Application of Differential Scanning Calorimetry to Study Solvent Swelling of Kukersite Oil Shale Macromolecular Organic Matter: A Comparison with the Fine-Grained Sample Volumetric Swelling Method

摘要

A comparison of results of Estonian kukersite oil shale kerogen (i.e., the cross-linked macromolecular organic matter of oil shale) solvent swelling from two different methods is shown. Solvent uptakes calculated from differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) experiments are higher than those obtained by a widely used test-tube-type volumetric solvent swelling technique of fine-grained samples with swollen sample centrifugation. Solvent swelling of the kerogen sample was performed in a test tube in accordance with the common volumetric technique. Then, the swollen sample was introduced into a DSC apparatus, cooled to -120 ℃, and heated at a rate of 10 ℃/min. The energy of fusion of the freezable part of the solvent was used to calculate the amount of nonfreezable bound solvent that is present inside the kerogen particles and that causes swelling. The data suggest that caution should be exercised in applying the test tube volumetric method because of a possible swollen sample compaction effect.