Aquathermolysis of Natural Bitumen under Supercritical Conditions in the Presence of Ferrospheres

Abstract

The influence of a catalytic additive – magnetic ferrospheres – on the product composition of cracking of natural bitumen from Ashal'chinskoe oilfield (4.6 wt % of fractions with IBP 200 °C) was studied. The reaction was achieved in an autoclave in the presence of a hydrogen donor (water). The addition of 10 wt % of ferrospheres was shown to favor the tar destruction and to increase the yield of light boiling fractions. The coke formation was decelerated during bitumen aquathermolysis under supercritical conditions. In aquathermolysis with ferrospheres at 500 °C, the yield of fractions IBP 360 °C increase by 12.5 %, while gas and coke yields decreased by 14.4 and 3.9 wt %, respectively, against the yields during bitumen cracking. The data on structure and group analysis of tars and asphaltenes indicate considerable destruction of the alkyl and naphthene species during aquathermolysis. Application of aquathermolysis allows heavy hydrocarbon feedstock to be processed using inexpensive and effective additives to improve considerably the conversion ratio.