Partial Upgrading of Bitumen: Impact of Solvent Deasphalting and Visbreaking Sequence

Solvent deasphalting and visbreaking are two important technologies in the development of processes for partial upgrading of oilsands-derived bitumen to improve oil fluidity for pipeline transport. This work investigated the impact of the process sequence, solvent deasphalting followed by visbreaking (SDA-Vis) compared to visbreaking followed by solvent deasphalting (Vis-SDA). Thermal conversion during visbreaking was performed at 380 °C for 85 min, and solvent deasphalting was performed with n-pentane. Using this combination of processes in either sequence changed bitumen from a viscosity-limited fluid to a density-limited fluid with respect to pipeline specifications. The density and viscosity of the oil products from SDA-Vis and Vis-SDA were comparable. It was found that SDA-Vis achieved 2 wt % higher liquid yield than Vis-SDA. Conversely, Vis-SDA produced an oil product with higher hydrogen to carbon ratio compared to SDA-Vis. This difference could be explained in terms of hydrogen transfer during thermal conversion. Overall, the diluent requirements to meet pipeline fluidity requirements could be reduced by 40% relative to the Cold Lake bitumen feed.