Co-current combustion of oil shale -Part 1 : Characterization of the solid and gaseous products

Marcio F. Martins , Sylvain Salvador (1) , Jean-François Thovert , Gérald Debenest

1 RAPSODEE - Centre de recherche d'Albi en génie des procédés des solides divisés, de l'énergie et de l'environnement

Co-current combustion front propagation in a bed of crushed oil shale (OS) leads to the production of liquid oil, of a flue gas and of a solid residue. The objective of this paper was to provide a detailed chemical characterization of Timahdit oil shale and of its smoldering combustion products. The amount of fixed carbon (FC) formed during devolatilization is measured at 4.7% of the initial mass of oil shale whatever the heating rate in the range 50-900 K min À1. The combustion of oil shale was operated using a mix of 75/25 wt. of OS/sand with an air supply of 1460 l min À1 m À2. In these conditions, not all the FC is oxidized at the passage of the front, but 88% only, with a partitioning of 56.5% into CO and the rest into CO 2. A calorific gas with a lower calorific value of 54 kJ mol À1 is produced. Approximately 52% of the organic matter from OS is recovered as liquid oil. The front decarbonates 83% of carbonates.

Mots clés: front combustion; huile schiste

Domaines: Sciences de l'ingénieur [physics]

Marcio F. Martins, Sylvain Salvador, Jean-François Thovert, Gérald Debenest. Co-current combustion of oil shale -Part 1 : Characterization of the solid and gaseous products. Fuel, 2010, 89 (1), p.144-151. ⟨10.1016/j.fuel.2009.06.036⟩. ⟨hal-01847575⟩