Patent ID: 8701788

Claim:
A process for preconditioning a subsurface shale formation comprising kerogen and an extractible organics component, the process comprising: providing a first hydrocarbon solvent to the subsurface shale formation comprising kerogen and an extractible organics component; at least partially solubilizing at least a portion of the extractible organics component in the first hydrocarbon solvent; removing the first solvent containing the extractible organics component from the subsurface shale formation; providing a second solvent to the subsurface shale formation to remove at least a portion of the first hydrocarbon solvent from the subsurface shale formation; and removing the second solvent from the subsurface shale formation; and wherein the first solvent is selected from the group consisting of 2-methyltetrahydrofuran, tetrahydrofuran, dichloromethane, chloroform, acetone, carbon disulfide, benzene, toluene, xylene, pyridine, n-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP), cyclopentyl methyl ether (CPME), ethyl lactate, dibasic esters (DBE), propylene carbonate, dimethyl carbonate, CO 2 , CO 2 at supercritical conditions, and mixtures thereof and the second solvent is selected from the group consisting of methanol, ethanol, acetone, CO 2 , CO 2 at supercritical conditions, and mixtures thereof.