Effect of Uranium Substance on Hydrocarbon Generation from Mudstone by Hydrous Pyrolysis

Key words: 
• uranium

Abstract: Organicinorganic interactions are ubiquitous and unalterable in sedimentary basin. In this paper, effect of uranium substance on the mudstone pyrogenation was studied by hydrous pyrolysis. From the experiments, huge increase of the gas yields was observed. Further investigations showed that the content of carbon dioxide increased, while the content of methane decreased, and carbon monoxide was one of the metastable intermediates during the hydrous pyrolysis. At the same time, the high molecular weight hydrocarbons seemed to be more degraded by the uranium substance. The generated sterane and terpane from the hydrous pyrolysis were also affected by the uranium substance.