Correlation of bitumen viscosity with temperature and pressure

Abstract

A previous viscosity-temperature correlation (Puttagunta et al., 1992) is extended to include a pressure term and employed successfully in predicting the combined effect of temperature and pressure on the viscosity of Canadian bitumens and heavy oils. Predictions are made on new sets of data based on a single measurement of viscosity at 30°C and 101.3 kPa pressure; and the results show similar accuracy as obtained in the sets of data used in developing the correlation. The correlation yields an absolute average deviation between predicted and experimental viscosity of 4.79% and a correlation coefficient of 0.99 over a range of temperatures between 20 and 120°C and gauge pressures between 0 and 18 MPa.