Chapter 6 Thermal Cracking of Athabasca Bitumen

Abstract

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on the thermal alteration of the Athabasca bitumen to produce a more saleable material that can be described as a synthetic crude oil. There have been numerous proposals for the commercial production of a synthetic crude oil from the Athabasca bitumen but, because of amalgamations or unforeseen circumstances, the field was narrowed significantly. The Great Canadian Oil Sands (GCOS) plant that has been in operation for several years involves a delayed-coking technique followed by hydrogen treating of the distillates to produce the synthetic crude oil. The selection of delayed-coking over mild thermal-cracking processes, such as visbreaking, was based on the high yields of residuum produced in these processes that would exceed the fuel requirements of the process, especially, if the distillates had to be shipped elsewhere for hydrogen treating. The product distribution and properties were also more favorable than those encountered in the other thermal processes. The synthetic crude oil produced by Great Canadian Oil Sands, Ltd. has already been tested as a substitute diesel fuel by Canadian Pacific Rail on their Montreal–Windsor route and it appears that the synthetic crude oil compares favorably with conventional diesel fuel.