| dc.contributor.author | Alstadt, Kristin Nadiene | |
| dc.description.abstract | Green River oil shale contains minerals, kerogen, and bitumen and
yields a significant amount of oil upon heating. Kerogen is the insoluble
organic remains found in sedimentary materials. It is a precursor to crude oil
and is one of the most abundant forms of carbonaceous materials on earth. The
richest oil shale deposits in the world are found in the Green River Formation
located in the states of Utah, Wyoming and Colorado in the United States with
the potential to be a major national resource. Current extraction methods
involve heating the shale to high temperatures in order to decompose and
evaporate the shale oil. This method is very inefficient due to tremendous
energy requirements and is environmentally unfriendly. Thus, the extraction
of kerogen is commercially not viable in the United States at this time.
My research at North Dakota State University has been focused on
understanding how the kerogen is "locked" in the surrounding mineral matrix.
The research involves experimental and modeling studies aimed at evaluating
the molecular interactions in the oil shale. The focus of my study has been on
the in situ chemical composition, mechanical properties, and the physical
location of kerogen in Green River oil shale. Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR)
studies have been conducted using the photoacoustic step-scan method to investigate the molecular nature of light and dark colored areas of the oil shale
core. This technique provided the means for in situ investigation of kerogenmineral
interactions. Results show that light colored oil shale has a high
kerogen content with spectra similar to that of isolated kerogen while dark
colored oil shale has more mineral components. Kerogen band shifts occurred
indicating interactions on the molecular scale between kerogen and the
surrounding minerals. Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) studies were
performed in order to obtain information on the size and layout of pores,
minerals, and kerogen in the shale. Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS)
performed ort light and dark colored samples indicate that the light colored oil
shale contains more kerogen associated with the minerals quartz, clay, and
potassium-feldspar. Dark oil shale samples contained kerogen, clay, dolomite,
calcite, pyrite, and analcite. SEM images perpendicular to the bedding plane of
cross-sectional polished oil shale samples showed orientated layers and
elongation consistent with compression over time. The absence of large
kerogen regions in SEM images and nanoindentation results suggest that
Green River kerogen is on the scale of tens of nanometers and is in close
proximity to oil shale minerals. The mechanical properties of kerogen and oil
shale minerals were found using nanoindentation techniques. Green River
kerogen was found to have an elastic modulus of 9 GPa and hardness of 1 GPa. | en_US |
| dc.publisher | North Dakota State University | en_US |
| dc.rights | NDSU policy 190.6.2 | en_US |
| dc.title | An Investigation of the Kerogen-Mineral Interactions in Green River Oil Shale | en_US |
| dc.type | Thesis | en_US |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2024-04-26T15:44:49Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2024-04-26T15:44:49Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2010 | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/10365/33790 | |
| dc.subject.lcsh | Kerogen -- Green River Formation. | en_US |
| dc.subject.lcsh | Oil-shales -- Green River Formation. | en_US |
| dc.subject.lcsh | Oil-shales -- Colorado -- Piceance Creek Basin. | en_US |
| dc.rights.uri | https://www.ndsu.edu/fileadmin/policy/190.pdf | en_US |
| ndsu.degree | Master of Science (MS) | en_US |
| ndsu.college | Engineering | en_US |
| ndsu.department | Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering | en_US |
| ndsu.program | Civil Engineering | en_US |
| ndsu.advisor | Katti, Dinesh R. | |
