Visbreaking of heavy petroleum oil catalyzed by SO_(4)^(2-)/ZrO_(2)solid super-acid doped with Ni^(2+) or Sn^(2+)

SO_(4)^(2-)/ZrO_(2) solid super-acid catalysts(SZ)doped with Ni^(2+)or Sn^(2+)(Ni^(2+)/SZ,Sn^(2+)/SZ)were prepared for catalytic visbreaking of heavy petroleum oil from Shengli oil field.The visbreaking reactions were carried out at 240uC and 3–4 MPa for 24 h using a heavy petroleum oil to catalyst mass ratio of 100:0.05.The effect of water content on viscosity of heavy petroleum oil was also investigated.Both catalysts can promote thermolysis of heavy petroleum oil and the viscosity was reduced from 0.319 Pa·s to 0.135 Pa?s for Ni^(2+)/SZ and 0.163 Pa·s for(Sn^(2+)/SZ)with visbreaking rates of 57.7% and 48.9%,respectively.After visbreaking,the saturated hydrocarbon content increased while aromatics,resin,asphaltene,sulfur and nitrogen content decreased.The presence of water was disadvantageous to visbreaking of heavy petroleum oil.