Commercial Production of Bitumen via Oxidation of Vacuum Residue over Iron Catalysts

This study investigates the effects of introducing a feedstock-soluble catalyst based on iron salts of petroleum acids on the oxidation of crude oil vacuum residue (VR) to produce commercial bitumen. It is demonstrated that, compared to noncatalytic VR oxidation, injecting the catalyst into the petroleum feedstock provides a higher process efficiency (indicated by more than double the oxidation rate) with the bitumen product being distinguished by enhanced thermal stability and a higher ductility (>100 cm). IR spectroscopy showed a difference in the structural-group composition between the initial VR and the oxidation product, specifically an aromaticity increase and the formation of polysubstituted aromatics in the oxidate. Due to the acceleration of the oxidation process and the improvement of the product quality, the catalytic oxidation of VR provides a high potential for the implementation of this process strategy at industrial oil refineries. Furthermore, this approach can be recommended as the optimal available technique for mitigating the anthropogenic environmental impact.