The SR Analyzer is a bulk thermal extraction – pyrolysis / FID instrument used to measure the total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) yields from vaporization of volatiles and cracking of complex organic moieties.

The SR Analyzer can be used to measure:

• TPH data equivalent to Rock-Eval^® data such as:
 
• free oil content (S1)
• pyrolysis yield (S2)
• Tmax
• True Tmax
 
• light volatiles (LV)
• thermally distillables (TD)
• thermally crackables (TC)

Applications for the SR Analyzer WorkStation

• Source rock characterization
• oil content
• remaining hydrocarbon generation potential
• thermal maturity
 
• Reservoir rock characterization
• oil yields
• viscosity and API prediction
• tar, bitumen, pyrobitumen content
 
• Site remediation studies
  total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH)
 
• Bulk kinetic parameters
• single run screening kinetics
• multiple heating rate kinetics
• isothermal kinetics

The SR Analyzer is a bulk thermal extraction – pyrolysis system connected directly to a flame ionization detector (FID). It is fully temperature programmable with heating rates from 0.10 to 50°C/min possible. Operation is computer software controlled allowing the user to follow simple to use menus for temperature programs. A variety of methods can be stored and run in a sequence comparable to GC methods.

The SR Analyzer provides automated analysis of rock, asphaltenes, resins, soil, asphalts, polymers, or other solid, semi-solid, or liquid organic matrices such as crude oil detailing their composition in terms of:

• Oil yields (S1)

These compounds that vaporize between 50°C to 340°C. This includes compounds from C1 to C75 depending on the initial isotherm temperature. The initial isotherm may be held constant or set through series of ramp and soak temperature regimes

• Kerogen yield (S2)

S2 consists of compounds from C1 to C40 that are cracked from a sample matrix usually from 340°C to 650°C using non-isothermal (constant heating rate) or isothermal (flash) pyrolysis conditions; these data are also used for kinetic calculations

• Tmax and True Tmax

Tmax is the temperature at peak S2 yield and a kinetically controlled parameter indicative of thermal exposure (maturity); it is used to calculate an equivalent vitrinite reflectance value (cal.%VRo) Jarvie et al., 2001); True Tmax is the actual temperature in the sample and is used for kinetic calculations.

SR Analyzer output:

Variable programming allows determination of light volatiles, thermally distillables, and thermally crackable hydrocarbons for prediction of viscosity and API gravity predictions on reservoir rocks. This is needed for pre-test and pre-completion assessment of hydrocarbons in reservoirs.

Geochemical logs of SR Analyzer data. When combined with TOC measurements, an initial screening of source potential, thermal maturity, kerogen type, and prospective pay zones can be identified.

SR Analyzer data can be used to answer a variety of exploration questions and these data can be mapped to help identify the correct prospects for company objectives. These data can be combined with total organic carbon (TOC) results to:

• Identify the best source rocks
• Identify the present-day kerogen type
• Identify maturation levels of source rocks
• Quantify the total generation potential
• in barrels of oil
• in cubic feet of gas
• Determine the extent of kerogen conversion
• Determine kinetic parameters for definition of oil and gas windows
• Identify by-passed pay zones

Kinetics2000 is the most powerful kinetics calculation program ever created developed jointly by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Humble Instruments. SR Analyzer pyrolysis data is read directly into Kinetics2000 for computation by various, rigorous kinetic models that no other kinetics software package offers. Different kinetic models provide insights into the true behavior of organic matter that simple discrete models cannot possibly address. It features various models such as:

• discrete
• Gaussian
• Weibull
• Nucleation
• Alternate Pathway

These data can be used to calculate bulk kinetics or the more complicated compositional kinetics of dry gas, wet gas, condensate, and black oil formation rates. In addition these models can be used to predict the extent of conversion or maturity of closed-system pyrolysis experiments either hydrous pyrolysis or MicroScale Sealed Vessel (MSSV) experiments.

The SR Analyzer Kinetics WorkStation is designed specifically for bulk kinetic analysis of geopolymers. Its high sensitivity, precise temperature measurement, and automation make it an ideal system for determining the rate at which organic matter decomposes into hydrocarbons. These data combined with Kinetics2000 results can be used to compute:

• single heating rate kinetics
useful for evaluating a large number of rock or oil asphaltene samples for a basin-wide assessment of transformation rates
• multiple heating rate kinetics
standard geochemical kinetic analysis for free and fixed A factor calculations, best reaction order, discrete, Gaussian, and nucleantion models
• isothermal kinetics
provides the best solution for the A factor independent of heating rates

Kinetics2000 initial setup screen for modeling SR Analyzer Arrhenius WorkStation pyrolysis data. The model type and the input data files are selected from this window.

KMod: Comparison of Kinetic Data KMod allows kinetic parameters to be modeled using any time – temperature histories. Comparison of reaction kinetics for different source rocks shows a wide range of onset of and peak generation temperatures using geological heating rates. KMod can also be used to predict conversion and maturity of MSSV and hydrous pyrolysis experiments.

Presentation of kinetic results using: Kmod and KinGraph – transformation and generation rate curves as shown with computed vitrinite reflectance values; the distribution of activation energies and probability factor are plotted as a histogram; computed temperatures and maturities at 10% and 50% kerogen conversion are reported.

Reservoir Oil Quality Assessment

The SR Analyzer capabilities include the ability to measure and calculate certain physico-chemical properties of reservoir rocks such as viscosity and API gravity. Because of the fast analysis times, these properties can be predicted prior to testing and completion of a well. In fact these data are so important that Saudi Aramco has logged over 80 wells at the well site utilizing the SR Analyzer.

Prediction of viscosity and API gravity on samples from around the world as a model for prediction of these properties from cuttings or SWC samples prior to well testing and completion using the SR Analyzer.

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