Energy Fuels 2009, 23, 5012–5021 Published on Web 08/21/2009
: DOI:10.1021/ef900313r
Rheological Properties of Nanofiltered Athabasca Bitumen and Maya Crude Oil MD. Anwarul Hasan,† Michal Fulem,‡,§,z Ala Bazyleva,‡ and John M. Shaw*,‡ †
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, T6G 2G8, Canada, ‡Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, T6G 2G6, Canada, §Department of Physical Chemistry, Institute of Chemical Technology, Prague, Technick a 5, CZ-166 28 Prague 6, Czech Republic, and zInstitute of Physics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, v.v.i., Cukrovarnick a 10, CZ-162 53 Prague 6, Czech Republic Received April 8, 2009. Revised Manuscript Received July 4, 2009
Complex viscosities of Athabasca bitumen (Alberta, Canada) and Maya crude oil (Mexico) samples, along with their permeates and retentates obtained by nanofiltration at 473 K through 5-, 10-, 20-, 50-, and 200-nm ceramic membranes, were investigated over the temperature interval of 298-373 K. The pentaneasphaltene content of the samples varied from 1.5 wt % to 57.2 wt %, whereas the asphaltene-free composition of the samples did not vary from the feed composition (within experimental error). At temperatures of
