Research On Modified Clinoptilolite Catalysts For Catalytic Visbreaking And Upgrading Of Oilsands Bitumen

Petroleum and natural gas are important conventional energy and strategic resources, and they are closely relevant to the health of the national economy and social stability, sustainable development and building a harmonious society. In recent years, the supply and demand situation of petroleum resources in China is becoming more sever. With the import petroleum increasing, the trade dependence was up to 57%. It is necessary to strengthen the exploration and reasonable utilization of petroleum resources to guarantee the energy security and national economy. Oilsands is a kind of unconventional petroleum resource and it is an effective supplement to conventional energy. The exploration and development of oilsands is concerned all over the world and plenty of human resources and materials are invested in this field.Oilsands bitumen has characteristics of high viscosity (～30000 cP,40℃), high sulfur (0.56～4.8%), high nitrogen (0.73～2.38%) and high asphalt content (34.64%). In this paper, clinoptilolite was modified as a catalyst. In the batch autoclave reactor, Xinjiang oilsands bitumen and Canadian oilsands bitumen were upgraded. The catalytic activity of model reactants, dodecane and hexadecane, was investigated. Elemental analyzer, Fourier transform infrared spectrophotometry (FT-IR), gas chromatography-mass spectrometer (GC-MS) scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and thermogravimetric analysis were employed to analyze the characteristics of the catalyst and the oil products.After catalytic cracked by modified clinoptilolite under 340℃, the ratio of oil to catalyst 1:1,30min, the Xinjiang oilsands bitumen viscosity reduction rate was more than 80%, denitrification rate was 45%～52%, the desulfurization rate was higher than 75%, a large number of non-hydrocarbon catalytic cracked to light oil at the same time. Using the excellent catalyst on Canada’s SAGD oilsands bitumen upgrading, under 310℃, ratio of oil to catalyst 1:1,30min, it was found that the viscosity reduction rate is more than 75%, denitrification rate is between 10%-32%. Modified zeolite catalyst has obvious catalytic transformation ability to model compounds dodecane and hexadecane under 340℃. The result indicated that the modified clinoptilolite is a kind of high performed visbreaking catalyst at low and mild temperatures.In this research, MCM-41 molecular sieve was synthesised using kaolin as aluminum source, and it was employed for Canadian oilsands bitumen upgrading. Under 310℃, ratio of oil to catalyst 10:1,30min, the viscosity reduction rate was 82%. In addition, MCM-41 supported FeOx catalyst was used for microalgae hydrothermal liquefaction, the liquefaction oil yield was more than 60%.