We have studied the pore characteristics of marine and lacustrine shale from the Erdos basin, China during laboratory pyrolysis using small-angle neutron scattering (SANS). Our SANS results show that shale samples during  pyrolysis have distinct pore features primarily between 1 to 30 nm (Fig.1, Q=2p/d). Our results also show that changes in pore microstructure are related to petroleum generation, the nature of hydrocarbon fractions, retaining and cracking in oil, and wet and dry gas windows. Our results suggest that the dynamics of microstructural pore features crucially affect exploration and production of unconventional resources. SANS is particularly suited to elucidate these dynamics by in-situ studies of pore and crack characteristics of geological materials at elevated pressure and temperature and the factors that impact their pore distribution from the nano to mesoscale.

Small-angle neutron scattering investigation: Pore dynamics of shale during pyrolysis

247th National Meeting (2014)

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