Numerical simulation on in-situ upgrading of oil shale via steam injection

Key words:  oil shale  steam injection  numerical simulation  temperature distribution  shale oil production

Abstract:

Injection of steam with high temperature is an effective method for in-situ upgrading of oil shale. A numerical simulation model for oil shale exploitation via thermal methods was established using CMG software referring to the oil shale development project via electrical heating in Green River (USA), in which the electrical heating wells were replaced by steam injection wells, and the temperature distribution, kerogen concentration and pyrolysis oil production have been calculated and analyzed. The effects of two main factors, injection rate and heating range, on oil production were discussed. The simulation results show that, in the steam injection process, the temperature of oil shale layers can be higher than that of the electrical heating process, which can induce faster decomposition of kerogen, and the peak time of oil production also can appear earlier. With the increasing of injection rate and decreasing of heating range, the reaction rate of kerogen pyrolysis will become faster and shale oil production will terminate earlier.