Analyzing the impact of reaction models on the production of hydrocarbons from thermally upgraded oil shales

Reaction parameters significantly affect oil production from shales by means of heating and in-situ upgrading. In this study, we perform numerical simulations of two chemical reaction models, which are mainly used in the research of kerogen pyrolysis and subsequent hydrocarbon decomposition in organic-rich porous media. They are the Braun and Burnham model and Wellington model. In these forward numerical simulations, we present the influence of the two reaction models on hydrocarbon production. The Braun and Burnham reaction model shows more vigorous kerogen and subsequent decomposition reactions and more hydrocarbon production than the Wellington model. A local sensitivity analysis identifies the reaction parameters with the highest influence on productivity, and the most sensitive outputs. A data-worth analysis identifies the most valuable observation data to be measured for the best prediction of total hydrocarbon production. We find that the most valuable observation data is the cumulative production of heavy oil in the Braun and Burnham model and of light oil in the Wellington model, respectively. Once we determine the maximum allowable prediction uncertainty and the expected measurement uncertainty, the observation data to be measured for the minimization of prediction uncertainty can be obtained.