Structural features of Athabasca bitumen related to upgrading performance

Conference · Sat Apr 01 04:00:00 EST 1989 · American Chemical Society, Division of Petroleum Chemistry, Preprints; (USA)

OSTI ID:5137170

Strausz, O P ^[1]

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1. Univ. of Alberta, Edmonton (Canada)

Structural studies on asphaltenes and heavy ends have, until recently, only yielded information on some of the gross compositional features of these materials. Spectroscopic methods, for sample, are limited in the sense that even if several functional groups (e.g., aromatic or aliphatic carbon, carbonyl groups, etc.) can be identified, no information on the molecular environment can be deduced. Selective chemical degradative methods, on the other hand, offer more potential and this paper describes some of their recent results on the chemical degradation of asphaltene and heavy ends. Quantitative recoveries of alkyl side chains and bridging units attached to aromatic rings have been achieved, and some insights into the aliphatic framework have been gained. The results could be particularly helpful with regard to monitoring the dealkylation processes during thermal treatment of bitumens. The aliphatic framework of the asphaltene contains units of five- and six-membered ring sulfides and thermal breakdown of these units also contributes to depolymerization and the production of alkanes. Some of the heteroatom-containing classes of compounds identified in the asphaltene and resin fractions of Athabasca bitumen will be briefly discussed.

• OSTI ID: 5137170
• Report Number(s): CONF-8904131--
• Conference Information: Journal Name: American Chemical Society, Division of Petroleum Chemistry, Preprints; (USA) Journal Volume: 34:2
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

04 OIL SHALES AND TAR SANDS
040403* -- Oil Shales & Tar Sands-- Refining
040500 -- Oil Shales & Tar Sands-- Properties & Composition
ATHABASCA DEPOSIT
BITUMENS
CATALYSIS
CATALYSTS
CATALYTIC EFFECTS
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
DATA
ELEMENTS
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
INFORMATION
METALS
NUMERICAL DATA
OIL SAND DEPOSITS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
OTHER ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
OXIDATION
PLATINUM METALS
PROCESSING
REFINING
RUTHENIUM
STRUCTURAL CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
TAR
TRANSITION ELEMENTS