Experimental study of the pyrolysis of waste bitumen for oil production

This work focuses on bitumen slow pyrolysis. Mass and energy yields of oil, solid and gas were obtained from pyrolysis experiments using a semi-batch reactor in a nitrogen atmosphere, under three non-isothermal conditions (maximum temperature: 450 degrees C, 500 degrees C and 550 degrees C). The effect of temperature on the product yields was discussed. The gas compositions were analysed using gas chromatography (GC) and the heating value of oil and solid residue was also measured. Using a thermo-gravimetric analyser, kinetic parameters were evaluated through Ozawa-Flynn-Wall (OFW) method. Results showed that oil yield is maximum at 500 degrees C (50%). Moreover, gas yield increased with increasing pyrolysis temperature from 18% to 36%. On the other hand, solid yield showed an opposite trend: it decreased from 39% to 32%. As regard energy yields, they showed a similar trend with the mass ones. H-2, CH4, C2H4, C2H6 and C3H8 are the main components of the produced gas phase. It has been noticed that the recovery of bitumen to liquid oil through pyrolysis process had a great potential since the oil produced had high calorific value comparable with commercial fuels. (C) 2020 Energy Institute. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.