Separation and characterization of bitumen from Athabasca oil sand |
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Authors: | Songhun Yoon Sharad Durgashanker Bhatt Wonkyu Lee Heung Yeoun Lee Soon Yong Jeong Jin-Ook Baeg Chul Wee Lee |
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Affiliation: | (1) Advanced Chemical Technology Division, Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology (KRICT), Daejeon, 305-600, Korea;(2) Korea National Oil Corporation, Petroleum Technology Institute, Anyang, 431-711, Korea |
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Abstract: | Separation and chemical analysis was investigated using bitumen samples from Athabasca oil sand in Alberta. Fractionation
according to solubility and polarity has been used to separate bitumen into its fractions. The solvent de-asphaltening was
performed by n-pentane solvent (solubility fractionation), and the polarity fractionation using Fuller’s earth allows maltene
to separate into SARA components (saturates, aromatics, resins and asphaltenes). The SARA components are analyzed comprehensively
using elemental analysis (EA), Fourier-transformed infrared (FTIR), ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-vis), high performance
chromatography (HPLC) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). EA (C, H, N, S), heavy metals (Ni, V) concentrations, FT-IR and
UV-vis tests provided the explanation of chemical composition. From IR spectra, maltene and saturates/aromatics (sat/aro)
contained more aliphatic compounds than resin or asphaltene. Also, IR spectrum of sat/aro was similar to crude oil and VGO
(vacuum gas oil). Different UV signal data clearly indicates the contribution of aromatic constituents in the fractions. Using
optimized analysis conditions of HPLC, we successfully separated the peaks for bitumen and its fractions. The characteristic
peak pattern of SARA (saturates, aromatics, resins, asphaltenes) fractions was observed, and also the peak pattern of sat/aro
was similar to that of crude oil and VGO. However, TGA results revealed that thermal behavior for sat/aro was similar to that
of crude oil but different from that of VGO. Also, from the comparison between decomposition temperature of TGA and boiling
point, their correspondence was found. |
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Keywords: | Oil Sand Separation Bitumen Heavy Oil Spectroscopy |
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