Effect of oxidation on the viscosity of athabasca bitumen

Abstract

Abstract The effect of low temperature oxidation on the viscosity of Athabasca bitumen was investigated over the temperature range 320 to 370K, and to extents of oxidation as high as 41.7 × 10 −3 kg‐O 2 /kg‐bitumen. Even at this relatively low extent of oxidation, the viscosity was observed to be more than two orders of magnitude higher than that of unoxidized bitumen. It was found that the Andrade viscosity model could adequately characterize the temperature dependence of the viscosity at all extents of oxidation. However, the pre‐exponential constant in the model was observed to be a strong function of extent of oxidation.