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ABSTRACT
As a fossil fuel, oil shale is universally regarded as an unconventional resource with huge value. In this study, we conducted a low-temperature oxidation experiment to evaluate the combustion characteristics of oil shale. Our results show that the oil shale (FS oil shale) in Fushun, China, generates gaseous products, such as CO, CO2, CH4, C2H4, and H2 at 60°C, which might be due to the oxidative decomposition of the aliphatic hydrocarbon and the oxygen functional group in oil shale. With the increase of temperature, the contents of –CH2– increased, whereas those of C–O increased first and then decreased. Results of thermogravimetric analysis indicated that the smaller particle size had lower critical temperature, and thus, there is only smaller activation energy for oxidation, consequently increasing the susceptibility of samples to spontaneous combustion. In addition, the phytate efficiently inhibited the low-temperature oxidation of oil shale.