The viscosity of gasoline

Abstract

The transportation of bitumens and heavy oils is made difficult by the excessively high viscosity of these compounds. The current solution to this problem is the dilution of the compounds with C4 + liquid hydrocarbon to the extent that the mixture becomes pumpable through surface pipelines. To open new avenues for transportation of heavy oils, oxygenates, which are gaining acceptance as octane enhancing components in gasoline, are investigated as an alternative diluent. This study investigates the use of the oxygenate tert-amyl methyl ether (TAME) as a blending diluent with Cold Lake bitumen, and compares the results to a previous study by the same authors which utilized methyl tret-butyl ether (MTBE) as the blending agent. A liquid viscosity model was utilized to calculate the component viscosities as a function of temperature, and then a mixing rule to determine blend viscosities as a function of composition. The mathematical viscosity model suggested for the blends in these investigations was found to be accurate over the entire range of compositions and temperatures for both oxygenates. A number of simple experimental distillations performed on mixtures of bitumen and oxygenates proved that these easily separate without any significant loss.