Kinetic studies on the pyrolysis of asphaltenes from different types of kerogens

The pyrolysis kinetics of a series of asphaltenes, from different types of kerogens, are studied in this work. The results indicate that the distributions of activation energy are over a wide range for the asphaltenes from type I kerogens. There is still a large potential of hydrocarbon generation in case the activation energy is above 350 kJ ·mol−1. While the distributions of activation energy are comparatively over a narrow range for the asphaltenes from type II and in kerogens, there is a little or almost no potential of hydrocarbon generation with the activation energy above 350 kJ · mol−1 respectively. For the asphaltenes from some specific type of kerogens, the pyrolysis kinetics can be applied to marking their maturity. Furthermore, based on detailed discussions of the kinetics parameter frequency factor, the asphaltenes from type I kerogens are considered to be of great potential to regenerate oils, while the asphaltenes’ potential for oil-to-gas conversion tends to go down in order of primitive kerogen types of III, II and I.