THERMAL AND GEOCHEMICAL

CHARACTERIZATION OF OIL SHALE

FROM THE BIDA BASIN, NIGERIA

A Masters Research Progress Report

By

DAVID, DAKUP GEORGE

MENG/SEET/2017/6754

SUPERVISED BY DR A.G. OLUGBENGA

13th February, 2020.

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 PRESENTATION OUTLINE
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 INTRODUCTION
 PROBLEM STATEMENT
 JUSTIFICATION
 AIM AND OBJECTIVES
 SCOPE OF STUDY
 LITERATURE REVIEW
 SUMMARY OF METHODOLOGY
 RESULTS
 REFERENCES
 INTRODUCTION 3

 Increasing energy demand is one of the most important problems facing the
world. In addition to the search for new energy sources, energy demand is
driving society to search for more efficient energy conversion systems. Yang et
al., 2016.
 The earth contains large amounts of hydrocarbons that are not contained in what
might be called conventional reservoirs.
 With conventional hydrocarbon reserves being rapidly utilized, a future in which
demand for conventional deposits exceed supply is apparently inevitable. Wright
et al., (2015).
 Oil shale is formed by the deposit of silt and organic debris on lake beds and sea
bottoms. Over time, heat and pressure transform the material into oil shale. It
generally contains enough oil such that it will burn without any additional
processing. Hence, it is also called the rock that burns.
 PROBLEM STATEMENT 4
 Crude oil, a conventional hydrocarbon, is rapidly depleting.
Therefore, energy requirement for both industrial and
domestic uses, will undergo a shortfall.
 The oil potential of shale deposits in the Basin is not yet
known.
 The dependence on crude oil is expected to continue into the
foreseeable future. Therefore, it is a concern to provide viable
alternatives to this conventional sources of energy.
 Up to date, the oil shale in Bida Basin is yet to be reported in
terms of kerogen alteration.
 JUSTIFICATION 5

 With crude oil rapidly depleting, this research

seeks to provide an alternative to crude oil.
 Standard analyses will be carried out in the
laboratory to determine the oil potential of the Bida
Basin.
 The identifiable alternative, which is oil shale, will
be characterized to determine its refining route.
 Acid treatment has been used to identify kerogen
alteration.
 AIM AND OBJECTIVES 6
 Bearing in mind the problems stated above, this study
is aimed at analyzing the oil potential of the shale
deposits on the Bida Basin in order to create an
alternative for crude oil. To achieve this aim, this
study has the following objectives:
 To determine the Total Organic Carbon (TOC) of the
shale sample.
 To carry out a Rock-Eval pyrolysis experiment on the
sample.
 To characterize the oil shale of the Bida Basin using
Thermographic Analysis (TGA), Fourier Transform
Infrared (FTIR) and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD).
 SCOPE OF STUDY 7

 This research employs the use of TOC, Rock-

Eval Pyrolysis, TGA, FTIR and XRD to
analyze the oil shale samples specifically
obtained from the Bida Basin.
 Although there are other analytical tools that
could be used, this research is however, limited
to the aforementioned.
 LITERATURE REVIEW 8
AUTHOR & TOPIC/FINDINGS RESEARCH GAP
YEAR
Kulaots et al., 2010 Characterization of Chinese, American and In this work, Pyrolysis of the oil
Estonian oil shale semicokes and their shales at temperatures of 500–1000
sorptive potential. 0
C yielded semicokes with organic
char contents from 1.7% to 17.5%
and BET surface areas of 4.4–57
m2 g_1

Akande et al., 2015 Source rock potential of lignite and
interbedded coaly shale of the
Ogwashi–Asaba Formation, Anambra basin
as determined by sequential hydrous
pyrolysis.
The data set reveals remarkable
differences in the characteristics of
the two types of source rocks in the
Ogwashi–Asaba Formation and
their potential to contribute a
mixture of hydrocarbons derived
from intervals that are
stratigraphically only meters apart.
 LITERATURE REVIEW CONT’D 9
AUTHOR & TOPIC/FINDINGS RESEARCH GAP
YEAR
Wright et al., A new rapid method for shale oil Pyrolysis-FTIR method is a rapid
and shale gas assessment. method for the characterization
2015 and quantification of liquids and
gases released following the
pyrolysis of organic-rich samples.

