Intermediate vapor collection within encapsulated control infrastructures

摘要

A method of recovering hydrocarbons from hydrocarbonaceous materials can include forming a constructed permeability control infrastructure (600). This constructed infrastructure (600) defines a substantially encapsulated volume. A mined hydrocarbonaceous material can be introduced into the control infrastructure to form a permeable body (605) of hydrocarbonaceous material. The permeable body (605) can be heated sufficient to remove hydrocarbons therefrom. Hydrocarbon products can be collected from intermediate locations (620, 630) within the permeable body (605). Advantageously, an intermediate fluid collection system (610) can be used to draw a hydrocarbon product from the permeable body (605) at preselected locations. Such intermediate collection can provide hydrocarbon product fractions which can reduce or eliminate the need for full-scale distillation of a hydrocarbon product having a full range of products such as that typically found in crude oil. In addition, product quality can be tailored by monitoring such intermediate draws and adjusting operating parameters accordingly.