The literature of the past thirty years shows that the lowtemperature oxidation (LTO) of hydrocarbon liquids generally results in a more viscous end product. The In Situ Combustion Research Group at The University of Calgary has found, however, that upgrading can occur during LTO in the presence of caustic additives. Because it was believed that caustic inhibits oxidation reactions as evidenced by a reductionin or absence of coke formation, and allows the oil to upgrade by thermal cracking via a free radical mechanism, a systematic study was undertaken to investigate the effect of caustic on the LTO of heavy oil.
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