Y. Tang et F. Behar, RATE CONSTANTS OF N-ALKANES GENERATION FROM TYPE-II KEROGEN IN OPEN AND CLOSED PYROLYSIS SYSTEMS, Energy & fuels, 9(3), 1995, pp. 507-512
The purpose of this work is to carry out artificial maturation of a ma
rine kerogen under isothermal conditions in open and closed systems an
d to derive kinetic parameters for primary C-10+ n-alkanes generation.
Reaction mechanisms and accurate kinetic parameters for two individua
l n-alkanes C-12 and C-24 generation are derived. Results show that no
rmal alkanes generation follows a first-order kinetics in both open an
d closed pyrolysis systems. Combining the rate constants derived from
open and closed system pyrolysis, one can obtain the Arrhenius plot in
a large temperature range (100 degrees C). Based on the linearity of
the Arrhenius plot, accurate sets of kinetic parameters for the genera
tion of n-C-12 (E = 54.3 kcal/mol, A = 4.32 x 10(14) s(-1)) and n-C-24
(E = 53.0 kcal/mol, A = 1.37 x 10(14) s(-1)) are derived. The extrapo
lation of these kinetic parameters to geological conditions shows a qu
alitative agreement with what observed on the relative distribution of
n-alkanes in source-rock extracts.