KINETICS AND PRODUCT YIELD DISTRIBUTIONS IN THE COO-MOO3/AL2O3 CATALYZED HYDROCRACKING OF ATHABASCA BITUMEN

Hydrocracking of Athabasca bitumen was studied in a batch reactor at 620-693 K and at an initial hydrogen pressure of 7.2 MPa (at 293 K). The reaction products were separated into coke, asphaltenes, resins, aromatics, saturates and gases. The reaction time versus product yield curves were obtained for the above six product groups. Three kinetic models were developed to provide insight into the reaction mechanism. The proposed models are: bitumen heavy ends&rarrlight oils&rarrgases, asphaltics↔2maltenes&rarrgases. The mathematical model was chosen to be power law because of the complexity of the reaction system. Hydrocracking reactions were assumed to be first order with respect to hydrocarbons and zero order with respect to hydrogen.