Characterization of oil shale pyrolysis by solid heat carrier in moving bed with internals

Oil shale pyrolysis by solid heat carrier in moving bed with internals (MBI) was investigated with the aim to identify the effect of oil shale properties (moisture content and particle size) and heat carrier types on the physicochemical properties and distributions of pyrolysis products. Pyrolysis of oil shale with high moisture content of 10 wt% caused obvious increase in shale oil yield due to the protective effect of steam atmosphere by its reducing secondary reactions and also catalysis action of shale ash. The obtained highest shale oil yield was close to the yield of Fischer Assay. Pyrolyzing dried oil shale produced shale oil containing more light oils (gasoline and diesel) and allowed higher gas yield. Pyrolysis of large size (i.e. > 10 mm) oil shale reduced oil yield but increased light oil content due to the required long time for heat transfer and intra-particle volatile diffusion. Comparing with ceramic balls, shale ash as the heat carrier presented a favorably catalytic effect on cracking and upgrading of shale oil. With increasing pyrolysis temperature from 465 to 525 °C, using shale ash greatly raised light oil content by 10.24% (relatively), considerably reduced the content of heteroatomic compounds, and promoted the conversion of aliphatics to aromatics. Shale ash carrier particles enabled better dust removal than ceramic balls did to attain oil product with a dust content below 0.2 wt%. Generally, oil shale pyrolysis using shale ash heat carrier in MBI process has obvious effects of in-situ shale oil upgrading and in-bed dust removal to allow good pyrolysis performance.