Viscosity Reduction and Upgrading of Athabasca Oilsands Bitumen by Natural Zeolite Cracking
Oilsands bitumen is an extremely important source of
energy for North America. However, due to the presence of large
molecules such as asphaltenes, the density and viscosity of the
bitumen recovered from these sands are much higher than those of
conventional crude oil. As a result the extracted bitumen has to be
diluted with expensive solvents, or thermochemically upgraded in
large, capital-intensive conventional upgrading facilities prior to
pipeline transport. This study demonstrates that globally abundant
natural zeolites such as clinoptilolite from Saint Clouds, New Mexico
and Ca-chabazite from Bowie, Arizona can be used as very effective
reagents for cracking and visbreaking of oilsands bitumen. Natural
zeolite cracked oilsands bitumen products are highly recoverable (up
to ~ 83%) using light hydrocarbons such as pentane, which indicates
substantial conversion of heavier fractions to lighter components.
The resultant liquid products are much less viscous, and have lighter
product distribution compared to those produced from pure thermal
treatment. These natural minerals impart similar effect on industrially
extracted Athabasca bitumen.
[1] C.L. Thomas, "A History of Early Catalytic Cracking Research at
Universal Oil Products Company," in B.H. Davis and W.P. Hettinger
(eds.), Heterogeneous Catalysis: Selected American Histories, ACS
Symposium Series, Series 222, pp. 241-245, American Chemical
Society, Washington DC, 1983.
[2] S.M. Kuznicki , W.C. McCaffrey, J. Bian , E. Wangen, A. Koenig, and
C.H. Lin, "Natural zeolite bitumen cracking and upgrading," Micropor.
Mesopor. Mater., vol. 105, no. 3, pp. 268-272, Jul. 2007.
[3] Alberta Chamber of Resources, "Oil sands technology roadmap," 2004,
online: http://www.acr-alberta.com/ostr/OSTR_report.pdf, retrieved on
Apr. 15, 2008.
[4] A.S.M. Junaid, H. Yin, A. Koenig, J. Choudhury, G. Burland, W.C.
McCaffrey, and S.M. Kuznicki, "Natural zeolite catalyzed crackingassisted
light hydrocarbon extraction of bitumen from Athabasca
oilsands, Appl. Catal. A: Gen., vol. 354, no. 1-2, pp. 44-49, Feb. 2009.
[5] N.A. Hernández-Beltrán, M.T. Olguín, "Elemental composition
variability of clinoptilolite-rich tuff after the treatment with acid
phosphate solutions," Hydrometallurgy, vol. 89, No. 3-4, pp. 374-378,
Dec. 2007.
[6] American Society for Testing and Materials, Standard Test Method for
Characteristic Groups in Rubber Extender and Processing Oils and
Other Petroleum-Derived Oils by the Clay-Gel Absorption
Chromatographic Method (ASTM D2007M), 2003.
[7] Standard test method for low temperature, low shear rate,
viscosity/temperature dependence of lubricating oils using a
temperature-scanning technique. ASTM D 5133, 2005.
[8] A. Casalini, A. Mascherpa, and C. Vecchi. "Modifications induced by
visbreaking on composition and structure of atmospheric residues," Fuel
Sci Technol Inter., vol. 8, No. 4, pp. 427-445, 1990.
[9] F. Khorasheh and M.R. Gray, "High-pressure thermal cracking of nhexadecane,"
Ind Eng Chem Res., vol. 32, No. 9, pp. 1853-1863, Sep.
1993.
[10] F. Ding , S.H. Ng, C. Xu, and S. Yui, "Reduction of light oil catalytic
cracking of bitumen-derived crude HGOs through catalytic selection",
Fuel Process. Technol., vol. 88, No. 9, 833-845, Sep. 2007.
[11] S. Ng, Y. Zhu, A. Humpries, L. Zheng, F. Ding, T. Gentzis, J. Charland,
and S. Yui, "FCC study of Canadian oil-sands derived vacuum gas oils:
1. Feed and catalyst effects on yield structure," Energy Fuels, vol. 16,
No. 5, pp. 1196-1208, Jul. 2002.
[12] C.S. Peter and L.L. Robert, "An experimental investigation of viscous
heating in some simple shear flows," AIChE Journal, vol. 20, No. 3, pp.
474-484, May 1974.
[1] C.L. Thomas, "A History of Early Catalytic Cracking Research at
Universal Oil Products Company," in B.H. Davis and W.P. Hettinger
(eds.), Heterogeneous Catalysis: Selected American Histories, ACS
Symposium Series, Series 222, pp. 241-245, American Chemical
Society, Washington DC, 1983.