Chen et al., Study of the thermal conversions According to the results, the main
of organic carbon of Huadian oil reactions in the transformation of
2016 shale kerogen to bitumen are the re-
during pyrolysis. integration of macromolecular
structure and the breakup of
oxygen-bridged bonds.
 LITERATURE REVIEW CONT’D
AUTHOR & YEAR TOPIC/FINDINGS
Lai et al., 2017 Characterization of oil shale
pyrolysis by solid heat carrier in
moving bed with internals.
Lee et al., 2018 Estimating the reaction parameters
of oil shale pyrolysis and oil shale
grade using temperature transient
analysis and inverse modeling.
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RESEARCH GAP
Pyrolysis of oil shale with high
moisture content of 10wt% caused
obvious increase in shale oil yield
due to the protective effect of steam
atmosphere by its reducing
secondary reactions and also
catalysis action of shale ash.
Temperature difference and its
derivative are used
in synthetic inversions to estimate
oil shale grade and parameters of
active decomposition reactions with
an error below 1%.
 SUMMARY OF METHODOLOGY 11
Here is the summary of the procedure that will be employed in
this research:
(TOC)

Sample Crushing
Collection Screening

Rock-Eval Characterization
Pyrolysis (TGA, FTIR, XRD)
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 RESULTS 13

1. The Total Organic Carbon (TOC) of the sample

was found to 0.92 wt%, which is appreciably
above the threshold of 0.5 wt% for shale
samples.

2. The results for the Rock Eval Pyrolysis are still

being awaited. They should be ready in less than
2 weeks.
3. Thermographic Analysis (TGA) of Oil Shale from Bida
Basin (Carried out at WAFT Laboratory, School Agriculture,
FUTMinna.

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4. Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR), of Oil Shale
from Bida Basin (Carried out at Chemical
Engineering Laboratory, A.B.U. Zaria.

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• From the bands observed on the FTIR results, the functional groups
present in the shale samples are Ankerite, Dolomite, Siderite and
Calcite.

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5. X-Ray diffraction (XRD) of Oil Shale from
Bida Basin (Carried out at Chemical Engineerin 17
Laboratory, A.B.U. Zaria.
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 From the peaks observed on XRD, the predominant mineral

composition of the shale sample are Kaolinite, Illite and
Quartz.
 REFERENCES 19
 Wright, M. C., Court, R. W., Kafantaris, F. C. A., Spathopoulos, F., &
Sephton, M. A. (2015). A new rapid method for shale oil and shale gas
assessment. Fuel, 153, 231-239. 
 Jiang, H., Song, L., Cheng, Z., Chen, J., Zhang, L., Zhang, M., ... & Li, J.
(2015). Influence of pyrolysis condition and transition metal salt on the product
yield and characterization via Huadian oil shale pyrolysis. Journal of analytical
and applied pyrolysis, 112, 230-236. 
 Saif, T., Lin, Q., Bijeljic, B., & Blunt, M. J. (2017). Microstructural imaging
and characterization of oil shale before and after pyrolysis. Fuel, 197, 562-574. 
 Adekoya, J. A., Ola, P. S., & Olabode, S. O. (2014). Possible Bornu Basin
Hydrocarbon Habitat—A Review. International Journal of Geosciences, 5(09),
983. 
 Ola, P. S., Adekoya, J. A., & Olabode, S. O. (2017). Source Rock Evaluation in
The Lake Chad Area of the Bornu Basin, Nigeria. J Pet Environ
Biotechnol, 8(346), 2.
 REFERENCES CONT’D 20

 NG, N. O. (2011). The Bida Basin in north-central Nigeria: sedimentology

and petroleum geology. Journal of Petroleum and Gas Exploration
Research, 1(1).
 Guo, H., Pei, Y., Wang, K., Cheng, Q., Ding, Y., Jin, Z., ... & Liu, Y.
(2015). Identifying the reaction mechanism of oil-shale self-heating
retorting by thermal analysis techniques. Fuel, 160, 255-264.
 Lai, D., Zhang, G., & Xu, G. (2017). Characterization of oil shale pyrolysis
by solid heat carrier in moving bed with internals. Fuel Processing
Technology, 158, 191-198.
 Lee, K. J., Finsterle, S., & Moridis, G. J. (2018). Estimating the reaction
parameters of oil shale pyrolysis and oil shale grade using temperature
transient analysis and inverse modeling. Journal of Petroleum Science and
Engineering, 165, 765-776.
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