EFFECT OF SUPERCRITICAL WATER ON DESULFURIZATION BEHAVIOR OF OIL SAND BITUMEN

摘要

Over the last decade, many researchers have examined the potential of supercritical water (SCW) treatment as a heavy crude upgrading process. Some researchers have suggested that SCW may have a radical capping effect1, 2, 3, although this is controversial4. If SCW can provide hydrogen to products, SCW upgrading may be an effective desulfurization process as a pretreatment for a catalytic hydrodesulfurization process. The radical capping of SCW can especially affect the sulfur distribution in products because sulfide bonding of petroleum compounds is a major starting point of radical initiation reactions5.