East Azerbaijan contains huge oil shale reserves, which according to available data amount to several billion tons. Among the deposits with large predicted resources, Guba, Jangichay and Diyally are of particular importance. Despite its widespread use worldwide, especially for producing oil and gas hydrocarbons and thermal power, oil shale, found in more than 100 areas in East Azerbaijan, is still not used. The prospect of obtaining the listed products from oil shale requires the study of their thermal properties, including the patterns associated with the decomposition of kerogen in various temperature ranges. An attempt to thermolysis shale samples from some deposits of East Azerbaijan using microwave irradiation was made in this study. A high absorption rate and penetration depth of ultra-high-frequency electromagnetic radiation into the mass of the studied samples were established, which made it possible to predict a high degree of extraction of organic high-molecular and gaseous components in a shorter exposure time compared to traditional heating. The group composition of high-molecular organic products and gaseous compounds was studied using liquid-adsorption column chromatography in combination with gas chromatographic analysis of thermally desorbed components. The characteristics of the group composition of the organic part of the samples of oil shale from the studied deposits are presented, distributed by fractions as saturates, aromatics, resins and asphaltenes (SARA).

Keywords: Oil shale, thermolysis, microwave radiation, microwave penetration depth, chromatographic analysis

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