Complete hydrogen production from oil shale with carbon capture†

Shale oil involves high refinery costs, making it less attractive than conventional oil. Using shale oil for high-value hydrogen (H₂) production may be a solution. However, H₂ is currently generated as a passive by-product, or even used as a raw material to produce refined oil, during oil shale processing, and H₂ as the target product is not well understood. This study proposed a novel concept of full H₂ production from oil shale to boost its competitiveness and clean utilization. The conceptual route of the shale-to-hydrogen process was designed with six components. A model system was established to simulate and analyze the influence of multiple key operating parameters on H₂ production, and energy and exergy analyses were conducted. The results show that the proposed shale-to-hydrogen process can produce H₂ that is suitable for industrial applications. Meanwhile, a global carbon capture rate of 90.18% is achieved and the exhaust gas is in accordance with the emission standard. Within these specifications, the output of the shale-to-hydrogen process is 303.91 Nm³-H₂/t-shale, which meets the standard for industrial hydrogen, and the energy efficiency and exergy efficiency of the whole system are 53.08% and 31.51%, respectively. This study provides a promising technology choice for H₂ production and high-value utilization of oil shale.