CA2262253A1 - Method and system for hot filtering bitumen with light hydrocarbons - Google Patents
Method and system for hot filtering bitumen with light hydrocarbons Download PDFInfo
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- CA2262253A1 CA2262253A1 CA 2262253 CA2262253A CA2262253A1 CA 2262253 A1 CA2262253 A1 CA 2262253A1 CA 2262253 CA2262253 CA 2262253 CA 2262253 A CA2262253 A CA 2262253A CA 2262253 A1 CA2262253 A1 CA 2262253A1
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Abstract
A bitumen filtration system includes bringing in a hot pressurized bitumen from either a feed tank followed by a heater or a HTHP unit. The raw bitumen is pumped at around 400° F and 250 psig through a system of tubular filter cartridges disposed within a chamber. As such bitumen is introduced into the filter, the pressure downstream of the filter is controlled above the initial vaporization point, pressure bubble point, with a back pressure regulator. Such maintenance of the minimum downstream pressure prevents the uncontrolled vaporization of the lighter hydrocarbons, and promotes a uniform deposition of solids over the entire filtering surface. As a filter cake on the filter screens builds up, the upstream pressure increases to maintain a constant flow rate. Downstream of the back pressure regulator the filtered bitumen enters a flash separator at lower pressure where the lightest hydrocarbon and water vapor are separated from heavier components. These lightest materials are passed out of the top of the flash separator to a cooling condenser and an overhead accumulator that collects the light ends. Any condensed water is removed as a separate phase. The cooled and accumulated light ends are both returned to the flash separator in a recycle flow and mixed in with the cooled heavy material liquid product. The result is a final filtered product, with a designed flash point, that can be sent to storage. The light, condensed and cooled overhead that is recycled to the flash separation vessel provides a way to both control the overall operation of the system and a way to control the downstream equipment pressure.
Description
METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR HOT FILTERING
BITUMEN WITH LIGHT HYDROCARBONS
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. F;eld of the Invention 10 The invention relates generally to petroleum and bitumen refining and specifically to methods and devices for filtering bitumen to remove sand, clays and water.
15 2. DP__SC_ri_gr_io_n_ of the Prior Art Bitumen that has been extracted with hot water or steam typically comprises a mixture of bitumen, sand, clays and water. The unwanted non-bitumen constituents can be as great as twenty percent of 20 the mix by weight. Various equipment and methods have been developed in the prior art to eliminate the contamination from the bitumen. One conventional approach has been to use high temperature high pressure (HTHP) units that more-25 or-less cause the mixture to float apart into constituent layers without losing the lighter hydrocarbons to the atmosphere.
But such methods are not completely effective in removing enough of the occluded clay, sand and 30 water to produce a commercially acceptable bitumen product, e.g., one containing less than 0.5 weight percent solids. So various kinds of mechanical filters are conventionally used to reduce the solids content from about two percent, to less than 0.5 percent, by weight. Such filtration is complicated by the relatively high viscosity of 5 bitumen. At ambient conditions, bitumen is very thick and does not flow readily. So heating is necessary to get bitumen to flow through a filter.
The viscosity of bitumen at 110° F is about 5000 centistokes, this reduces to about 5-15 centistokes 10 at 400° F. Bitumen cannot simply be heated to make filtration possible. Bitumen includes a complex mixture of heavy, medium, and light hydrocarbons that each vaporize, or flash, at different temperatures. The lighter hydrocarbons will boil 15 away at 400° F, at one atmosphere of pressure.
This loss can be prevented by raising the pressure to raise the boiling point of the light hydrocarbons. So artisans have recognized that both heating and pressurization were needed to 20 filter bitumen.
Prior art systems have employed tubular, plate and frame, and other kinds of filters with cloth, fritted metal, and other kinds of screens.
Typically a filter cake that adversely impacts the 25 filter rate will form on the screen. Any flashing that does occur upstream of the filter screen will cause a non-uniform filter cake to be formed, then as the filter cake gets thicker, a pressure gradient develops across the filter cake which can 30 result in insufficient pressures being applied to the hot bitumen, so the lighter hydrocarbons will flash at such weak points. Also flashing of light ends and/or water whether upstream or across the filter media results in cooling the bitumen rendering it more difficult or impossible to filter.
SUM_Nt~IRY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION
10 It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a process for filtering hot bitumen.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a system for filtering bitumen 15 while avoiding the uncontrolled flashing of its lighter hydrocarbon constituents.
