The desorption of oil from nano-micro pores of shale cuttings based on particle self-rotation in the cyclone

To realize the harmless treatment and resource recycling of oily shale cuttings, the most important step is to desorb the oil phase from the pores of the cuttings. The desorption treatment must overcome the capillary force and viscous resistance inside the pores. This paper discusses a cyclone oil desorption technology. The particles of the oily shale cuttings in the swirl field generated by the cyclone will have high-speed self-rotation, thus providing sufficient centrifugal forces that separate the phase oil from the pores. The critical speed of such self -rotation for the desorption of oil phase in pores of particles was analyzed using mechanical formula, and the distribution of particle self-rotation speed in the cyclone was calculated and simulated. We collected shale cutting samples from the Sichuan shale gas field in China. Experiments were conducted to observe the changes in the porosity and oil content of the cuttings before and after cyclone desorption treatment. The results show that the particle self-rotation in the cyclone can effectively achieve the oil phase desorption from the particle pores. For the shale cuttings in the experiments, when the particle self-rotation speed is faster than the critical self -rotation speed of 507 rad/s, the oil phase in the particle pores can be desorbed. When the inlet flow rate is between 55 m(3)/h - 95 m(3)/h, the particle self-rotation speed is faster than the required critical self-rotation speed. As the inlet flow rate increases, the particle self-rotation speed in the cyclone also increases, which generates better desorption effects.

Automated summary

This paper discusses a cyclone oil desorption technology, which uses the self-rotation of particles to achieve the desorption of oil phase from the pores of cuttings. The experiments show that when the particle self-rotation speed is faster than the critical self-rotation speed, the oil phase in the particle pores can be desorbed.