Abstract
In this work, a series of experiments on pyrolysis of Maoming oil shale were conducted in a custom-built reactor, in order to investigate the pyrolysis characteristics and the pyrolysis kinetic of Maoming oil shale heated by CoCl2 assisted steam. The experimental results show that compared with conventional and steam heating, the combined physical and chemical action of CoCl2 assisted steam heating can reduce the initial pyrolysis tem-perature and apparent activation energy of oil shale, and increase its mass loss. CoCl2 assisted steam heating is helpful to destroy the pore structure of oil shale, the CoCl2 assisted steam preheating treatment of oil shale near the initial pyrolysis temperature is beneficial to the production of volatiles in oil shale pyrolysis. According to the theory of consecutive reaction model, the larger the ratio of the first to the second reaction rate constant, the greater peak of relative concentration of thermal bitumen can be obtained which is the intermediate product. After reaching the peak relative concentration of thermal bitumen, the oil shale pyrolysis enters the main pro-duction stage. The pyrolysis specific rate increases with the heating temperature, and the pyrolysis specific rate is higher and the pyrolysis reaction time is shorter under CoCl2 assisted steam heating.