I would like to thank Dr' John Shaw, Mildred Becerra, and Kasra Nikooyeh, for allowing me to have th

1
Interactions between Heavy Oil Fractions and
Solvent Systems Christina Law Department of
Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of
Alberta
Results
Introduction
Specific Partial Molar Volumes in Toluene
Athabasca Bitumen Vacuum Bottoms in n-Decane at
50 C

• Through obtaining measurements of density,
  components of the interaction between heavy oil
  fractions and solvent systems can be observed.
  The mixtures used were Maya and Athabasca
  Asphaltenes, Athabasca bitumen vacuum bottoms and
  Athabasca maltenes in toluene and n-decane.
• The partial molar volume of a substance is the
  change in volume per mole added to a mixture. By
  comparing this to its molar volume, an
  interaction between the molecules of the solute
  and solvent can be detected.

Specific Partial Molar Volumes in n-Decane
Method

• Based on this information, we have concluded that
  there is an attractive force between the
  molecules of toluene and each heavy oil fraction
  we had used. Additionally, we can see that as the
  temperature increases, the attractive force
  decreases.
• In the case of n-decane, we were unable to
  clearly detect either an attractive or repulsive
  force.

Conclusion
Athabasca Bitumen in Toluene at 20 C
For each solution, four to six samples with a
concentration range of 100 to 1000 ppm were
prepared. This range was selected to achieve
infinite dilution, where the solute molecules are
infinitely far apart.
Taken from Anton Paar
This prevents solute-solute interaction. The
density of these samples were then measured at
20, 50, and 80C using an Anton Paar DMA5000
oscillating tube densimeter. This instrument can
record temperature with an accuracy of 0.001,
and measure values for density to an accuracy of
0.000002 g/cm3.
I would like to thank Dr. John Shaw, Mildred
Becerra, and Kasra Nikooyeh, for allowing me to
have this fantastic experience and be a part of
their research team of Petroleum Thermodynamics
in the Department of Chemical and Materials
Engineering at the University of Alberta.
Additionally, I would like to thank the Alberta
Research Council for providing the funding for my
position.
Acknowledgements
This information can now be used to calculate the
specific partial molar volume using the following
equation
The density is used to calculate the value of
specific partial molar volume, which is in volume
per unit mass. This is used because mole
fractions and molar volumes of the heavy oil
fractions are not definitive, and therefore the
partial molar volume cannot be derived.
SPMV
slope
Y-intercept