A kinetic model of the hydrocarbon fraction reactions during the low- and high-temperature oxidation of Athabasca bitumen

The objective of this study was to provide reaction kinetic models that could be used to describe the forward reactions of the hydrocarbon fractions of maltenes, asphaltenes and coke at various thermo-oxidative conditions during the in situ combustion of Athabasca bitumen.;To achieve this objective, the reaction kinetic models incorporated the results of two, independent sets of experiments performed by the In Situ Combustion Group at the University of Calgary. The first set of experiments studied the time-dependent, compositional behavior of the hydrocarbon fractions of maltenes, asphaltenes and coke during the low-temperature oxidation of Athabasca bitumen. The second set of experiments, the ramped-temperature oxidation (RTO) experiments, studied time-dependent temperature responses, produced gas compositions, and residual hydrocarbon fraction distributions during the low- and high-temperature oxidation of Athabasca bitumen. The combination of these experimental data, described in this thesis as the "Coke Formation Model", made it possible to simultaneously predict the compositions of produced gasses, maltenes, asphaltenes, and coke within the reactor at any time past the coke initiation time. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)...