| The purpose of this thesis was to obtain intrinsic kinetic data for the low severity pyrolysis of Athabasca bitumen, particularly in the fluid coker operating regime. Temperatures from 525 to 800{dollar}spcirc{dollar}C were investigated with residence times ranging from 5 to 10 seconds using a novel Curie point pyrolyzer. Since the Curie point pyrolyzer used in this study had never been used for low severity pyrolysis reactions before, the focus of this thesis was to first evaluate whether or not the Curie point pyrolyzer was suitable for a low severity pyrolysis study. It was found that there was a significant radial temperature gradient within the Curie point wire microreactor which prevented any pyrolysis reactions from occurring at temperatures less than 700{dollar}spcirc{dollar}C. It was also found that when a hollow Curie point tube was used instead of a Curie point wire, that the light gas yields from the experiments matched with typical light gas yields from a fluid coker as well as the kinetic model predictions from the literature. In addition, there was a significant condensation problem within the apparatus which prevented any heavy gas oil products from reaching the analytical system. Hence it was recommended that a new apparatus be designed using larger sample sizes (grams) with Curie point tubes rather than Curie point wires. |
