CONVERSION OF NIGERIAN OILSAND TO LIGHT CRUDE IN THE PRESENCE OF ENHANCED FLUID CATALYTIC CRACKING (FCC) CATALYST.

Abstract

Conversion of heavy oil to light crude in the presence of a catalyst better known as catalytic upgrading of heavy and extra-heavy oil is been explored worldwide as one important in-situ upgrading technology among others. In this study, an equilibrated Fluid Catalytic Cracking (FCC) catalyst was sourced from a refinery, enhanced by the addition of transition metal ions, characterized using X-Ray Diffractometer (XRD), X-Ray Flourencence (XRF) and Fourier Transform - Infrared (FT-IR) techniques and tested in upgrading heavy crude oil. The enhanced FCC (Fluid Catalytic Cracking) commercial catalyst, hydrogen and glycerol were added into bitumen (32000cSt measured at 40oC) in a high-pressure batch reactor at 350oC for reaction time of two hours, pressure of 10bar and catalyst to bitumen ratio of 0.02. Viscosity reduction after thermal upgrade were 83 and 98% at room temperature and at 40oC respectively while the reduction after catalyst upgrade were 87.9 and 98.9% correspondingly under the same conditions. It was found that there was improved API gravity from 11.6 to 26.0 in thermal reaction and 30.5 in catalytic reaction. Other physiochemical properties of the bitumen investigated also improved significantly towards the production of lighter oil. The structural compositions of the bitumen before and after the reaction at 350oC were investigated using Fourier Transform - Infrared (FT-IR) and Gas Chromatograph – Mass Spectrometer (GC-MS). The result shows that the heavy molecular compounds like resins and asphaltene were broken down to lighter compounds. Keywords: Bitumen, Oilsand, Fluid Catalytic Cracking, Catalyst, Heavy oil, Upgrade.