Author Description

Process control for both extraction and upgrading of bitumen depends strongly on reliable analytical procedures. This volume presents the analytical methods used at Syncrude Canada for evaluating upgrading processing of bitumen recovered from the Athabasca oil sands. After an introductory section on the chemical nature of Alberta bitumens and the commercial upgrading of bitumens, further sections cover elemental analysis (carbon and hydrogen in catalyst samples, metals in hydrocarbon analysis, nitrogen and sulfur determination), hydrocarbon characterization (including density, refractive index, microcarbon residue, kinematic viscosity, bromine number, and aromatic content), distillation of hydrocarbons and bitumen, catalyst characterization (including crush strength, bulk density, surface area, pore size distribution, and elemental analysis), and quantitative analysis of refinery gases by gas chromatography.