Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering, Vol.95, No.7, 1417-1427, 2017
Experimental and modelling studies of MacKay River bitumen and light n-alkane binaries
Solubility of light n-alkanes in bitumen as well as density and viscosity of the bitumen-rich phase are the necessary data for simulation and study of the solvent-aided thermal recovery processes of bitumen. This paper presents experimental data for MacKay River bitumen with n-alkane solvents (methane, ethane, propane, and butane). The viscosity and density of the solvent saturated bitumen phase are measured to determine the effect of solvent dissolution on the thermo-physical properties of bitumen. The solvent-bitumen system is modelled using the Peng-Robinson equation of state (PR-EoS). Moreover, experimental viscosity and density data of solvent-saturated bitumen are correlated. The effective density and viscosity of the dissolved solvent molecules are obtained using the experimental density and viscosity data for the bitumen-solvent system.