Determination of kerogen type by using DSC and TG analysis

The rate of pyrolysis and oxidation of 8 different samples of oil shale kerogen concentrate (KC) were investigated using DSC analysis. Recently performed thermogravimetric studies (TG and DTG) with the same samples of KC indicated that the activation energy of the pyrolysis of specific KCs increases with increasing paraffinic structure in the KC. An opposite effect, i.e. a decrease of the activation energy with an increase of paraffinic structure was determined in the case of KC oxidation. In this study, using the standard ASTM E-698 method based on the determined temperature at which the maximum heat effect could be observed (exo in the case of oxidation and endo in the case of pyrolysis), an activation energy for the pyrolysis, as well as for the oxidation process was determined and also successfully correlated with the content of paraffinic structure of KC. Thus, the higher content of paraffinic structure in KCs indicates that higher values of the activation energy could be determined either in the case of pyrolysis or oxidation followed by DSC analysis.