In-situ study of asphaltene precipitation by using total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy

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Canada has one of the largest sources of oil sands, including more than two-trillion barrels of heavy oil in Alberta with proven recoverable reserves of about 170 billion barrels of bitumen. Paraffinic froth treatment (PFT) is the step in oil sand extraction to remove solids and water from bitumen froth by dilution with paraffinic solvents. Precipitation of a fraction of asphaltene during the dilution is key to agglomeration and separation of water and solids for high quality bitumen. However, a large volume of solvents used in PFT is a heavy burden not only from a high cost of solvents, but also from intensive energy consumption required to recycle the solvents and from limited pipeline capacity for bitumen transportation. In this project, a suit of cutting-edge techniques will be employed to investigate very early stage asphaltene precipitation induced by dilution. The findings will lay the foundation for technology innovation based on optimization of the solvent supply system to achieve less use of solvents in PFT.