Briefly, in a system embodiment of the present invention, a hot pressurized bitumen from a HTHP
(high temperature high pressure) unit is pumped at 20 around 400° F and 250 psig, for example, through a system consisting of tubular filter cartridges disposed within a chamber. The actual temperature is selected to produce the optimum viscosity for the process. The tubular filter cartridges are 25 chosen to have openings consistent with the size distribution of the particles within the bitumen being filtered. The pressure downstream of the filter element is maintained just above the bubble point pressure at the selected temperatures to 30 prevent flashing of any light hydrocarbons and/or water that may be contained in the feed. As such bitumen is introduced into the filter in the beginning step of the filtration cycle, bitumen is fed to the filter unit. Its solids content collects on the filter forming a cake with an accompanying increase in flow resistance. The feed 5 pressure is increased in response to the resistance buildup to maintain the desired bitumen flow rate.
Alternatively, the upstream feed pressure may be held constant and the downstream pressure lowered in a controlled manner so as to maintain the 10 desired flow rate. The important aspect is that pressure be maintained so as to prevent flashing of vapors through the filter cake and filter media.
When the pressure difference between upstream and downstream reach a previously determined optimum, 15 the filtration feed step is terminated and the cycle switches to the cake recovery step.
The process may utilize either one or multiple filter units. With multiple units, the bitumen feed process can be continuous since when one unit 20 is in the cake recovery step, one or more others are in the filtration step.
The constant downstream pressure may be controlled either by a back pressure control valve on the filter effluent line or by discharging the 25 filtrate into a receiver vessel maintained at that pressure. The latter is particularly useful when the vapor pressure in the bitumen is primarily determined by its water content. In this case, a technique which is recognized as a more precise 30 means for maintaining the desired pressure is using steam to maintain pressure in the receiver vessel.
A further advantage of using a receiver vessel for pressure control is that filtered bitumen may then be transferred to other downstream process steps at a constant rate not subject to the cyclic nature of the filter unit.
5 In either method of pressure control, the next step in the process is discharging the bitumen to a low pressure flash vessel where hydrocarbon light ends, along with any water present in the bitumen, are vaporized. These vapors are passed out of the 10 vessel through a cooling condenser and an overhead accumulator that collects the light ends and water as separate liquid phases. The water is removed from the process and sent to waste water cleanup or other use. The cooled and condensed light ends are 15 both returned to the flash separator in a recycle flow and mixed in with the cooled heavy material liquid product. The result is a final filtered product, with a designed flash point, that can be sent to storage. The light, condensed and cooled 20 overhead that is recycled to the flash separation vessel provides a way to both control the overall operation of the system and a way to control the pressure within the flash separator.
In another embodiment of the process, water is 25 passed through the filter cake in a cake washing step between the filtering step and the cake recovery step, thus displacing bitumen in the cake and increasing bitumen recovery.
In another embodiment of the process the 30 bitumen is filtered prior to treatment in the HTHP
unit for separation of water. In this embodiment clean water, essentially free of suspended solids, is obtained.
A further advantage of the present invention is that a method is provided for filtering bitumen.
5 Another advantage of the present invention is that a system is provided for the efficient filtering of bitumen.
These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will no doubt become obvious to 10 those of ordinary skill in the art after having read the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments that are illustrated in the various drawing figures.
IN THE DRAWINGS
Fig. 1 is a functional block diagram of a 20 first bitumen filtration system embodiment of the present invention; and Fig. 2 is a functional block diagram of a second bitumen filtration system embodiment of the present invention.
30 Fig. 1 illustrates a bitumen filtration system embodiment of the present invention for removing sand, clays, and water from raw bitumen, and is referred to herein by the general reference numeral 10. A hot pressurized bitumen flow 12 from a high temperature high pressure (HTHP) unit 14 is pumped at around 400° F and 250 psig through a system of 5 tubular filter cartridges 16 disposed within a chamber 18. As such bitumen is initially introduced into the filter, the pressure downstream of the filter is controlled through valve 20 so as to prevent flashing of light ends and water as the 10 filter feed passes through the unit. Prevention of flashing promotes the deposition of a uniform cake over the entire filter surface, eliminates the cooling effect of flashing and precludes the high velocities that would be associated with vapors 15 flowing through the filter cake. The latter is important for precluding the transport of fine solid particles into the filter media as opposed to having them deposit on the surface as a constituent of the filter cake. Flow from filter chamber 18 20 through valve 20 is piped through line 38 to flash separation vessel 22. The heavier materials are pumped by a heavy product pump 24 from the flash separator 22 to a heat exchanger 26 for cooling.
