ABSTRACT
References ...........................................................................................................31
Strategies for upgrading petroleum emphasize the difference in their properties, which in turn influences the choice of methods or combinations thereof for conversion of petroleum to various products. Naturally, similar principles are applied to heavy oils and residua, and the availability of processes that can be employed to convert heavy feedstocks to usable products has increased significantly in recent years (Cantrell, 1987; Speight, 2007). Thus, to determine the
processability
of petroleum, a series of consistent and standardized characterization procedures are required (ASTM, 2006). These procedures can be used with a wide variety of feedstocks to develop a general approach to predict processability (Speight, 2001).
