Thermodynamics Study of Hydrocarbon Gas Generation from Pyrolysis of Oil Shale

摘要

The gas emission from oil shale processing plants consists of nitrogen oxide, sulfur oxides, carbon dioxide and hydrocarbon gases such as Methane, Ethane, Propane, Butane, Pentane (C1-C5). One tonne of oil shale (rock) produces 104 kg of oil and 30 kg of gases. This study concentrates on the cracking of hydrocarbon gases. Our results show that the cracking of propane produces a mixture of ethane, ethylene, methane, and hydrogen. The formed ethylene can be reacted in the presence of ethane to produce propylene and methane again. On the other side, butane can be cracked to form ethylene, hydrogen, acetylene, methane, propylene, and dibutene. In the case of pentane, it is decomposed to form ethylene, methane, propylene, hydrogen, and butadiene. The thermodynamic properties such as enthalpy, Gibbs free energy, entropy and reaction rate constant are reported. For example, the reaction of the formed ethylene with propylene produces a heat of reaction that is approximately equal to - 20 kJ/mol in the temperature range from 1000 to 1500 K. This paper reports the primary results.