CH₄, C₂H₆, C₃H₈, C₄H₁₀, C₆H₆, C₇H₈, C₆H₆O, H₂, H₂O, CO and CO₂). Results indicate that the organic matter or pyrolysis products delay(s) the release of water in clays. All the minerals have little effect on the decomposition of organic matter and CaCO₃, kaolinite and TiO₂ also have little effect on the volatiles reaction; while K₂CO₃, Na₂CO₃, MnCO₃, montmorillonite and Fe₂O₃ influence the volatiles reaction in different ways which were discussed in detail in this work.