TITLE:
Investigation of Organic Matter Extraction from Moroccan Oil Shale
AUTHORS:
Abdelkrim Abourriche, Abdelaziz Benhammou, Younes Abouliatim, Yassine Rakcho, Said Mansouri, Mossaab Mouiya, Jones Alami, Hassan Hannache
KEYWORDS:
Moroccan Oil Shale, Mineral Matter, Sub/Supercritical Extraction, Nature of Solvent, Phenol
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering,
Vol.11 No.8,
August
31,
2023
ABSTRACT: This study focuses on investigating the effect of various solvents on the supercritical extraction of organic matter from Moroccan oil shales, with the goal of determining the optimal operating conditions that result in a high yield of high-quality oil rich in aromatic compounds. The results of this study demonstrate that the extraction yield and quality of the extracted oil heavily depend on the chosen operating conditions for supercritical or subcritical extraction of organic matter from oil shale. Additionally, the study found that phenol can effectively degrade oil shale and enable extraction of nearly all the organic matter, even under mild conditions (T = 390˚C, P = 1.2 MPa, Time = 2.5 h. Furthermore, the oils obtained through this extraction process are of high quality, with a rich content of maltenes, and a higher concentration of aromatic compounds and lower levels of sulfur than those obtained using other solvents.