Heavy Oils

Within the last 10 years the world has come to a point where the easily explorable oil deposits have now been found, and it is anticipated that such deposits will be depleted by the beginning of the Twenty-first Century. However, the increasing demand of man kind for energy has caused technologists to look into ways of find ing new sources or to reevaluat:e unconventional sources which, in the past, have not been economical. In this respect, heavy crude and tar sand oils are becoming important in fulfilling the world's energy requirements. What are heavy crude and tar sand oils? There is still some confusion as to their definitions, inasmuch as they vary among organizations and countries. In an effort to set agreed meanings, UNITAR, in a meeting in February 1982 in Venezuela, proposed the following definitions (see also Table 1): 1. Heavy crude oil and tar sand oil are petroleum or petroleum like liquids or semi-solids naturally occurring in porous media. The porous media are sands, sandstone, and carbonate rocks. 2. These oils will be characterized by viscosity and density. Viscosity will be used to define heavy crude oil and tar sand oil, and density (oAPI) will be used when viscosity measurements are not available. 3. Heavy crude oil has a gas-free viscosity of 100-10000 mPa.s (cp) 3 o at reservoir temperatures, or a density of 943 kg/m (20 API) 3 o o to 1000 kg/m (10 API) at 15.6 C and at atmospheric oressure.

With substantial contributions from experienced industrial scientists and engineers, this work will have real application towards improving process efficiency and improvement in the trillion-dollar global petroleum industry. It presents an overview of the emerging field of petroleomics, which endeavors to understand the fundamental components of crude oil. Petroleomics promises to revolutionize petroleum science in much the same way that genomics transformed the study of medicine not long ago. Asphaltenes are a particular focus, with many chapters devoted to the analysis of their structure and properties.

Many oil refineries employ hydroprocessing for removing sulfur and other impurities from petroleum feedstocks. Capable of handling heavier feedstocks than other refining techniques, hydroprocessing enables refineries to produce higher quality products from unconventional- and formerly wasted- sources. Hydroprocessing of Heavy Oils and Residua

Heavy oil is a crude oil of typically less than 20�API gravity and higher than 200 cp (centipoise) viscosity at reservoir conditions. It is characterized by a viscous, dense, and asphaltic nature. Heavy oil reservoirs are considered as some of the world's largest reserves. Extraction, recovery, and production of heavy oil are the main challenges in the heavy oil industry. This book provides current research on heavy and crude oils.

"This useful reference offers in-depth coverage of current techniques for converting heavy oils and residues into more valuable distillates.Examines the chemistry of heavy hydrocarbon feeds and their properties important to engineering design, including phase behavior, reaction kinetics, and thermodynamic and transport characteristics!"

"Second Edition expands and updates information on the technological aspects of refining heavy oils, residua, bitumen, and other high-sulfur feedstocks. Focuses on the range of next-generation refining processes."

Heavy oils, extra-heavy oils and tar sands are major players for the future of energy.They represent a massive world resource, at least the size of conventional oils. They are found all over the world but Canada and Venezuela together account, by themselves, for more than half of world deposits. They share the same origin as the lighter conventional oils, but their geological fate drove them into thick, viscous tar-like crude oils. Most of them result from alteration processes mediated by microbial degradation. They are characterized by a low content of lighter cuts and a high content of impurities such as sulfur and nitrogen compounds and metals ; so, their production is difficult and deployment of specific processes is required in order to enhance their transportability and to upgrade them into valuable products meeting market needs, and honouring environmental requirements.Although these resources are increasingly becoming commercially producible, less than 1% of total heavy crude oil deposits worldwide are under active development. The voluntarily wide scope of this volume encompasses geology, production, transportation, upgrading, economics and environmental issues of heavy oils. It does not pretend to be exhaustive, but to provide an authoritative view of this very important energy resource.

A comprehensive guide to a cutting-edge and cost-effective refinement process for heavy oil Oil sufficiently viscous that it cannot flow normally from production wells is called heavy oil and constitutes as much as 70% of global oil reserves. Extracting and refining this oil can pose significant challenges, including very high transportation costs. As a result, processes which produce and partially refine heavy oil in situ, known as catalytic upgrading, are an increasingly important part of the heavy oil extraction process, and the reduced carbon footprint associated with these methods promises to make them even more significant in the coming years. Catalytic In-Situ Upgrading of Heavy and Extra-Heavy Crude Oils provides a comprehensive introduction to these processes. It introduces the properties and characteristics of heavy and extra-heavy oil before discussing different catalysts and catalyzing processes, their mechanisms and underlying physics, and more. It offers the full sweep of description and analysis required for petroleum and chemical engineers to understand this vital aspect of the modern oil industry. Readers will also find: Detailed discussion of subjects including electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and more Analysis of both liquid catalysts and nanoparticle catalysts A numerical simulation of the catalytic in-situ oil upgrading process Catalytic In-Situ Upgrading of Heavy and Extra-Heavy Crude Oils is a valuable reference for petroleum and chemical engineers as well as advanced undergraduate and graduate students in related fields.