The lightest materials are passed out of the top of 25 the flash separator 22 to a cooling condenser 28 and an overhead accumulator 30 that collects the condensed light ends. Water is separated out within the separator and is removed in a flow for water treatment and/or disposal. The cooled and 30 condensed light ends are both returned by a recycle and light overhead product pump 31 to the flash separator in a recycle flow 32 and in a light _$_ product flow 34 to be mixed in with the cooled heavy material liquid product from the heat exchanger 26. The result is a final filtered product flow 36 identical to the feed bitumen, 5 except the solids and wafer component which have been removed, that can be sent to storage. The light, condensed and cooled overhead that is recycled to the flash separation vessel in flow 32 provides a way to control the overall operation of 10 the system. The pressure within the flash separator is controlled as previously described.
The flow 38 continues into the flash separator 22, where the material flashed through the valve 20 is separated. A hot heavy bitumen fraction in a 15 flow 42, is pumped through the heat recovery and cooling exchanger 26. There, the temperature of flow 42 is brought down only partially. Since the heavy filtered material leaving the flash separator 22 in the flow 42 becomes more viscous as it cools, 20 it becomes increasingly difficult to cool further without blending back the lighter fractions. So it is preferable to blend in the cooled, light overhead of flow 34 with the heavy fraction of flow 42 after only a partial cooling of flow 42.
25 Subsequent cooling in heat recovery and cooling exchanger 27 is then possible for final storage because the mixed-in lighter fractions improve the low temperature viscosity.
Fig. 2 illustrates an alternative bitumen 30 filtration system embodiment of the present invention, referred to herein by the general reference numeral 50. A hot bitumen input flow 52 _g_ is introduced to an HTHP unit 54. A heated and pressurized bitumen flow 56 is piped to a filter chamber 58. In the filter chamber bitumen feed is separated into essentially solids free filtrate and 5 a filter cake containing the solids. Filter cake is removed from the chamber for off site handling.
Filtrate flows from the filter chamber through pipe 59 into separator 61. Separator 61 provides for pressure control of the system by either venting 10 through the pressure control valve and line 60 or adding a gas through line 63 as required to maintain the proper pressure. The gas is selected to be compatible with the bitumen being filtered and to prevent flashing of the light ends of the 15 bitumen. Specifically if the bitumen is accompanied with water, as is the usual case, steam is selected at a pressure that prevents the flashing of that water into water vapor. From separator 61 the filtrate flows through line 76 and 20 a level control valve into flash drum 78. Vapors from the flash drum join those of line 60 and flow to condenser 62. Condenser product flows to water separator 64. Control of non-condensibles, water, and light hydrocarbons from water separator 64 is 25 by conventional control techniques.
A heavy hydrocarbon flow 82 is sent by a heavy hydrocarbon pump 84 to a heat exchanger 86. After which, the heavy hydrocarbon flow 74 is cooled and mixed with the cooled light overhead hydrocarbon 30 flow 72 to produce a filtered, cooled product 88 which can be sent to storage. The heavy hydrocarbons may be first mixed and then further _~=
cooled with the light overhead hydrocarbons, in heat recovery and cooling exchanger 87 as needed.
In alternative embodiments, non-condensibles, which may be present in the bitumen or carried into 5 the filter system, are removed by an overhead vent line from the overhead accumulator 30 (Fig. 1) or from the water separator (Fig. 2).
Alternatively, bitumen feed may be pumped directly from a feed tank, through a heat exchanger 10 to achieve the desired temperature, and through the filter unit prior to treating in a high-temperature high-pressure (HTHP) unit for water removal. This arrangement has the advantage of producing clean filtered water. It is particularly useful when the 15 filter cake is water washed to displace maximum bitumen product from the cake and the additional water must be removed from the product.
Although the present invention has been described in terms of the presently preferred 20 embodiments, it is to be understood that the disclosure is not to be interpreted as limiting.
Various alterations and modifications will no doubt become apparent to those skilled in the art after having read the above disclosure. Accordingly, it 25 is intended that the appended claims be interpreted as covering all alterations and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.
30 What is claimed is:
BITUMEN WITH LIGHT HYDROCARBONS
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. F;eld of the Invention 10 The invention relates generally to petroleum and bitumen refining and specifically to methods and devices for filtering bitumen to remove sand, clays and water.
15 2. DP__SC_ri_gr_io_n_ of the Prior Art Bitumen that has been extracted with hot water or steam typically comprises a mixture of bitumen, sand, clays and water. The unwanted non-bitumen constituents can be as great as twenty percent of 20 the mix by weight. Various equipment and methods have been developed in the prior art to eliminate the contamination from the bitumen. One conventional approach has been to use high temperature high pressure (HTHP) units that more-25 or-less cause the mixture to float apart into constituent layers without losing the lighter hydrocarbons to the atmosphere.
