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The Permian source rocks in the Junggar Basin are widely developed, especially the Fengcheng Formation, which is the most significant source rock in the basin. However, due to insufficient research on the hydrocarbon generation (HG) and hydrocarbon expulsion (HE) characteristics of the source rocks, it is unclear whether a significant amount of retained hydrocarbons remain within shales. In general, the original organic matter abundance and kerogen type control hydrocarbon generation potential (HGP) and HE capacity in lacustrine shales. Therefore, the degradation rate method was used to establish the original organic carbon recovery model for different types of kerogen. Combined with the geologic and geochemical characteristics of the source rock, the HG, HE, and shale oil resource potential of the Fengcheng shale have been evaluated. We have found that the Fengcheng shale is mainly carbonate-type mudstone widely distributed with an average thickness greater than 100 m. The Fengcheng shale is composed of type II kerogen and reached the mature to high-mature thermal maturity stage, with the maximum original organic carbon exceeding 4.0 wt%. Meanwhile, the amount of retained hydrocarbons within shales is abundant according to the HGP model. Monte Carlo simulation finds that the shale oil resources of the Fengcheng shale are 23.30 × 108 t. Free oil resources account for 60%, reaching 13.75 × 108 t, indicating tremendous shale oil exploration potential.

In comparison to the continuous breakthrough in shale gas of marine basins, the pace of study of lacustrine basins is relatively slow. The latest studies have shown the saline lacustrine rifting ba...

Silica aerogel has attracted increasing interest in building glazing for energy efficiency owing to its light weight, ultra-low thermal conductivity and high visual transmittance. In this study, four types of aerogel granules with various average particle sizes (viz. 0.41, 1.03, 1.64 and 2.54 mm) were prepared by using a low-cost ambient pressure drying method. Three gaps between two pieces of glass (viz. 6, 9 and 12mm) were filled with aerogel granules, yielding 12 pieces of aerogel filling glazing. The light transmittance and reflectance of the aerogel glazing samples were experimentally measured by using a spectrometer. Based on the experimental results, the correlation between the light transmittance performance and the geometrical parameter of the aerogel glazing were established based on a proposed dimensionless geometrical parameter. It revealed that the visible light transmittance and the shading coefficient of the aerogel glazing had a positive correlation with the particle size and a negative correlation with the filling thickness. In addition, the filling thickness had a greater influence on the properties of aerogel glazing than the particle size. This opens new possibility for a multiple-objective evaluation of the aerogel glazing aiming at building energy efficiency.

Aerogel glazing units (AGUs) is a high-performance building glazing which can effectively reduce energy consumption due to its thermal and optical performance. In this paper, the effect on thermal and optical properties of AGUs with different particle sizes and filling thicknesses were investigated. The results indicated that visible light transmittance and solar direct transmittance of AGUs palpably increased as the particle size increased from 0.41mm to 0.93mm, while it lightly changed as the particle size continued to increase from 0.93mm. The heat transfer coefficient decreased by about 15% when the particle size was reduced from 2.7mm to 0.41mm. In conclusion, the increase of the thickness of aerogel can effectively decrease visible light transmittance, solar direct transmittance and heat transfer coefficient. Finally, color rendering index(CRI)the AGUs with different particle sizes and filling thicknesses were investigated and AGUs show good color performance.

Implementing thermal insulation on the building has been acknowledged as a highly effective way to achieve cost-effective energy conservation. For implementing thermal insulation, a key problem is the proper selection of wall insulation in terms of material types and optimum thicknesses because it is challenged to balance energy-saving effects and economic benefits. To address this problem, we investigated the new aerogel super-insulation material for building-energy-conservation application in this paper. Specifically, we took a typical office building of humid subtropical climate as a model, established a whole-life-cycle-assessment model to exploit the optimum economic thickness, and further evaluated the energy-saving rate, economic benefits, the greenhouse-gas emissions, etc. Besides, we compared the super-insulated aerogel with four commonly-used insulation materials, i.e., expanded polystyrene, extruded polystyrene, foamed polyurethane, and glass fibers. Experimental results showed that aerogel had the minimum optimum thickness of 3.7 mm. When aerogel was implemented with the optimum thickness, the annual cooling and the heating load for the hollow shale brick building were reduced by 7.5% and 18.2%, respectively. Additionally, compared with the other materials, aerogel achieved a faster reduction for greenhouse-gas emissions as the thickness increased. The aerogel insulation could lead to lower carbon emissions, e.g., CO2 (8.169 kg/(m2yr)) emissions with LPG fuel, and thus would be more preferable for environmental protection. The building energy simulations employed can be further strengthened in the future by considering the effect of urban microclimates and actual internal heat gains in offices.