Thermal treatment of the Athabasca oil sand bitumen and its component parts

The Athabasca oil sand bitumen, and its major component fractions, have been heated with and without added montmorillonite to simulate natural geological diagenesis. The products of the treatment of the whole bitumen were found to be essentially the sum of the products of the treatment of the component parts. The saturated hydrocarbon fraction underwent little change, with only minor cracking apparent. Some cracking and polymerization of the aromatic hydrocarbon fraction was noted. Geochemical analysis of these products indicated that the simulation had caused a continuation of the normal petroleum maturation sequence towards coke and gas. Treatment of the polar fraction and asphaltenes caused a continuation of the maturation sequence towards a ‘crude oil’, further treatment of which continued towards coke and gas. Geochemical examination of this ‘crude oil’ yielded information on the past history of the bitumen from the time of asphaltene formation. The geochemical evidence indicates that the Athabasca bitumen may have originated in an unusual marine environment, and that the maturation and exodus from its source rock differed from that of conventional crude oils. The overall results indicate that, except for the maturation of the polar and asphaltene fractions, the bio-degradation of a crude oil is not reversible by diagenetic means.