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Separation and chemical analysis was investigated using bitumen samples from Athabasca oil sand in Alberta. Fractionation according to solubility and polarity has been used to separate bitumen into its fractions. The solvent de-asphaltening was performed by n-pentane solvent (solubility fractionation), and the polarity fractionation using Fuller's earth allows maltene to separate into SARA components (saturates, aromatics, resins and asphaltenes). The SARA components are analyzed comprehensively using elemental analysis (EA), Fourier-transformed infrared (FT-IR), ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-vis), high performance chromatography (HPLC) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). EA (C, H, N, S), heavy metals (Ni, V) concentrations, FT-IR and UV-vis tests provided the explanation of chemical composition. From IR spectra, maltene and saturates/aromatics (sat/aro) contained more aliphatic compounds than resin or asphaltene. Also, IR spectrum of sat/aro was similar to crude oil and VGO (vacuum gas oil). Different UV signal data clearly indicates the contribution of aromatic constituents in the fractions. Using optimized analysis conditions of HPLC, we successfully separated the peaks for bitumen and its fractions. The characteristic peak pattern of SARA (saturates, aromatics, resins, asphaltenes) fractions was observed, and also the peak pattern of sat/ aro was similar to that of crude oil and VGO. However, TGA results revealed that thermal behavior for sat/aro was similar to that of crude oil but different from that of VGO. Also, from the comparison between decomposition temperature of TGA and boiling point, their correspondence was found.

A number of important chemicals are made from light olefins such as propylene and ethylene, and it is expected that market demand for these light olefins will continue to grow at 4-5% annually, and the average overall growth of propylene will be about 1% higher than that of ethylene. From the viewpoint of supply of feedstock and demand of light olefins, it is anticipated that the thermal cracking process of naphtha will be gradually transformed to a catalytic process such as ACO TM that can efficiently produce both ethylene and propylene in high yield. Also, together with primary light olefin production technologies utilizing heavy feedstocks such as DCC TM , and HPFCC, supplementary propylene production technologies utilizing C 4 -C 4 such as SUPERFLEX TM , MOI TM , and PROPY-LUR TM will be applied gradually in commercial production.

Herein, mesoporous carbon materials with different particle sizes were prepared using the direct templating method. To control particle size, the concentration of surfactant/silicate dissolved in aqueous solution was varied. According to a decrease in the concentration, a larger surface area and a smaller particle size were observed, whereas pore size and connectivity remained invariant. From the investigation of electric double-layer capacitor performance, specific capacitance was proportional to surface area. From electrochemical impedance spectroscopy analysis, a resistance relevant to pseudocapacitive faradaic reaction on electrode surface became larger, but a decrease in the total electrolyte resistance in pores was observed as a function of particle size decrease. This contradictory behavior of two resistances resulted in an existence of optimal particle size for the minimum equivalent series resistance ͑1.40 ⍀ cm 2 ͒, which was comparable with the ordered mesoporous carbon electrode from the MCM-48 template.

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Here, we report the preparation of novel carbon material having fairly uniform bowl shape in nanosize domain with varying oxygen content by a very simple oxidative chopping of carbon nanoballs, where we have effectively functionalized the inert CNS (carbon nano sphere) with carboxylate groups that can be utilized for the chemical immobilization of enzymes, bioactive compounds, and catalysts.