Determination of the Viscosities and Specific Gravities of the Oils in Samples of Athabasca Bituminous Sand

The difficulty of making viscosity and specific gravity determinations on the oil in Athabasca bituminous sand is that there is no method available for getting the oil out of the sand without altering it. A method of extracting the oil from the bituminous sand is a standardized, reproducible way and of correcting the viscosity and specific gravity measurements on the recovered oil for the alteration of it that has taken place has been devised. The viscosity-temperature relationships for the oils from several bituminous sands from locations widely separated over the bituminous sand area and from several beds at different elevations at Bitumount have been determined. Also, a relationship between the viscosity of a bituminous sand oil at 84.4�F and its specific gravity at 77�F. /77�F. has been established. Results show that at 50�F. which is about the temperature of bituminous sand beds at the fresh face of a quarry, the viscosity of the oil in the southern part of the bituminous sand area in the neighbourhood of McMurray is 100 times that of the oil in the northern part around Bitumount. The viscosity varies considerably from bed to bed throughout the 60-foot thickness of bituminous sand exposed at Bitumount. The specific gravities, 77�F. /77�F. of bituminous sand oil examined vary over the range 1.002 - 1.027.