Study on hydropyrolysis of sedimentary organic matter and geochemical information of hydropyrolysates

Hydropyrolysis (HyPy) has been developed for the release and investigation of biomarker compounds in the covalently-bonded biomarkers. These biomarkers possess considerable significance to obtain the important information from original organic geochemistry. They can be widely used for the assessment of biogenic sources, maturity, and sedimentary environment as well as the oil/source correlation. Indeed, the considerable evidences indicate that distinct compositional fraction can exist between the bitumen “A” and kerogen from source rocks. The biomarker compounds from hydropyrolysis will provide considerably more information on geochemistry than those from bitumen “A”. The results showed that these primary components in the molecular skeleton of kerogen can be released rationally by catalytic hydropyrolysis. HyPy shows the advantages to maximize the yields of covalently-bounded biomarkers from kerogen, to minimize structural rearrangement of biomarker species, and to maintain the biologically-inherited stereochemistry. The application of this method to the field of organic geochemistry will provide a new way for the investigation of sedimentary organic matter with higher evolution. It will have a significance and extensive foreground in geochemistry.