Effect of minerals on coke precursor formation

✍ Scribed by N Sanaie; A.P Watkinson; B.D Bowen; K.J Smith

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2001
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 231 KB
• Volume: 80
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0016-2361
• DOI: 10.1016/s0016-2361(00)00176-9

✦ Synopsis

The effect of ®ne solids on the incipient formation of toluene insoluble material (coke) from Cold Lake bitumen at temperatures of about 380±4008C was investigated. Experiments were performed at atmospheric pressure using both 1.5 g samples of bitumen without stirring and stirred bitumen samples of 50 or 100 g. Volatiles formed during the reaction were swept from the reactors by a continuous nitrogen purge. The toluene insolubles yield and weight loss of bitumen were measured in the absence and presence of different solid additives present at 2 wt%. Molybdenum sul®de, silica, kaolinite and Southern Alberta clay had no effect on either the toluene insolubles yield or the weight loss at 3908C and 4.5 h reaction time. However, native clays, which were originally separated from Athabasca bitumen, decreased the incipient coke yield by one quarter, from 4% (in the blank experiments) to 3%. No effect on volatiles formation was observed. The reduction in the coke yield increased as the concentration of native clays was raised.