Mass and heat transfer to and from oil shale exposed to a gas stream at constant temperature

Abstract

The Irati Formation located in Southern Brazil is the world’s second largest resource of oil shale from which shale oil has been produced by Petrobras, a Brazilian state-owned oil company, by the Petrosix® process. The shale plant was sold to a private company in November 2022. This study analyses the mass and heat transfer between oil shale particles and a gas medium by mathematical modelling using Fortran programs, focusing on the temperature and moisture gradients within the shale particles. It also carries out parametric sensitivity analysis regarding shale thermal conductivity, heat transfer coefficient, effective mass diffusivity, shale density and size. The particle size and effective mass diffusivity have a great impact on heat and mass transfer.

Keywords

• oil shale
• mass transfer
• heat transfer
• pyrolysis
• mathematical modelling.