Lumped kinetics of hydrocracking of bitumen

Athabasca bitumen was hydrocracked in a continuous-Bow mixed reactor over an Ni-Mo/gamma-alumina catalyst at 430 degrees C and 13.7 MPa. Data for the yields of distillate products from single-pass and multi-pass operation of the reactor were fitted to a lumped kinetic model. Cracking reactions were represented as a minimal number of independent reactions by introducing the concept of stoichiometric coefficients to represent selectivities towards each product fraction. The model was tested by predicting the results of multi-pass operation using parameters determined from single-pass experiments. The reactions of the lumped components in the model followed the known chemistry for hydrocracking and pyrolysis. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.