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6.3
3.9
Journals
Catalysts
Special Issues
Upgrading Tar Sands and Heavy Crude
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Upgrading Tar Sands and Heavy Crude

A special issue of Catalysts (ISSN 2073-4344).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 December 2014)

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Russell R. Chianelli

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Director of the Materials Science and Technology Institute , The University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX 79968, USA
Interests: fundamental & applied aspects of materials science applied to petroleum catalysis; fuel cell electrodes; organic/inorganic complex materials and biofuels; bioremediation/environmental catalysis; phytoremediation; environmental statistics; materials research

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues:

When one considers North American (including the United States’, Mexico’s, and Canada’s) reserves of Tar Sands and Heavy Petroleum Crude Oils, the estimated reserves are enormous. If we include the Caribbean and South America, we see that we are becoming the “New Middle East”, thus creating great benefits for the economy. However, taking advantage of our huge reserves will require better conventional technology and novel technologies. For advancing conventional technologies, better catalyst are required and a deeper understanding of Asphaltenes (which are at the bottom of Heavy Petroleum Crude Oils) and how to convert them is required. In addition, novel technologies for conversion of these feedstocks are becoming available. These novel technologies promise low pressure, inexpensive conversion of the feedstocks. This Special Issue covers all aspects of research in the described areas and invites all interested contributors who are making significant progress in this area.

Prof. Dr. Russell R. Chianelli
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Catalysts is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • tar sands
  • heavy petroleum crude oils
  • catalysts
  • asphaltenes

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

8714 KiB  
Article
Increasing Octane Value in Catalytic Cracking of n-Hexadecane with Addition of *BEA Type Zeolite
by Iori Shimada, Ryoichi Imai, Yoshinori Hayasaki, Hiroshi Fukunaga, Nobuhide Takahashi and Toru Takatsuka
Catalysts 2015, 5(2), 703-717; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal5020703 - 22 Apr 2015
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 7839
Abstract
In this study, multifunctional catalysts were developed by adding *BEA or MFI zeolite with high Si/Al ratio to a residual fluidized catalytic cracking (RFCC) catalyst and tested in the catalytic cracking of n-hexadecane, which is a heavy crude oil model compound, for [...] Read more.
In this study, multifunctional catalysts were developed by adding *BEA or MFI zeolite with high Si/Al ratio to a residual fluidized catalytic cracking (RFCC) catalyst and tested in the catalytic cracking of n-hexadecane, which is a heavy crude oil model compound, for the purpose of increasing the octane value of produced gasoline under the strong hydrogen transfer activity of the RFCC catalyst. Reaction products analysis revealed that the addition of *BEA zeolite to the RFCC catalyst increased the yields of olefins and multi-branched paraffins, which resulted in improvement of the octane value without sacrificing gasoline yield. On the contrary, the addition of MFI zeolite decreased the gasoline yield because it cracks the gasoline range olefins into LPG range olefins. In general, it is difficult to increase the yield of multi-branched molecules because the multi-branched molecule is more easily cracked than linear molecules. Our results suggest the possibility for the selective acceleration of isomerization reaction by the addition of less acidic *BEA zeolite to the RFCC catalyst. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Upgrading Tar Sands and Heavy Crude)
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4705 KiB  
Article
Downhole Upgrading of Orinoco Basin Extra-Heavy Crude Oil Using Hydrogen Donors under Steam Injection Conditions. Effect of the Presence of Iron Nanocatalysts
by Cesar Ovalles, Victor Rivero and Arelys Salazar
Catalysts 2015, 5(1), 286-297; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal5010286 - 05 Mar 2015
Cited by 23 | Viewed by 6886
Abstract
An extra-heavy crude oil underground upgrading concept and laboratory experiments are presented which involve the addition of a hydrogen donor (tetralin) to an Orinoco Basin extra-heavy crude oil under steam injection conditions (280–315 °C and residence times of at least 24-h). Three iron-containing [...] Read more.
An extra-heavy crude oil underground upgrading concept and laboratory experiments are presented which involve the addition of a hydrogen donor (tetralin) to an Orinoco Basin extra-heavy crude oil under steam injection conditions (280–315 °C and residence times of at least 24-h). Three iron-containing nanocatalysts (20 nm, 60 nm and 90 nm) were used and the results showed increases of up to 8° in API gravity, 26% desulfurization and 27% reduction in the asphaltene content of the upgraded product in comparison to the control reaction using inert sand. The iron nanocatalysts were characterized by SEM, XPS, EDAX, and Mössbauer spectroscopy before and after the upgrading reactions. The results indicated the presence of hematite (Fe2O3) as the predominant iron phase. The data showed that the catalysts were deactivating by particle sintering (~20% increase in particle size) and also by carbon deposition. Probable mechanisms of reactions are proposed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Upgrading Tar Sands and Heavy Crude)
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