The oil shale of the Uvdug Khooloin Gashuun deposit, located in Mongolia, has a relatively high content of volatiles (28.40%), but its caloric value is low (1780.0 kJ/kg). Furthermore, it was found to have a relatively high content of organic carbons and a low content of heteroatomic compounds containing elements N, S, O, halogens (X), etc. The ash of oil shale, dominated by aluminosilicates (SiO2 + Al2O3 /CaO + MgO = 10), is acidic and contains more than 40 heavy and toxic elements. The pyrolysis carried out under nitrogen at 500–550 °C produced shale oil (11.21%), pyrogenetic water (11.09%), gases including losses (8.10%), and semi-coke (69.50%). By gas chromatographic-mass spectrometric (GC-MS) analyses, 279 (mainly C7–C17 n-alkanes and n-alkenes, 36.69%) and 323 (mainly C12–C19 n-alkanes and n-alkenes, 43.08%) individual organic compounds were identified in both light and middle shale oil distillates, respectively. Also, the neutral sub-fraction (93.1%) of the middle distillate is composed of a large amount of C10–C24 aliphatic hydrocarbons (70.1%) and a negligible amount of acidic and basic organic compounds (6.9%). The study results suggest that the Uvdug Khooloin Gashuun oil shale could be used as a raw material for liquid fuels.
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