 Abstract—Oilsands bitumen is an extremely important source of energy for North America. However, due to the presence of large molecules such as asphaltenes, the density and viscosity of the bitumen recovered from these sands are much higher than those of conventional crude oil. As a result the extracted bitumen has to be diluted with expensive solvents, or thermochemically upgraded in large, capital-intensive conventional upgrading facilities prior to pipeline transport. This study demonstrates that globally abundant natural zeolites such as clinoptilolite from Saint Clouds, New Mexico and Ca-chabazite from Bowie, Arizona can be used as very effective reagents for cracking and visbreaking of oilsands bitumen. Natural zeolite cracked oilsands bitumen products are highly recoverable (up to ~ 83%) using light hydrocarbons such as pentane, which indicates substantial conversion of heavier fractions to lighter components. The resultant liquid products are much less viscous, and have lighter product distribution compared to those produced from pure thermal treatment. These natural minerals impart similar effect on industrially extracted Athabasca bitumen. Keywords—Natural Zeolites, Oilsands Bitumen, Cracking, Viscosity Reduction, Upgrading. A.S.M. Junaid is with the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G2V4 Canada (e-mail: ajunaid@ualberta.ca). W. Wang was with the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G2V4 Canada. He is now with Halliburton, Red Deer, Canada (e-mail: wei4@ualberta.ca). C. Street is with the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G2V4 Canada (e-mail: castreet@ualberta.ca). M. Rahman is with the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G2V4 Canada.(moshifiqu@ualberta.ca) S. Zhou was with the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G2V4 Canada (e-mail: xszhou@ualberta.ca). M. Gersbach was with the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G2V4 Canada. He is now with Halliburton, Clairmont, Canada (e-mail: Matthew.Gersbach@Halliburton.com). W.C. McCaffrey is with the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G2V4 Canada (e-mail: william.mccaffrey@ualberta.ca). S.M. Kuznicki is with the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G2V4 Canada (phone: 780-492-8819; fax: 780-492-2881; e-mail: steve.kuznicki@ualberta.ca). I. INTRODUCTION ATURAL, synthesized or acidified minerals, particularly clays, have been found to effectively break heavy petroleum fractions such as gas oil [1], but the application of natural zeolites (NZs) as cracking catalysts/reagents for oilsands bitumen is a novel approach [2]. Canada’s oilsands bitumen, the majority of which is in Alberta, represents 15% of the proven global crude oil resources, [3] and is an extremely valuable source of energy for North America. However, the density, viscosity, and residue fraction of the bitumen recovered from these sands are much higher than those of typical crude oil due to the presence of large molecules such as asphaltenes. Our previous studies showed that NZs such as clinoptilolite from Saint Clouds, New Mexico and Ca-chabazite from Bowie, Arizona can be acidified and developed as more effective reagents for cracking of oilsands bitumen than standard petroleum cracking agent, zeolite Y [2,4]. Low-cost NZs, particularly clinoptilolites, are found in large natural deposits and can be used as very inexpensive cracking agents [5]. NZ-cracked products are almost entirely recoverable using light hydrocarbons, which indicates substantial conversion of heavier fractions to lighter components [4]. This study investigates the reduction in heavy fractions and viscosity of bitumen by untreated NZ catalyzed cracking of raw oilsands and industrially extracted Athabasca bitumen. We have quantified the effects of different catalyst loadings and reaction temperatures on the extent of cracking and viscosity reduction, and compared the results with the baseline data for raw and thermally cracked feed materials. II. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE A. Materials Clinoptilolite (SC) and sedimentary Ca-chabazite (CC) were obtained from Saint Clouds, New Mexico and Bowie, Arizona respectively. The samples were ground to <44 μm particles. Raw Athabasca oilsands and industrially produced Athabasca bitumen were obtained from the Syncrude facility at Mildred Lake near Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada. Viscosity Reduction and Upgrading of Athabasca Oilsands Bitumen by Natural Zeolite Cracking Abu S.M. Junaid, Wei Wang, Christopher Street, Moshfiqur Rahman, Matt Gersbach, Sarah Zhou, William McCaffrey, and Steven M. Kuznicki N World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology 69 2010 695