Developing hydropyrolysis to generate molecular biomarker signals for solving key problems in oil exploration where conventional biomarker approaches fail.

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 October 2002

30 September 2004

24 months

£84,029

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 realise the potential of hydropyrolysis (pyrolysis assisted by high hydrogen gas pressures) as a means to provide reliable molecular fingerprints for severely biodegraded oils, contaminated cores, oil-field solids (tar mats and pyrobitumens) and to provide novel information on basin filling history where the conventional free biomarker approach fails. This will then facilitate rapidand accurate oil-source and oil-oil correlationsto be determined for the first time in Ocean Margin regions. The study will establish a firm base to exploit the commercial potential of hydropyrolysis, both in terms of oil exploration through the new correlations with bound biomarker profiles and of characterising sedimentary organic matter as a far superior technique to py-GC-MS. Indeed, innovative experimental protocols for conducting hydropyrolysis will continue to be developed to have aproto-type system ready for future exploitation.

05/06/08