Partial Upgrading of Athabasca Bitumen Using Thermal Cracking

Thomas Kaminski,Maen M Husein

doi:10.3390/catal9050431

Abstract

The current industry practice is to mix bitumen with a diluent in order to reduce its viscosity before it can be pumped to refineries and upgraders. The recovery of the diluent and its recycling to the producers, on the other hand, pose major environmental and economic concerns. Hence, onsite partial upgrading of the extracted bitumen to pipeline specifications presents an attractive alternative. In this work, thermal cracking of Athabasca bitumen was carried out in an autoclave at 400 °C, 420 °C and 440 °C in presence and absence of drill cuttings catalyst. At 400 °C, despite no coke formation, the reduction in viscosity was insufficient, whereas at 440 °C, the coke yield was significant, ~20 wt.%. A balance between yield and viscosity was found at 420 °C, with 88 ± 5 wt.% liquid, ~5 wt.% coke and a liquid viscosity and °API gravity of 60 ± 20 cSt and 23 ± 3, respectively. Additionally, the sulfur content and the Conradson carbon residue were reduced by 25% and 10%, respectively. The catalytic thermal cracking at 420 °C further improved the quality of the liquid product to 40 ± 6 cSt and 25 ± 2 °API gravity, however at slightly lower liquid yield of 86 ± 6 wt.%. Both catalytic and non-catalytic cracking provide a stable liquid product, which by far exceeds pipeline standards. Although small relative to the energy required for upgrading in general, the pumping energy requirement for the partially upgraded bitumen was 3 times lower than that for diluted bitumen. Lastly, a 5-lump, 6-reaction, kinetic model developed earlier by our group successfully predicted the conversion of the bitumen to the different cuts.

Highlights

IntroductionThe high content of asphaltenes and other heavy molecules in bitumen leads to major logistical problems during their production, transportation and handling [3]
Bitumen type petroleum makes up 15% of the current proven oil reserves [1,2]
The high content of asphaltenes and other heavy molecules in bitumen leads to major logistical problems during their production, transportation and handling [3]

Summary

Introduction

The high content of asphaltenes and other heavy molecules in bitumen leads to major logistical problems during their production, transportation and handling [3]. The cost of bitumen production, transportation and upgrading must be kept to a minimum for the resource to be profitable [4]. Several upgrading processes exist, falling under either carbon rejection or hydrogen addition processes. Carbon rejection processes, such as thermal cracking, are typically much more economical at the cost of product quality [5]. An upgrading process can be selected depending on the need and the balance between capital cost and product quality. Regardless of the upgrading route, the general guideline is to maximize the liquid yield, by minimizing coke and gas yields, while attaining high quality, stable liquid product [6,7]

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Results

Conclusion