DE-FE0001243

Goal
The Institute for Clean and Secure Energy (ICSE) is pursuing research to improve industry’s ability to utilize the vast energy stored in domestic oil shale and oil sands resources in a manner that will minimize environmental impact and effectively capture the combustion CO₂ from production, upgrading, and refining of the produced liquid fuel. The objective of this research is to create models and simulation tools that can be applied to all in situ thermal processes. Practitioners can then use these tools to evaluate various recovery strategies and optimize their process for energy and environmental efficiency.

Performer
University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT

Close-up of fractured oil shale specimen from the Uinta Basin, Utah, showing weathered (white) and unweathered (black) surfaces. Photo courtesy of Argonne National Laboratory.

In today’s environment, oil shale/oil sands development faces numerous technical, environmental, and legal challenges. Research to address these complex issues is necessary for the promotion of a viable commercial industry for liquid fuel production from oil shale/sands. The ICSE technical research program is organized around the theme of validation and uncertainty quantification through tightly coupled simulation and experimental design integrated with the legal, environmental, economic, and policy assessments required to achieve the dual goals of clean and secure energy from domestic oil sands and oil shale resources.

The research targets include:

• Basin scale oil shale and oil sands development
• In-situ thermal processing
• Environmental, legal, economic, and policy framework and assessment

Impact
This research may support and accelerate the cost-effective and environmentally safe development of the nation’s domestic oil sands/oil shale industry for production of secure liquid fuels.

This validation research brings together multi-scale experimental measurements—from molecular scale through pore scale and ultimately reservoir or basin scale computer simulations—to enhance or understanding of the geology and in situ processing parameters controlling efficient production from our nation’s oil shale and oil sands resources. Knowledge gained from this research will apply to most, if not all, industry processes and in particular those processes that utilize in situ recovery of the resource. In situ recovery techniques are the primary focus of this research because of their potential for reducing the environmental footprint of oil shale/sands development.

Research focused on processing of oil shale and oil sands will be integrated with research addressing the legal, policy, and environmental framework surrounding development of oil shale and oil sands development in the western basins and in particular those resources within the Uinta Basin of Utah.

Accomplishments

Phase II research accomplishments:
Research and analyses on three different sections of the Skyline 16 core obtained in May 2010 have been the focus of several project tasks. Thermogravimetric analysis experiments were conducted at atmospheric pressure and at 40 bars on several small cored subsamples and powdered samples of the Skyline 16 core. Core samples were examined using 3D multiscale X-ray tomography analysis to understand pore scale transport processes of oil shale pyrolysis. Pressure testing was conducted on the Skyline 16 core geomechanical properties apparatus.

Phase I research accomplishments:

• ICSE researchers have completed task activities associated with the first phase of this project. On March 10 - 11, 2011 ICSE researchers presented the results of their research to DOE Fossil Energy staff.
• ICSE researchers have completed and submitted the following manuscripts and reports:
  • Manuscript to the journal Fuel entitled, “Compositional and Kinetic Analysis of Oil Shale Pyrolysis Using TGA-MS".
  • Topical report entitled, “Core-Based Integrated Sedimentologic, Stratigraphic, and Geochemical Analysis of The Oil Shale Bearing Green River Formation, Uinta Basin, Utah” [PDF-10.0MB].
  • Topical report entitled, “Atomistic Modeling of Oil Shale Kerogens and Asphaltenes Along with their Interactions with the Inorganic Mineral Matrix” [PDF-4.06MB].
  • Topical report entitled, “Pore Scale Analysis of Oil Shale/Sands Pyrolysis" [PDF-7.00MB].
  • Draft manuscript to Energy&Fuels entitled, “Parameter Space Reduction and Sensitivity Analysis in Complex Thermal Subsurface Production Processes”.
  • Topical report entitled, “Land and Resource Management Issues Relevant to Deploying In-Situ Thermal Technologies" [PDF-2.29MB].
  • Topical report entitled, “Policy Analysis of Produced Water Issues Associated with In-Situ Thermal Technologies" [PDF-2.24MB].
  • Draft manuscript to AIChE Journal entitled, “Detailed Kinetic Analysis of Oil Shale Pyrolysis TGA Data”.
  • Topical report entitled, “Policy Analysis of Water Availability and Use Issues for Domestic Oil Shale and Oil Sands Development" [PDF-9.07MB].
• A west-to-east (W-E) cross section of 4 wells across a 24-mile region in Utah’s Uinta Basin (with a goal to provide better geologic models to reservoir simulations in the basin) has been constructed and plans are being made to collect data to construct a north-south trending section.
• The university, in collaboration with the Utah Geologic Survey and the Oil Shale Exploration Company (OSEC), extracted approximately 1,000 feet of 4-inch core from the upper Green River Formation of the eastern Uinta Basin in Utah. Over the course of seven days beginning on May 18, 2010, 986 feet of continuous core, starting at 20 feet below the surface down to a depth of 1006 feet, was recovered. Geophysical logs of the entire length of the well were obtained and preliminary estimates of oil yield have been calculated from the bulk density measurements. Most core used in studies at the university to date have been in excess of 20 years old. As shale oil core ages it degrades due to oxidation, affecting many laboratory results. This core will provide researchers conducting a variety of studies, including pyrolysis and other in situ geochemical and geomechanical research, with fresh, new core for analysis.
• A preliminary synthesis and sequence stratigraphic model has been constructed for the Uinta Basin. This model will be further tested, revised, and refined with analysis of new, fresh core that were acquired in early May 2010 from the Uinta Basin.
• The anisotropic features of oil shale permeability have been quantified and may be the first reported 3-D imaging of pyrolyzed oil shale by HRXMT and XNT.
• Over 100 participants from industry, academia, and government attended the University of Utah’s Unconventional Fuels Conference on April 28, 2010, in Salt Lake City, UT.
• The new ICSE website was launched in January 2010 (http://www.ices.utah.edu/index.jsp [external site]) and water-related data and new GIS capabilities have been added to the Repository's interactive map feature.