[2] S.M. Kuznicki , W.C. McCaffrey, J. Bian , E. Wangen, A. Koenig, and
C.H. Lin, "Natural zeolite bitumen cracking and upgrading," Micropor.
Mesopor. Mater., vol. 105, no. 3, pp. 268-272, Jul. 2007.
[3] Alberta Chamber of Resources, "Oil sands technology roadmap," 2004,
online: http://www.acr-alberta.com/ostr/OSTR_report.pdf, retrieved on
Apr. 15, 2008.
[4] A.S.M. Junaid, H. Yin, A. Koenig, J. Choudhury, G. Burland, W.C.
McCaffrey, and S.M. Kuznicki, "Natural zeolite catalyzed crackingassisted
light hydrocarbon extraction of bitumen from Athabasca
oilsands, Appl. Catal. A: Gen., vol. 354, no. 1-2, pp. 44-49, Feb. 2009.
[5] N.A. Hernández-Beltrán, M.T. Olguín, "Elemental composition
variability of clinoptilolite-rich tuff after the treatment with acid
phosphate solutions," Hydrometallurgy, vol. 89, No. 3-4, pp. 374-378,
Dec. 2007.
[6] American Society for Testing and Materials, Standard Test Method for
Characteristic Groups in Rubber Extender and Processing Oils and
Other Petroleum-Derived Oils by the Clay-Gel Absorption
Chromatographic Method (ASTM D2007M), 2003.
[7] Standard test method for low temperature, low shear rate,
viscosity/temperature dependence of lubricating oils using a
temperature-scanning technique. ASTM D 5133, 2005.
[8] A. Casalini, A. Mascherpa, and C. Vecchi. "Modifications induced by
visbreaking on composition and structure of atmospheric residues," Fuel
Sci Technol Inter., vol. 8, No. 4, pp. 427-445, 1990.
[9] F. Khorasheh and M.R. Gray, "High-pressure thermal cracking of nhexadecane,"
Ind Eng Chem Res., vol. 32, No. 9, pp. 1853-1863, Sep.
1993.
[10] F. Ding , S.H. Ng, C. Xu, and S. Yui, "Reduction of light oil catalytic
cracking of bitumen-derived crude HGOs through catalytic selection",
Fuel Process. Technol., vol. 88, No. 9, 833-845, Sep. 2007.
[11] S. Ng, Y. Zhu, A. Humpries, L. Zheng, F. Ding, T. Gentzis, J. Charland,
and S. Yui, "FCC study of Canadian oil-sands derived vacuum gas oils:
1. Feed and catalyst effects on yield structure," Energy Fuels, vol. 16,
No. 5, pp. 1196-1208, Jul. 2002.
[12] C.S. Peter and L.L. Robert, "An experimental investigation of viscous
heating in some simple shear flows," AIChE Journal, vol. 20, No. 3, pp.
474-484, May 1974.
@article{"International Journal of Chemical, Materials and Biomolecular Sciences:63905", author = "Abu S.M. Junaid and Wei Wang and Christopher Street and Moshfiqur Rahman and Matt Gersbach and Sarah Zhou and William McCaffrey and Steven M. Kuznicki", title = "Viscosity Reduction and Upgrading of Athabasca Oilsands Bitumen by Natural Zeolite Cracking", abstract = "Oilsands bitumen is an extremely important source of
energy for North America. However, due to the presence of large
molecules such as asphaltenes, the density and viscosity of the
bitumen recovered from these sands are much higher than those of
conventional crude oil. As a result the extracted bitumen has to be
diluted with expensive solvents, or thermochemically upgraded in
large, capital-intensive conventional upgrading facilities prior to
pipeline transport. This study demonstrates that globally abundant
natural zeolites such as clinoptilolite from Saint Clouds, New Mexico
and Ca-chabazite from Bowie, Arizona can be used as very effective
reagents for cracking and visbreaking of oilsands bitumen. Natural
zeolite cracked oilsands bitumen products are highly recoverable (up
to ~ 83%) using light hydrocarbons such as pentane, which indicates
substantial conversion of heavier fractions to lighter components.
The resultant liquid products are much less viscous, and have lighter
product distribution compared to those produced from pure thermal
treatment. These natural minerals impart similar effect on industrially
extracted Athabasca bitumen.", keywords = "Natural Zeolites, Oilsands Bitumen, Cracking,Viscosity Reduction, Upgrading.", volume = "4", number = "9", pages = "626-6", }