Dilbit

Dilbit is short for diluted bitumen. Typically 50% bitumen diluted with 50% naphtha. The naphtha is added to make a fluid that can be transported by pipeline, i.e. reduce viscosity. The dilbit is typically produced in connection with oil sand production like in Alberta, Canada and the Orinoco tar sands in Venezuela. The viscosity of the produced extra heavy oil/bitumen has a high viscosity and can be impossible to transport as a normal crude oil liquid. The dilbit can be transported by pipeline to a refinery. The naphtha dilluent can be taken out as a straight run naphtha/gasoline and reused as dilluent. Or it is processed to products in the refinery. The dilbit has a lot of light hydrocarbons from the dilluent and a lot of heavy hydrocarbons from the bitumen. So it can be a challenge to process directly in a normal refinery. Dilbit can only be a small part of a normal refinerys total crude slate. In addition to naphtha, condensate can also be used as diluent.

See also