Phase Behavior of Athabasca Bitumen

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Abstract

The phase behavior of Athabasca bitumen (Alberta, Canada) was determined from nanofiltered permeates and retentates with pentane-asphaltene mass fractions wA ranging from 0.053 to 0.57, and chemically separated Athabasca pentane maltenes and pentane asphaltenes based on differential scanning calorimetry and rheology measurements from (190 to 570) K at atmospheric pressure. Samples were subject to two sequential heating cycles. Composition, apparent heat-capacity, and phase-angle data were collected and interpreted jointly to define phase diagrams for nanofiltered maltene + nanofiltered asphaltene pseudobinary mixtures for each heating cycle. These pseudocomponents are shown to behave independently. During the first heating cycle, observed phase transitions for maltenes include: a broad low-temperature glass transition with a Tg from (215 to 230) K and a small first-order phase transition with a peak temperature Ttrs between (320 and 340) K linked to a fraction of Athabasca maltenes undergoing a crystal to liquid transition. These transitions were found in both chemically separated and nanofiltered maltenes. Nanofiltered asphaltenes undergo a two-stage transition from solid to liquid between (260 and 470) K, with the second stage being a glass type transition. The nature of the first stage requires additional study. By contrast, chemically separated pentane asphaltenes undergo a complex transformation from (310 to 530) K comprising overlapping processes including endothermic transitions from solid-to-liquid and solid-to-liquid crystals and an exothermic dissolution of the liquid crystals [Bagheri, S. R., et al. Energy Fuels2010, 24, 4327–4332]. Athabasca bitumen comprises a minimum of four phases drawn from liquid, crystalline maltene + glass and/or crystal, and liquid asphaltenes from (260 to 360) K. The phase transition reversibility is discussed, and the phase diagram for Athabasca bitumen is compared with that of Maya crude oil, reported previously [Fulem, M., et al. Fluid Phase Equilib.2008, 272, 32–41]. Multiphase behavior appears to be a general phenomenon, but phase diagram details appear to vary from feedstock to feedstock.

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