"A NEW INSTRUMENT FOR THE CHARACTERIZATION OF FOSSIL ENERGY RESOURCES"

MANY IMPORTANT PROBLEMS IN CHARACTERIZING MATERIALS IN THE EARTH'S LITHOSPHERE INVOLVE DETERMINING BOTH ORGANIC AND INORGANIC CONSTITUENTS. RECENT PROGRESS HAS BEEN MADE IN THE USE OF THERMAL ANALYSIS IN WHICH THE SAMPLE IS TAKEN THROUGH A TEMPERATURE EXCURSION AND ITS WEIGHT LOSS OR EVOLVED PRODUCTS ARE MONITORED. WHILE THESE TECHNIQUES HAVEPROVIDED IMPORTANT CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ORGANIC MATERIALS,THEY ARE LIMITED IN THE EXTENT OF ANALYSIS FOR THE EVOLVED PRODUCTS. THE INNOVATION OFFERED IN THIS PROPOSAL IS A UNIQUE SYSTEM WHICH COUPLES THERMOGRAVIMETRIC ANALYSIS (TGA)WITH EVOLVED GAS ANALYSIS (EGA) PERFORMED WITH A FOURIER TRANSFORM INFRARED (FT-IR) SPECTROMETER. A UNIQUE FEATURE OF THE SYSTEM IS ITS ABILITY TO PROVIDE CONTINUOUS MONITORING OF THE INFRARED SPECTRA OF EVOLVING LIQUIDS AS WELL AS QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS OF GASES. THE TGA/EGA SYSTEM COMBINES ALL OF THE CONTROL AND DATA REDUCTION FUNCTIONS IN THE FT-IR'S COMPUTER AND THUS IS CAPABLE OF PROVIDING AN INTEGRATED, AUTOMATED INSTRUMENT WITH EXTENSIVE ANALYSIS OF PRODUCTS AT A CO-COMPETITIVE WITH PRESENT TECHNIQUES WHICH PROVIDE MORE LIMITED ANALYSIS. THE PROPOSAL RESEARCH PROGRAM WILL DETERMINE WHETHER THE EXTENSIVE DATA AVAILABLE IN A TGA/EGA ANALYSIS CAN BE USED EFFECTIVELY FOR THE CHARACTERIZATION OF FOSSIL ENERGY RESOURCES, SOILS, SEDIMENTS, AND POLLUTANTS. THE PHASE I PROGRAM WILL EMPHASIZE THE CHARACTERIZATION OF ENERGY RESOURCES. IN COLLABORATION WITH DR. JEAN WHELAN OF THE WOODS HOLE OCEANOGRAPHIC INSTITUTE (WHOI), A WIDE VARIETY OF OIL SOURCEROCK AND SEDIMENT SAMPLES WILL BE ANALYZED WITH THE TGA/EGA AND THE RESULTS CORRELATED WITH THE DATA ON MATURITY, VITRINITE REFLECTANCE, MINERAL COMPOSITION, PETROLEUM GENERATION, ORGANIC CONTENT, AND ORGANIC COMPOSITION OBTAINED BY STANDARD METHODS.