Current Status (November 2011)
The second phase of this project is underway and will expand modeling and simulation efforts through integrated analysis of the new Skyline 16 core obtained in May 2010. Collaborating with their industrial partner, American Shale Oil (AMSO), the University of Utah ICSE research efforts will include oil shale nonlinear stress-strain relationship geomechanical modeling (to define the properties of AMSO’s shale holdings); kinetic compositional modeling for incorporation into thermal reservoir simulators (to model complex oil shale pyrolysis processes and subsequent multiphase production); and rubblized bed high performance computer simulations (to resolve the scale of the individual rubblized shale pieces). Utilizing new fresh core will help to resolve data inconsistencies obtained from older weathered and oxidized cores. Additionally, Phase II will combine university research with industry processing requirements thereby scaling up the research for direct benefit to commercial development of oil shale/sands resources (see recent Phase II accomplishments above). Towards this effort AMSO is currently in the process of developing a proprietary in-situ oil shale production process and is a holder of one of six Bureau of Land Management RD&D leases.

More information on the current status of ICSE research can be found in the quarterly progress reports and in topical reports under “Additional Information” below.

Project Start: October 1, 2009
Project End: September 30, 2013

DOE Contribution: $5,662,515
Performer Contribution: $1,415,879 (20 percent of total)

Contact Information:
NETL – Robert Vagnetti (robert.vagnetti@netl.doe.gov or 304-285-1334)
U. of Utah – Philip Smith (smith@crsim.utah.edu or 801-585-3129)
If you are unable to reach the above personnel, please contact the content manager.

Additional Information:

Quarterly Progress Report - September - December, 2011 [PDF-9.25MB] - February, 2012

Topical Report - "Development of CFD-Based Simulation Tools for In Situ Thermal Processing of Oil Shale/Sands" [PDF-12.1MB] - February, 2012

Topical Report - "Core-Based Integrated Sedimentologic, Stratigraphic, and Geochemical Analysis of The Oil Shale Bearing Green River Formation, Uinta Basin, Utah" [PDF-10.0MB] - April, 2011

Topical Report - "Atomistic Modeling of Oil Shale Kerogens and Asphaltenes Along with their Interactions with the Inorganic Mineral Matrix" [PDF-4.06MB] - April, 2011

Topical Report - “Pore Scale Analysis of Oil Shale/Sands Pyrolysis" [PDF-7.00MB] - March, 2011

Topical Report - “Land and Resource Management Issues Relevant to Deploying In-Situ Thermal Technologies" [PDF-2.29MB] - January, 2011

Topical Report - “Policy Analysis of Produced Water Issues Associated with In-Situ Thermal Technologies" [PDF-2.24MB] - January, 2011

Topical Report - “Policy Analysis of Water Availability and Use Issues for Domestic Oil Shale and Oil Sands Development" [PDF-9.07MB] - March, 2010

Quarterly Progress Report - July - September, 2011 [PDF-16MB] - November, 2011

Quarterly Progress Report - April - June, 2011 [PDF-5.86MB] - August, 2011

Quarterly Progress Report - January - March, 2011 [PDF-6.03MB] - May, 2011

Quarterly Progress Report - October - December, 2010 [PDF-8.38MB] - March, 2011

Quarterly Progress Report - July - September, 2010 [PDF-2.19MB] - November, 2010

Quarterly Progress Report - April - June, 2010 [PDF-13.6MB] - September, 2010

Quarterly Progress Report - January - March, 2010 [PDF-3.23MB] - May, 2010

Quarterly Progress Report - October - December, 2009 [PDF-2.49MB] - February, 2010