This book presents the Rock-Eval® method, which was invented in France in the 1970s and is used by the oil industry worldwide to characterize source rocks and reservoir rocks as well as their petroleum potential. Rock Eval® has also spread to other fields of application, including soil science, paleoceanography, paleoclimatology, environmental science (i.e. monitoring pollution remediation), material chemistry (i.e. carbonates, microplastics) and many others.
The Rock-Eval Method presents a collection of chapters reviewing this method and its fields of application, and examines its possible developments. The authors are from either the academic or applied sector and have all contributed to the development of the Rock Eval® apparatus and method. This instrument, which lies somewhere between a chromatographic, a thermal and an elemental analyzer, is now evolving to be an analytical platform, on which new fields of applications can be tested in the future.
Presentation of Units, Symbols and Acronyms xi
List of Formulae xv
Chapter 1 Historical Perspectives 1
Violaine LAMOUREUX-VAR, Nicolas BOUTON and Franēois BAUDIN
1.1 History of Rock-Eval® 1
1.2 Geographical distribution of Rock-Eval devices worldwide and areas of
application of the method 8
Chapter 2 Principles and Methods 11
Violaine LAMOUREUX-VAR, Nicolas BOUTON, Jean ESPITALIÉ and Yves BENOIT
2.1 Analysis process 11
2.2 Schematic diagram of the Rock-Eval 6 analyzer 12
2.3 Detectors 13
2.4 Thermograms 14
2.5 Methods and cycles 20
2.6 Rock-Eval 7 Sulfur 21
2.7 Pollut-Eval 24
Chapter 3 Parameters and Illustration of Results 29
Lauric CÉCILLON, Pierre BARRÉ, Yves BENOIT, Yoann COPARD and Maria-Fernanda
ROMERO-SARMIENTO
3.1 Introduction 29
3.2 Rock-Eval® signals and basic parameters 30
3.3 Key parameters for oil exploration 36
3.4 Parameters developed for soil analysis 39
3.5 Development in progress on the mathematical processing of thermograms
44
Chapter 4 Guidance on Sampling, Effects of Mineral Matrix and Other
Artifacts on Thermograms 45
Franēois BAUDIN, Yves BENOIT and Nicolas BOUTON
4.1 Sample collection, preparation and conservation 45
4.2 Mineral matrix effects 54
4.3 Other artifacts on thermograms related to the presence of minerals 63
4.4 Other artifacts and abnormal signals of instrumental origin 67
Chapter 5 Comparison with Other Methods 73
Nicolas BOUTON and Jérémie AMMOUIAL
5.1 The Rock-Eval method at the crossroads of classical analytical methods
73
5.2 Elemental analysis 74
5.3 Chromatography 76
5.4 Thermal analysis 77
5.5 Comparison with other analyzers of the same type 78
5.6 Comparison with other types of samples 82
Chapter 6 Characterization of Petroleum Source Rocks 85
Maria-Fernanda ROMERO-SARMIENTO
6.1 Introduction 85
6.2 Characterization of conventional oil source rocks and isolated organic
matter (kerogens) 87
6.3 Characterization of oil samples 90
6.4 Characterization of hydrocarbons from source rocks 91
6.5 Composition of hydrocarbons detected by Rock-Eval® pyrolysis 93
6.6 Estimation of hydrocarbon reserves in place 97
6.7 Estimation of free hydrocarbons in porous media 99
Chapter 7 Determining the Parameters of Thermal Cracking of Fossil Organic
Matter 101
Franēoise BEHAR
7.1 Introduction 101
7.2 Basic equations for thermal cracking 103
7.3 Experimental determination of kinetic parameters of kerogen 107
7.4 Calculation of the overall kinetic parameters of kerogen in an open
system 111
7.5 Acquisition and optimization of kinetic parameters E and A 113
7.6 How are the absolute values of E and A, obtained in the laboratory, used
to calculate the values of TR under geological conditions? 115
7.7 Summary 122
Chapter 8 Characterization of Sulfur Compounds 125
Jean ESPITALIÉ, Violaine LAMOUREUX-VAR and Nicolas BOUTON
8.1 Introduction 125
8.2 Experimental device 127
8.3 Characterization of sulfur in kerogens 128
8.4 Characterization of sulfur in oil source rocks 136
8.5 Kinetics of cracking of the organosulfur compounds of organic matter
142
8.6 Characterization of sulfur in oils 145
8.7 Characterization of sulfur in reservoir rocks 148
8.8 Prospects for the application of Rock-Eval 7 Sulfur in understanding the
sulfur sedimentary cycle 150
8.9 Prospects for the application of Rock-Eval 7S in industry 152
Chapter 9 Study of Organic Matter in Recent Sediments 153
Yoann COPARD and Franēois BAUDIN
9.1 Introduction 153
9.2 Reminder of the principles of analysis of recent sediments by the
Rock-Eval method 154
9.3 Analysis of fresh organic matter and pure compounds 155
9.4 Continental archives as witnesses of environmental changes 158
9.5 Coastal and marine environments 166
9.6 Relationships between organic matter and contaminant concentrations 176
Chapter 10 Characterization and Evaluation of the Stability of Soil Organic
Matter 181
Pierre BARRÉ, Lauric CÉCILLON and Eva KANARI
10.1 Introduction 181
10.2 Relevance and general teachings of Rock-Eval analysis of soil samples
182
10.3 Difficulties in linking the Rock-Eval signature and chemical
composition of soil organic matter 190
10.4 Evaluation of soil organic carbon stability by Rock-Eval 194
10.5 Quantifying soil organic carbon stability using Rock-Eval with a view
to improving soil carbon dynamics models 200
10.6 Conclusion 207
Chapter 11 Study of Natural and Anthropogenic Events 209
Yoann COPARD and Franēois BAUDIN
11.1 Introduction 209
11.2 Events of geological origin 210
11.3 Fires and signature of incomplete combustion residues 216
11.4 Weathering versus syndiagenetic oxidation 217
11.5 Artificial oxidation 222
Chapter 12 Detection and Monitoring of Oil Pollution in the Environment 225
Yves BENOIT
12.1 Introduction 225
12.2 The Pollut-Eval method 227
12.3 Influence of the natural organic matrix of soils on the observed
responses 234
Chapter 13 Analysis of Carbonates 241
Franēois BAUDIN, Nicolas BOUTON and Adrien WATTRIPONT
13.1 Reminder of the principles of mineral carbon analysis using the
Rock-Eval method 241
13.2 Kinetic effects 243
13.3 Artifacts 250
13.4 Discrimination and quantification of different carbonate mineral
species using the Rock-Eval method 253
13.5 Corrections in case of the presence of siderite 256
13.6 From Rock-Eval MinC to carbonate percentage 260
13.7 TOC and MinC relationships in sediments and sedimentary rocks 262
13.8 Concluding remarks 264
Chapter 14 Whats Next for Rock-Eval? 267
Franēois BAUDIN and Nicolas BOUTON
References 271
List of Authors 299
Index 301
Franēois Baudin is Professor of sedimentology and petroleum geology at Sorbonne Université, France. His research focuses on the processes controlling the preservation and distribution of organic matter in sedimentary rocks, recent sediments and soils.
