Non-thermal plasma assisted catalytic bitumen partial upgrading under methane environment

传统的加氢处理工艺可用于降低油的粘度、提高API比重和降低油的硫含量。在沥青改质中使用氢气是众所周知的，并且可以提高油的性质，但是由于高压H2（>8 MPa）的消耗，加氢处理的成本相对较高。获得氢添加益处的替代方法是向沥青中添加廉价且丰富的H-供体，例如天然气的主要组分甲烷。拟议的研究旨在开发一种具有成本效益的部分升级技术，以增加从地表可开采油砂中提取的沥青的流动性。降低粘度将满足管道输送规格，同时提高改质油的质量，有利于其在管道另一端的进一步精炼。这将使用基于在温和温度和大气压力下在原位产生的等离子体的促进下以非热方式将天然气直接催化掺入沥青中（即甲烷-甲烷处理）的技术来完成。然后，原位活化和电离的甲烷与沥青热裂解形成的破碎分子片相互作用，导致在共存催化剂的促进下生产具有提高的油产率和质量的部分改质油，用于管道输送。与加氢处理相比，这种提出的等离子体辅助的甲烷处理更环境友好和经济上有利。此外，拟议的研究与工业合作伙伴的核心业务非常一致，如果成功交付，将有助于合作伙伴在可预见的未来保持油砂和天然气利用方面的技术领先地位。此外，本研究所取得的成果将开创一种新的甲烷活化液化方法，从而在催化领域及其在清洁能源转化中的应用方面取得突破。此外，该项目的成果将通过更高效、更清洁地利用加拿大丰富的重质原油和天然气资源，进一步确立加拿大在世界能源市场上的领先地位。

Traditionally hydrotreating processes can be used to decrease the viscosity of oil, improve the API gravity, and reduce the sulfur content of the oil. Using hydrogen in bitumen upgrading is well known and can enhance the properties of the oil, but the costs of hydrotreating are relatively high due to the consumption of high pressure H2 (>8 MPa). An alternative approach to obtain the benefits of hydrogen addition is to add a cheap and abundant H-donor to the bitumen, such as methane, the main component of natural gas. The proposed research aims to develop a cost-effective partial upgrading technology to increase the mobility of the bitumen extracted from surface minable oil sands. Reducing the viscosity will satisfy the pipeline transportation specificationwhile enhancing the quality of the upgraded oil beneficial for its further refining at the other end of the pipeline. This will be done using a technology based on the directly catalytic incorporation of natural gas (i.e. methane - methanotreating) into bitumen at mild temperature and atmospheric pressure under the facilitation of in situ generated plasma in a nonthermal way. The in situ activated and ionized methane then interacts with the broken molecular pieces formed from bitumen thermal cracking, leading to the production of the partially upgraded oil with enhanced oil yield and quality for pipeline transportation under the facilitation of co-existing catalyst. Compared to hydrotreating, such proposed plasma assisted methanotreating is more environmentally friendly and economically profitable. Besides, the proposed research aligns well with the core business of the industrial partner and will help the partner keeping the technical leadership in oil sands and natural gas utilization in the foreseeable future if successfully delivered. In addition, the outcomes obtained from this study will create a novel way of methane activation and liquefaction, leading to the breakthrough in the field of catalysis and its application in clean energy conversion. Moreover, the achievement made from this project will further ascertain the leading position of Canada in the world's energy market through more efficient and cleanerutilization of heavy crude oil and natural gas which are abundant natural resources in Canada.