T. Barth et al., THE DISTRIBUTION OF NITROGEN BETWEEN BITUMEN, WATER AND RESIDUE IN HYDROUS PYROLYSIS OF EXTRACTED MESSEL OIL-SHALE, Organic geochemistry, 24(8-9), 1996, pp. 889-895
A series of simulated maturation experiments has been performed on a p
re-extracted sample of the Messel oil shale. The nitrogen contents of
the generated bitumen, the water phase and the residual organic matter
have been determined to establish an overview of the distribution of
nitrogen between the phases during the maturation process. Analysis of
specific nitrogen species is reported for the aqueous phase. Here the
nitrogen is found principally as ammonium ions, and the concentration
increases linearly up to the highest temperatures where bitumen crack
ing processes start to dominate and cause a more rapid increase in the
yield. The nitrogen concentration in the bitumen is more or less cons
tant. The proportion of nitrogen to carbon in the residue increases wi
th maturity, indicating that hydrocarbons are released preferentially
in the thermal reactions of the kerogen. The mass sums of measured org
anic nitrogen show that the major contribution comes from the solid re
sidue at all levels of simulated maturation. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevi
er Science Ltd