Catalyst development for hydrothermal cracking of heavy oil - Effects of support and potassium salt additive

Hydrothermal cracking of a Canadian Athabasca oil sand bitumen was conducted in a batch autoclave at 673 to 713 K under 1.0 to 5.0 MPa hydrogen to determine the most favorite reaction conditions. Various catalysts were prepared using MgO, activated carbon, SiO2 and Al2O3 as the support, and Ni as active meta to investigate the catalytic activity for the hydrothermal cracking of the oil sand bitumen. The basic MgO and neutral activated carbon supported catalysts showed lower coke yields than the acidic SiO2 supported catalyst. Coke and gas yields were reduced when the Ni/SiO2 catalyst was doped by 1 wt% potassium salt.