But such methods are not completely effective in removing enough of the occluded clay, sand and 30 water to produce a commercially acceptable bitumen product, e.g., one containing less than 0.5 weight percent solids. So various kinds of mechanical filters are conventionally used to reduce the solids content from about two percent, to less than 0.5 percent, by weight. Such filtration is complicated by the relatively high viscosity of 5 bitumen. At ambient conditions, bitumen is very thick and does not flow readily. So heating is necessary to get bitumen to flow through a filter.
The viscosity of bitumen at 110° F is about 5000 centistokes, this reduces to about 5-15 centistokes 10 at 400° F. Bitumen cannot simply be heated to make filtration possible. Bitumen includes a complex mixture of heavy, medium, and light hydrocarbons that each vaporize, or flash, at different temperatures. The lighter hydrocarbons will boil 15 away at 400° F, at one atmosphere of pressure.
This loss can be prevented by raising the pressure to raise the boiling point of the light hydrocarbons. So artisans have recognized that both heating and pressurization were needed to 20 filter bitumen.
Prior art systems have employed tubular, plate and frame, and other kinds of filters with cloth, fritted metal, and other kinds of screens.
Typically a filter cake that adversely impacts the 25 filter rate will form on the screen. Any flashing that does occur upstream of the filter screen will cause a non-uniform filter cake to be formed, then as the filter cake gets thicker, a pressure gradient develops across the filter cake which can 30 result in insufficient pressures being applied to the hot bitumen, so the lighter hydrocarbons will flash at such weak points. Also flashing of light ends and/or water whether upstream or across the filter media results in cooling the bitumen rendering it more difficult or impossible to filter.
SUM_Nt~IRY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION
10 It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a process for filtering hot bitumen.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a system for filtering bitumen 15 while avoiding the uncontrolled flashing of its lighter hydrocarbon constituents.
Briefly, in a system embodiment of the present invention, a hot pressurized bitumen from a HTHP
(high temperature high pressure) unit is pumped at 20 around 400° F and 250 psig, for example, through a system consisting of tubular filter cartridges disposed within a chamber. The actual temperature is selected to produce the optimum viscosity for the process. The tubular filter cartridges are 25 chosen to have openings consistent with the size distribution of the particles within the bitumen being filtered. The pressure downstream of the filter element is maintained just above the bubble point pressure at the selected temperatures to 30 prevent flashing of any light hydrocarbons and/or water that may be contained in the feed. As such bitumen is introduced into the filter in the beginning step of the filtration cycle, bitumen is fed to the filter unit. Its solids content collects on the filter forming a cake with an accompanying increase in flow resistance. The feed 5 pressure is increased in response to the resistance buildup to maintain the desired bitumen flow rate.
Alternatively, the upstream feed pressure may be held constant and the downstream pressure lowered in a controlled manner so as to maintain the 10 desired flow rate. The important aspect is that pressure be maintained so as to prevent flashing of vapors through the filter cake and filter media.
When the pressure difference between upstream and downstream reach a previously determined optimum, 15 the filtration feed step is terminated and the cycle switches to the cake recovery step.
The process may utilize either one or multiple filter units. With multiple units, the bitumen feed process can be continuous since when one unit 20 is in the cake recovery step, one or more others are in the filtration step.
The constant downstream pressure may be controlled either by a back pressure control valve on the filter effluent line or by discharging the 25 filtrate into a receiver vessel maintained at that pressure. The latter is particularly useful when the vapor pressure in the bitumen is primarily determined by its water content. In this case, a technique which is recognized as a more precise 30 means for maintaining the desired pressure is using steam to maintain pressure in the receiver vessel.
A further advantage of using a receiver vessel for pressure control is that filtered bitumen may then be transferred to other downstream process steps at a constant rate not subject to the cyclic nature of the filter unit.
5 In either method of pressure control, the next step in the process is discharging the bitumen to a low pressure flash vessel where hydrocarbon light ends, along with any water present in the bitumen, are vaporized. These vapors are passed out of the 10 vessel through a cooling condenser and an overhead accumulator that collects the light ends and water as separate liquid phases. The water is removed from the process and sent to waste water cleanup or other use. The cooled and condensed light ends are 15 both returned to the flash separator in a recycle flow and mixed in with the cooled heavy material liquid product. The result is a final filtered product, with a designed flash point, that can be sent to storage. The light, condensed and cooled 20 overhead that is recycled to the flash separation vessel provides a way to both control the overall operation of the system and a way to control the pressure within the flash separator.
