image: Adhesion of oxidized (a) and non-oxidized (b) bitumen to acidic rock.
First co-author, Junior Research Associate of the Rheological and Thermochemical Research Lab Richard Djimasbe, comments, "To obtain bitumen as a half-solid product from heavy oil, you have to extract light fractions, and the rest is non-oxidized bitumen. Because of the relatively low ratio of light fractions in heavy oil, it's a simple and cheap way of bitumen production. The method allows for rational use of both heavy oil and light oil."
Lab Head Mikhail Varfolomeev adds, "One of the priorities of our World-Level Research Center in Liquid Hydrocarbons is the use of heavy oils, which constitute the majority of reserves both in Russia and in the world. One of the most important parts of this is extraction and refining of heavy petroleum reserves. The paper makes steps in that direction."
Non-traditional reserves, such as heavy oil, natural bitumen, and shale oil, have been found in Canada, Venezuela, Brazil, Russia, Chad, Madagascar and many other countries.
The research team hopes that non-oxidized bitumen can become another popular product obtained from heavy oil in Russia.
"The researchers focused on the use of a specially packed oxidizing column to increase the contact surface between the feedstock and the injected compressed air in order to reduce production costs, followed by a comparison of oxidized and unoxidized bitumen obtained by steam distillation," says co-author, Junior Research Associate Ameen A. Al-Muntaser.