Reaction kinetics and particle agglomeration studies in support of heavy oil and bio-oil upgrading

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Diminishing conventional crude oil reserves have led to increased production from unconventional resources, such as bitumen from the Canadian oil sands and fuels converted from biomass. In Canada, an estimated 168 billion barrels are recoverable from the oil sands using available technologies, while increasing biofuel research throughout the world reflects environmental concerns due to greenhouse gas emissions, advantages of energy diversification, and declining conventional fossil fuel reserves. Bio-oils produced from biomass conversion processes have the following inferior properties compared to conventional fuels: higher oxygen content, reduced heating value, greater viscosity, and chemical instability. Both bitumen and bio-oils require upgrading processes to produce valuable fuels and chemicals similar to those obtained from conventional crude oils.