In another embodiment of the process, water is 25 passed through the filter cake in a cake washing step between the filtering step and the cake recovery step, thus displacing bitumen in the cake and increasing bitumen recovery.
In another embodiment of the process the 30 bitumen is filtered prior to treatment in the HTHP
unit for separation of water. In this embodiment clean water, essentially free of suspended solids, is obtained.
A further advantage of the present invention is that a method is provided for filtering bitumen.
5 Another advantage of the present invention is that a system is provided for the efficient filtering of bitumen.
These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will no doubt become obvious to 10 those of ordinary skill in the art after having read the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments that are illustrated in the various drawing figures.
IN THE DRAWINGS
Fig. 1 is a functional block diagram of a 20 first bitumen filtration system embodiment of the present invention; and Fig. 2 is a functional block diagram of a second bitumen filtration system embodiment of the present invention.
30 Fig. 1 illustrates a bitumen filtration system embodiment of the present invention for removing sand, clays, and water from raw bitumen, and is referred to herein by the general reference numeral 10. A hot pressurized bitumen flow 12 from a high temperature high pressure (HTHP) unit 14 is pumped at around 400° F and 250 psig through a system of 5 tubular filter cartridges 16 disposed within a chamber 18. As such bitumen is initially introduced into the filter, the pressure downstream of the filter is controlled through valve 20 so as to prevent flashing of light ends and water as the 10 filter feed passes through the unit. Prevention of flashing promotes the deposition of a uniform cake over the entire filter surface, eliminates the cooling effect of flashing and precludes the high velocities that would be associated with vapors 15 flowing through the filter cake. The latter is important for precluding the transport of fine solid particles into the filter media as opposed to having them deposit on the surface as a constituent of the filter cake. Flow from filter chamber 18 20 through valve 20 is piped through line 38 to flash separation vessel 22. The heavier materials are pumped by a heavy product pump 24 from the flash separator 22 to a heat exchanger 26 for cooling.
The lightest materials are passed out of the top of 25 the flash separator 22 to a cooling condenser 28 and an overhead accumulator 30 that collects the condensed light ends. Water is separated out within the separator and is removed in a flow for water treatment and/or disposal. The cooled and 30 condensed light ends are both returned by a recycle and light overhead product pump 31 to the flash separator in a recycle flow 32 and in a light _$_ product flow 34 to be mixed in with the cooled heavy material liquid product from the heat exchanger 26. The result is a final filtered product flow 36 identical to the feed bitumen, 5 except the solids and wafer component which have been removed, that can be sent to storage. The light, condensed and cooled overhead that is recycled to the flash separation vessel in flow 32 provides a way to control the overall operation of 10 the system. The pressure within the flash separator is controlled as previously described.
The flow 38 continues into the flash separator 22, where the material flashed through the valve 20 is separated. A hot heavy bitumen fraction in a 15 flow 42, is pumped through the heat recovery and cooling exchanger 26. There, the temperature of flow 42 is brought down only partially. Since the heavy filtered material leaving the flash separator 22 in the flow 42 becomes more viscous as it cools, 20 it becomes increasingly difficult to cool further without blending back the lighter fractions. So it is preferable to blend in the cooled, light overhead of flow 34 with the heavy fraction of flow 42 after only a partial cooling of flow 42.
25 Subsequent cooling in heat recovery and cooling exchanger 27 is then possible for final storage because the mixed-in lighter fractions improve the low temperature viscosity.
Fig. 2 illustrates an alternative bitumen 30 filtration system embodiment of the present invention, referred to herein by the general reference numeral 50. A hot bitumen input flow 52 _g_ is introduced to an HTHP unit 54. A heated and pressurized bitumen flow 56 is piped to a filter chamber 58. In the filter chamber bitumen feed is separated into essentially solids free filtrate and 5 a filter cake containing the solids. Filter cake is removed from the chamber for off site handling.
Filtrate flows from the filter chamber through pipe 59 into separator 61. Separator 61 provides for pressure control of the system by either venting 10 through the pressure control valve and line 60 or adding a gas through line 63 as required to maintain the proper pressure. The gas is selected to be compatible with the bitumen being filtered and to prevent flashing of the light ends of the 15 bitumen. Specifically if the bitumen is accompanied with water, as is the usual case, steam is selected at a pressure that prevents the flashing of that water into water vapor. From separator 61 the filtrate flows through line 76 and 20 a level control valve into flash drum 78. Vapors from the flash drum join those of line 60 and flow to condenser 62. Condenser product flows to water separator 64. Control of non-condensibles, water, and light hydrocarbons from water separator 64 is 25 by conventional control techniques.
