Experimental and modelling studies of MacKay River bitumen and light n‐alkane binaries

Abstract Solubility of light n ‐alkanes in bitumen as well as density and viscosity of the bitumen‐rich phase are the necessary data for simulation and study of the solvent‐aided thermal recovery processes of bitumen. This paper presents experimental data for MacKay River bitumen with n ‐alkane solvents (methane, ethane, propane, and butane). The viscosity and density of the solvent saturated bitumen phase are measured to determine the effect of solvent dissolution on the thermo‐physical properties of bitumen. The solvent‐bitumen system is modelled using the Peng‐Robinson equation of state (PR‐EoS). Moreover, experimental viscosity and density data of solvent‐saturated bitumen are correlated. The effective density and viscosity of the dissolved solvent molecules are obtained using the experimental density and viscosity data for the bitumen‐solvent system.