Athabasca Bitumen In Situ Upgrading Reaction Monitoring: Operational Parameters versus Distillates Nature and Permanent Upgrading Achievable

Athabasca bitumen upgrading via in situ combustion (ISC) and in situ upgrading technology (ISUT) was studied in the present work, addressing three aspects related to these processes: (I) monitoring techniques especially developed for getting distillation characteristics for products and their fractions, (II) studying how distillation properties depend on process setup experimental conditions, and (III) assessing the permanent upgrading levels achieved for products from both studied processes. High temperature simulated distillation (HTSD) techniques were conceived for getting analysis turnarounds of 1–2 weeks, instead of month spans required when relying on standard physical distillation methodologies. Developed monitoring procedures guaranteed sample integrity; i.e., volatile fractions (<230 °C, about