Pyrolysis of pitch derived from hydrocracked athabasca bitumen

✍ Scribed by M.V. Chandra Sekhar; Marten Ternan

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1979
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 745 KB
• Volume: 58
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0016-2361
• DOI: 10.1016/0016-2361(79)90231-x

✦ Synopsis

Results of isothermal and temperature-programmed pyrolysis experiments in an inert atmosphere and at temperatures from 350 to 1000°C are presented. Thermogravimetric techniques using a recording microbalance were employed for following the weight changes occurring during the pyrolysis. Several techniques including ' 3C n.m.r., gas chromatography, mass spectrometry and standard ASTM methods were used to analyse the decomposition products and the unreactive char. The bulk of the weight loss, as much as 35% by weight of the original sample, occurs at temperatures below 500°C. The mechanism of pyrolysis can be adequately described as proceeding in two stages. During the first stage, when about 20% of the sample decomposes, the pyrolytic reactions follow overall firstorder kinetics. During this stage the apparent activation energy and the pre-exponential factor both increase with increasing extent of reaction and exhibit a kinetic compensation effect. During the remainder of the pyrolysis, the activation energy decreases with increasing extent of reaction and the kinetics become complex.