Establishing the potential of hydropyrolysis to provide reliable molecular fingerprints for biodegraded crude oils and contaminated sediment cores...

Completed

Fossil Fuels: Oil Gas and Coal(Oil and Gas, Other oil and gas)
Not Energy Related

Basic and strategic applied research

PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND MATHEMATICS (Chemistry)
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES (Earth Systems and Environmental Sciences)

Not Cross-cutting

Professor C Snape
Chemical and Environmental Engineering
University of Nottingham

R&D

NERC

01 June 2001

28 February 2002

9 months

£33,202

Transport Systems and Vehicles

East Midlands

Ocean Margins (LINK)

Professor C Snape, Chemical and Environmental Engineering, University of Nottingham

Dr G Love, Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Newcastle University

Objectives not supplied

The aim is to demonstrate the potential of hydropyrolysis (pyrolysis assisted by high hydrogen gas pressures) as a novel means to provide reliable molecular fingerprints for biodegraded oils and contaminated cores where conventional biomarker approaches fail. This will then facilitate accurate and rapid oil-source and oil-oil correlations to be determined for the first time in these situations. New experimental protocols for conducting hydropyrolysis on asphaltenes will be developed. The study will establish a firm base to exploit the commercial potential of hydropyrolysis, both in oil exploration and for characterising sedimentary organic matter as a far superior technique to pyrolysis-GC-MS through a larger industrial partnership.

05/06/08