Kinetic Modeling of Bitumen Hydroprocessing at In-Reservoir Conditions Employing Ultradispersed Catalysts

Heavy oil and bitumen’s low American Petroleum Institute (API) gravity and high viscosity make the economics of their industrialization difficult. Therefore, new recovery techniques must be developed to enhance these materials. Ultradispersed catalytic hydroprocessing of heavy oil and bitumen has been proposed as one of these novel techniques and has been tested in laboratories and pilot plants. In this work, a kinetic model for ultradispersed catalytic hydroprocessing of bitumen is proposed. Kinetic parameters were estimated from experimental results obtained in a tubular pilot plant reactor. The predicted products composition was in good agreement with experimental values with average absolute errors of less than 7%. Additionally, experimental liquid products viscosity and residue conversions followed an exponential correlation. This correlation, in combination with the results from the kinetic modeling, was employed to create a computational program that calculates products distribution from bitumen hydroprocessing and provides reaction conditions to achieve a specific liquid products viscosity.