Refining Canadian Bitumen and Intermediate Ebullated Bed Hydrocracking Products

摘要

Bitumen is commonly called "tar sands" or "oil sands". The world reserve of bitumen is about five and a half thousand billion barrels of oil [1]. Assuming that the current world consumption of crude oil is about 35 billion barrels per year [2], the world's reserve of bitumen potentially can supply the world with fuels for over 100 years. About forty percent of the world's bitumen reserves are in Canada (see Figure 1 below) [1]. Therefore, understanding how to refine bitumen into fuels for today's market needs is a relevant topic to consider.