Key words: supercritical fluid extraction, oil formation, mechanochemical transformation, organic matter, petroleum hydrocarbons
The experiment on the supercritical (SC) CO2 extraction of organic matter from rocks and soils showed that the SC fluid can dissolve, transfer and accumulate petroleumlike hydrocarbons, including relict ones. Based on the obtained results, it was hypothesized
that during the SC extraction the dissolution of organic substances is accompanied by their mechanochemical transformation in micropores and microcracks of solid matter. The resulting changes in composition, structure and distribution of individual hydrocarbons are similar to those, supposedly, taking place in petroleum-mother rocks. Thus, one can assume the possibility of rapid mechanochemical transformation of dispersed organic matter of sedimentary rocks in a flow of plutonic SC fluid, which, in turn, would allow one to re-consider the time scale of oil accumulation from millions to, possibly, hundreds of years.
doi:10.1134/S1990793110070146