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Liquid phase oxidation of naphthenic-aromatic hydrocarbons in slug-flow reactor shows high selectivity, arising from the ability to control local oxygen availability in miniaturized reactors.

Viscosity of bitumen solutions in heptol (80:20) and heptane above the onset of asphaltene precipitation decreases continually with aging for up to 30 days, while in toluene there was no detectable change in the viscosity. The decrease of the viscosity at these conditions was related to the formation of asphaltene aggregates and aggregate clusters, which precipitated out and as a result decreased the bitumen (asphaltene) content of the solution. The observed time dependence of the viscosity reduction suggests that the asphaltenes aggregation/precipitation is a continuous process with the time scale of weeks. Asphaltenes aggregation/precipitation rate depends on the aromaticity of the diluent, with higher rates observed for the heptane compared to heptol (80:20). These results add to current understanding of the relation between aggregation of asphaltenes and viscosity of diluted bitumen, which is important for improving heavy oil extraction and processing technologies.

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