PROPERTIES OF COLD LAKE BITUMEN SATURATED WITH PURE GASES AND GAS-MIXTURES

This paper presents new data for the viscosity, density and gas solubility of Cold Lake bitumen saturated with light gases and gas mixtures over a temperature range of 15 to 103 degree C at up to 10 MPa pressure. Specifically, the gases whose effects on the bitumen properties were measured are N//2, CH//4, CO//2 and C//2H//6, and two mixtures of CO//2 and CH//4. With CO//2 and C//2H//6, experiments were also performed in the liquid-liquid region, and the results of these experiments generally agree with the previously published predictions. The viscosity of the gas-free Cold Lake bitumen is comparable to that of a Marguerite Lake bitumen that was tested previously. Due to the large solubilities of CO//2 and C//2H//6, the reduction in gas-saturated bitumen viscosity is quite dramatic. The density of the gas-saturated bitumen decreases with increased amounts of the dissolved CH//4 and C//2H//6 gases, but no such trends are evident for the N//2 and CO//2 gases. The results of the experiments with two binary gas mixtures (i. e. , CO//2 and CH//4) indicate that the bitumen properties are affected largely by the major gas constituent.