A heavy hydrocarbon flow 82 is sent by a heavy hydrocarbon pump 84 to a heat exchanger 86. After which, the heavy hydrocarbon flow 74 is cooled and mixed with the cooled light overhead hydrocarbon 30 flow 72 to produce a filtered, cooled product 88 which can be sent to storage. The heavy hydrocarbons may be first mixed and then further _~=
cooled with the light overhead hydrocarbons, in heat recovery and cooling exchanger 87 as needed.
In alternative embodiments, non-condensibles, which may be present in the bitumen or carried into 5 the filter system, are removed by an overhead vent line from the overhead accumulator 30 (Fig. 1) or from the water separator (Fig. 2).
Alternatively, bitumen feed may be pumped directly from a feed tank, through a heat exchanger 10 to achieve the desired temperature, and through the filter unit prior to treating in a high-temperature high-pressure (HTHP) unit for water removal. This arrangement has the advantage of producing clean filtered water. It is particularly useful when the 15 filter cake is water washed to displace maximum bitumen product from the cake and the additional water must be removed from the product.
Although the present invention has been described in terms of the presently preferred 20 embodiments, it is to be understood that the disclosure is not to be interpreted as limiting.
Various alterations and modifications will no doubt become apparent to those skilled in the art after having read the above disclosure. Accordingly, it 25 is intended that the appended claims be interpreted as covering all alterations and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.
30 What is claimed is:
Claims (13)
1. A method of filtering solids from bitumen, comprising the steps of:
heating and pressurizing a feed bitumen to pass through a filter cartridge disposed within a chamber;
maintaining a particular pressure downstream of said filter cartridge that is just above a bubble point pressure at a given temperature that prevents flashing of any light hydrocarbons and/or water that may be entrained in said feed bitumen; and increasing a pressure applied to said feed bitumen in response to a flow resistance buildup caused by filter caking to maintain a particular bitumen flow rate;
wherein the temperature of said bitumen is adjusted for a particular process viscosity; and wherein, said filter cartridge has openings sized according to a particular particle size distribution of solid particles within said bitumen
heating and pressurizing a feed bitumen to pass through a filter cartridge disposed within a chamber;
maintaining a particular pressure downstream of said filter cartridge that is just above a bubble point pressure at a given temperature that prevents flashing of any light hydrocarbons and/or water that may be entrained in said feed bitumen; and increasing a pressure applied to said feed bitumen in response to a flow resistance buildup caused by filter caking to maintain a particular bitumen flow rate;
wherein the temperature of said bitumen is adjusted for a particular process viscosity; and wherein, said filter cartridge has openings sized according to a particular particle size distribution of solid particles within said bitumen
2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:
halting the flow of said feed bitumen when the pressure difference across said filter cartridge reaches a predetermined differential pressure;
wherein a filter cake recovery process may then commence.
halting the flow of said feed bitumen when the pressure difference across said filter cartridge reaches a predetermined differential pressure;
wherein a filter cake recovery process may then commence.
3. A method of continuous filtering of solids from bitumen, comprising the steps of:
heating and pressurizing a feed bitumen to pass in parallel through a number of chambers each containing a plurality of filter cartridges disposed within a chamber;
maintaining a particular pressure downstream of each said filter cartridge that is just above a bubble point pressure at a given temperature that prevents flashing of any light hydrocarbons and/or water that may be entrained in said feed bitumen; and increasing a pressure applied to each said feed bitumen in response to a flow resistance buildup caused by a corresponding filter caking to maintain a respective bitumen flow rate;
wherein the temperature of said bitumen is adjusted for a particular process viscosity; and wherein, all said filter cartridges have openings sized according to a particular particle size distribution of solid particles within said bitumen
heating and pressurizing a feed bitumen to pass in parallel through a number of chambers each containing a plurality of filter cartridges disposed within a chamber;
maintaining a particular pressure downstream of each said filter cartridge that is just above a bubble point pressure at a given temperature that prevents flashing of any light hydrocarbons and/or water that may be entrained in said feed bitumen; and increasing a pressure applied to each said feed bitumen in response to a flow resistance buildup caused by a corresponding filter caking to maintain a respective bitumen flow rate;
wherein the temperature of said bitumen is adjusted for a particular process viscosity; and wherein, all said filter cartridges have openings sized according to a particular particle size distribution of solid particles within said bitumen
4. The method of claim 3, further comprising the step of:
halting the flow of said feed bitumen through less than all said filter cartridges within a chamber when the pressure difference across the filter cartridges reaches a predetermined differential pressure;
wherein, a filter cake recovery process is commenced for one filter chamber while other filter chambers continue to filter said feed bitumen.
halting the flow of said feed bitumen through less than all said filter cartridges within a chamber when the pressure difference across the filter cartridges reaches a predetermined differential pressure;
wherein, a filter cake recovery process is commenced for one filter chamber while other filter chambers continue to filter said feed bitumen.
