HYDROCRACKING OF ATHABASCA BITUMEN - KINETICS OF FORMATION OF GASES

The kinetics of formation of light, saturated hydrocarbons (C//1 -C//4), hydrogen sulphide and a mixture of olefins (C//2 -C//4), carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and pentanes (g) in the hydrocracking of Athabasca bitumen were investigated. Hydrocracking was conducted both in the absence and in the presence of a catalyst (commercially available CoO-MoO//3/Al//2O//3 or a synthetic CoO-MoO//3/TiO//2-SiO//2 catalyst) in a batch reactor at temperatures in the range 620-693 K and at 7. 2 MPa initial hydrogen pressure (at 293 K). A model is proposed to describe the formation of gases from bitumen. The reactions are assumed to be first order and irreversible. The activation energies were found to be in the range 111-167kJ mol** minus **1 for the non-catalysed reactions and 21-147 kJ mol** minus **1 for the catalysed reactions.