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Fall 2012

Peng, Mingyang

Better definition of asphaltene structure is needed to develop new technology for upgrading, and to understand various bitumen properties. Analysis of asphaltene structure is hampered by aggregation of molecules at a length scale of 5 to 10 nm. At 300°C, the addition of aromatic solvents can...

Spring 2013

Ansari, Nesma Nasir

Solvents are ubiquitously used in oil sands extraction industry to enhance the separation of bitumen froth. With developing new technologies such as non-aqueous bitumen extraction, the need to track solvent interactions with oil sands components throughout the extraction process and to identify...

Fall 2017

Naghizada, Nazim

Asphaltene is the most difficult fraction of bitumen and heavy oil to upgrade, as it has low H/C, high molecular weight and metal content. Asphaltenes are insoluble in paraffinic solvents, and undergo aggregation and coke formation during refining and cracking processes. No attention is usually...

Spring 2017

Shi, Chen

Interactions mechanisms of deformable air bubbles and liquid droplets play critical roles in many established and modern industrial processes. Understanding the interaction mechanisms of oil droplets and air bubbles is of fundamental and practical importance to solve many challenging issues,...

Spring 2011

Wang, Shengqun

Removal of emulsified water is a challenge in oil sands and heavy oil processing. The flocculation and coagulation of emulsified water droplets depend on the interactions between the water droplets covered mainly by asphaltenes and oil-contaminated fine solids. To quantitatively evaluate the...

Spring 2012

Flury, Christopher T.

To understand the role of caustic addition and its effect on the bitumen extraction process, a novel flow cell and a Denver Cell extraction unit were utilized. This allowed for the comparison of sodium hydroxide and ammonium hydroxides effect on real oil sands ores. Several ores (A1, C-ore,...

Spring 2014

Garcia, Jose Luis

This work describes the effect that including a solvent in the reaction media of the autoxidation of Cold Lake bitumen has on the viscosity and also on the oxidation degree reached. The comparison of viscosity was performed both in the basis of equal residence time and equal oxygen conversion...

Fall 2012

Bu, Weida

The kinetics of vapor phase cracking of bitumen derived heavy gas oil and the quality of liquid products were investigated at temperatures of 600-700 °C. Fixed and condensed gases were analyzed by gas chromatography. The quality of liquid products was characterized using simulated distillation,...