5. A method for filtering bitumen, comprising the steps of:
filtering heated and pressurized bitumen to remove sand, clays and water, some of which form a filter cake that builds in thickness as filtering progresses on a filter;
maintaining an initial downstream pressure on a discharge side of said filter cake that is almost the same pressure as a pressure applied to an upstream side of said filter cake;
gradually increasing said upstream pressure on said discharge side of said filter cake as said thickness of said filter cake increases;
collecting a filtrate of filtered bitumen in a separator vessel and maintaining a constant back pressure on said filter to prevent a flashing of light hydrocarbons or water, and sending said filtrate through a level-control valve to a flash drum;
collecting, separating, cooling and condensing a lighter hydrocarbon fraction that flashes from said bitumen as a result of lowered downstream pressure;
collecting, separating and partially cooling a heavier hydrocarbon fraction that does not flash from said bitumen as a result of lowered downstream pressure; and mixing said cooled lighter hydrocarbon fraction and said partially cooled heavier hydrocarbon fraction into a filtered product flow;
wherein said partial cooling of said heavier hydrocarbon fraction is limited to maintain a particular minimum viscosity that has been raised by the removal of said lighter hydrocarbon fractions.
filtering heated and pressurized bitumen to remove sand, clays and water, some of which form a filter cake that builds in thickness as filtering progresses on a filter;
maintaining an initial downstream pressure on a discharge side of said filter cake that is almost the same pressure as a pressure applied to an upstream side of said filter cake;
gradually increasing said upstream pressure on said discharge side of said filter cake as said thickness of said filter cake increases;
collecting a filtrate of filtered bitumen in a separator vessel and maintaining a constant back pressure on said filter to prevent a flashing of light hydrocarbons or water, and sending said filtrate through a level-control valve to a flash drum;
collecting, separating, cooling and condensing a lighter hydrocarbon fraction that flashes from said bitumen as a result of lowered downstream pressure;
collecting, separating and partially cooling a heavier hydrocarbon fraction that does not flash from said bitumen as a result of lowered downstream pressure; and mixing said cooled lighter hydrocarbon fraction and said partially cooled heavier hydrocarbon fraction into a filtered product flow;
wherein said partial cooling of said heavier hydrocarbon fraction is limited to maintain a particular minimum viscosity that has been raised by the removal of said lighter hydrocarbon fractions.
6. The method of claim 5, further comprising the step of:
further cooling said filtered product flow to a storage temperature;
wherein said particular minimum viscosity which had been raised by the removal of said lighter hydrocarbon fractions is not exceeded at said storage temperature.
further cooling said filtered product flow to a storage temperature;
wherein said particular minimum viscosity which had been raised by the removal of said lighter hydrocarbon fractions is not exceeded at said storage temperature.
7. The method of claim 5, wherein:
the step of collecting, separating and cooling said lighter hydrocarbon fraction includes removal of water.
the step of collecting, separating and cooling said lighter hydrocarbon fraction includes removal of water.
8. The method of claim 5, wherein:
the step of collecting, separating and cooling said lighter hydrocarbon fraction includes recycling said lighter hydrocarbons to a flash separator to maintain a particular pressure on said downstream side of said filter cake.
the step of collecting, separating and cooling said lighter hydrocarbon fraction includes recycling said lighter hydrocarbons to a flash separator to maintain a particular pressure on said downstream side of said filter cake.
9. A bitumen filtration system, comprising:
a filter connected to receive heated and pressurized bitumen and to remove sand, clays and water which form a filter cake that builds in thickness as filtering progresses;
a controller connected to maintain an initial downstream pressure on a discharge side of said filter cake that is almost the same pressure as the vapor of the heated bitumen and water feed pressure;
a feed system that increases its applied pressure as a differential pressure across said filter cake increases up to a predetermined point which triggers a filter recovery process to begin;
a flash separator and heat exchanger connected to collect, separate, cool and condense a lighter hydrocarbon fraction and water that flashes from said bitumen as a result of lowered downstream pressure, and connected to collect, separate and cool a heavier hydrocarbon fraction that does not flash from said bitumen as a result of lowered downstream pressure; and a mixer to combine said cooled lighter hydrocarbon fraction and said partially cooled heavier hydrocarbon fraction into a filtered product flow;
wherein said partial cooling of said heavier hydrocarbon fraction is limited to maintain a particular minimum viscosity that has been raised -16-~
by the removal of said lighter hydrocarbon fractions.
a filter connected to receive heated and pressurized bitumen and to remove sand, clays and water which form a filter cake that builds in thickness as filtering progresses;
a controller connected to maintain an initial downstream pressure on a discharge side of said filter cake that is almost the same pressure as the vapor of the heated bitumen and water feed pressure;
a feed system that increases its applied pressure as a differential pressure across said filter cake increases up to a predetermined point which triggers a filter recovery process to begin;
a flash separator and heat exchanger connected to collect, separate, cool and condense a lighter hydrocarbon fraction and water that flashes from said bitumen as a result of lowered downstream pressure, and connected to collect, separate and cool a heavier hydrocarbon fraction that does not flash from said bitumen as a result of lowered downstream pressure; and a mixer to combine said cooled lighter hydrocarbon fraction and said partially cooled heavier hydrocarbon fraction into a filtered product flow;
wherein said partial cooling of said heavier hydrocarbon fraction is limited to maintain a particular minimum viscosity that has been raised -16-~
by the removal of said lighter hydrocarbon fractions.
10. The system of claim 9, further comprising:
means for further cooling said filtered product flow to a storage temperature;
wherein said particular minimum viscosity which had been raised by the removal of said lighter hydrocarbon fractions is not exceeded at said storage temperature.
means for further cooling said filtered product flow to a storage temperature;
wherein said particular minimum viscosity which had been raised by the removal of said lighter hydrocarbon fractions is not exceeded at said storage temperature.
11. The system of claim 9, wherein:
the flash separator and heat exchanger provide for the removal of water.
the flash separator and heat exchanger provide for the removal of water.
12. The system of claim 9, wherein:
the flash separator and heat exchanger provide for recycling said lighter hydrocarbons to maintain a particular pressure on said downstream side of said filter cake.
the flash separator and heat exchanger provide for recycling said lighter hydrocarbons to maintain a particular pressure on said downstream side of said filter cake.
13. A bitumen filtration system, comprising:
a filter connected to receive heated and pressurized bitumen, and providing for the removal of remove sand, clays, and water that forms a filter cake which builds in thickness during operation; and a pressure controller providing for a downstream pressure on a discharge side of said filter cake that starts at about the same pressure as an inlet pressure of said heated and pressurized bitumen and that allows an increasing pressure differential to develop across said filter cake as it increases in thickness during operation in order to maintain a particular flow rate through said filter cake.
a filter connected to receive heated and pressurized bitumen, and providing for the removal of remove sand, clays, and water that forms a filter cake which builds in thickness during operation; and a pressure controller providing for a downstream pressure on a discharge side of said filter cake that starts at about the same pressure as an inlet pressure of said heated and pressurized bitumen and that allows an increasing pressure differential to develop across said filter cake as it increases in thickness during operation in order to maintain a particular flow rate through said filter cake.
Applications Claiming Priority (2)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| US3321798A | 1998-03-02 | 1998-03-02 | |
| US09/033,217 | 1998-03-02 |
Publications (1)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| CA2262253A1 true CA2262253A1 (en) | 1999-09-02 |
Family
ID=29581802
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA 2262253 Abandoned CA2262253A1 (en) | 1998-03-02 | 1999-02-18 | Method and system for hot filtering bitumen with light hydrocarbons |
Country Status (1)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| CA (1) | CA2262253A1 (en) |
Cited By (1)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WO2008098359A1 (en) * | 2007-02-12 | 2008-08-21 | Gushor Inc. | Method and apparatus for obtaining heavy oil samples from a reservoir sample |
-
1999
- 1999-02-18 CA CA 2262253 patent/CA2262253A1/en not_active Abandoned
Cited By (4)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WO2008098359A1 (en) * | 2007-02-12 | 2008-08-21 | Gushor Inc. | Method and apparatus for obtaining heavy oil samples from a reservoir sample |
| EP2113082A1 (en) * | 2007-02-12 | 2009-11-04 | Gushor Inc. | Method and apparatus for obtaining heavy oil samples from a reservoir sample |
| RU2447947C2 (en) * | 2007-02-12 | 2012-04-20 | Гушор Инк. | Method and device to make heavy oil specimens from reservoir specimen |
| EP2113082A4 (en) * | 2007-02-12 | 2015-04-29 | Gushor Inc | Method and apparatus for obtaining heavy oil samples from a reservoir sample |
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