CA2263858C - Mechanical deaeration of bituminous froth - Google Patents

Abstract

Aerated bitumen froth obtained from oil sands must be deaerated so that it can be pumped through a pipeline. Mechanical shearing is effective to deaerate bitumen froth to an air content of below 10 volume percent.
Mechanical deaeration of bitumen froth can be achieved either by passing the froth through a confining passageway and shearing the froth with an impeller while it is in the passageway or temporarily retaining the aerated froth in a tank and circulating it repeatedly through a pump.

Description

2 This invention relates to a method for mechanically deaerating aerated 3 primary bitumen froth to reduce its air content to render it pumpable.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
6 Oil sand, as known in the Fort McMurray region of Alberta, Canada, 7 comprises water-wet sand grains having viscous bitumen flecks trapped 8 between the grains. It lends itself to separating or dispersing the bitumen 9 from the sand grains by slurrying the as-mined oil sand in water so that the bitumen flecks move into the aqueous phase.
11 For the past 25 years, the bitumen in McMurray sand has been 12 commercially recovered from oil sand using a hot water process. In general 13 terms, this process involves mixing surface-mined oil sand with heated water, 14 steam and sodium hydroxide in a rotating tumbler to initially disperse the bitumen to form a slurry that has a temperature of about 80°C. The slurry is 16 further diluted with heated water and then introduced into a primary 17 separation vessel (PSV) where the more buoyant bitumen particles float to 18 the surface to form a froth. This froth overflows the vessel wall and is 19 received in a launder extending around the PSV's rim. The product is commonly called "primary froth" and typically comprises 66% bitumen, 9%
21 solids and 25% water. It is usually at a temperature of about 75°C.
The 22 primary froth also contains approximately 30 vol. % air.

(E4163279.DOC;1 f 2 1 The primary froth typically is deaerated to about 13 vol. % air, at which 2 point it is capable of being pumped by centrifugal pumps through a pipeline to 3 the froth treatment plant. Deaeration is achieved by feeding the bitumen froth 4 by gravity through a deaeration tower having vertically spaced sheds. The froth forms thin layers on the sheds and is countercurrently contacted with 6 steam, to both heat and deaerate the froth. The deaerator circuit is similar to 7 that described in U.S. Patent No. 4,116,809, issued to Kizior on September 8 26, 1978.
9 A recent development in the recovery of bitumen from oil sand involves a low energy extraction process (LEE process). The LEE process is not in 11 the public domain but is in the process of being patented. The LEE process 12 can be summarized as follows:
13 . locating a mine remote from the upgrading refinery;
14 . mixing the oil sand with heated water at the mine site to produce a pumpable, dense, low temperature slurry, preferably having a density 16 in the range 1.4 to 1.65 g/cc and temperature in the range 20 to 45°C;
17 . pumping the slurry through a pipeline to an extraction site, the pipeline 18 being of sufficient length so that the slung is conditioned for flotation;
19 ~ aerating the slurry and diluting it with water, preferably as it moves through the pipeline; and {E4163279.DOC;1 } 3 1 ~ delivering the aerated diluted slurry into a primary separation vessel 2 (PSV) and producing bitumen froth ("primary froth"). The buoyant 3 bitumen froth floats to the surface of the PSV where it overflows the 4 vessel's walls into a launder that recovers the overflowing bitumen froth.
6 The LEE primary froth obtained from medium grade oil sand typically 7 comprises 60 % bitumen, 29 % water and 11 % solids and has an air content 8 of approximately 50 vol. %. Depending on the oil sand and the experimental 9 conditions, LEE froth air contents have been measured between 28 to 72 vol.
%. As was the case with the bitumen froth obtained from the hot water 11 process, the froth obtained using the LEE process must be deaerated to a 12 reduced air content (preferably < 10%) to minimize impact on pump 13 performance when the froth is pumped by centrifugal pumps through the 14 pipeline to the upgrading facility.
At the applicant's commercial operation, the current site for low energy 16 extraction is 35 km away from the main processing plant and its utilities.
17 Therefore, use of the conventional deaeration tower with steam to deaerate 18 the bitumen froth would be very expensive for the following reasons:
19 . it would be expensive to move the steam from the main plant through a long pipeline to the extraction site in cold weather; and 21 ~ alternatively, it would be expensive to build a utility plant at the 22 extraction site and heat and treat the water at that point. Steam 23 production requires clean water and therefore the water must be 24 chemically treated before it can be reused.
{E4163279.DOC;1 }4 1 In light of the above, an alternate process for deaerating LEE froth was 2 pursued using mechanical break-up or shearing.
3 There are two concerns that need to be addressed when designing a 4 mechanical shearing process for use with a unique feed stock such as bitumen froth. Firstly, there is a concern that if the mechanical shearing is too 6 vigorous, the air bubbles will actually break up into even smaller air bubbles.
7 It is known in the art that it is more difficult for smaller bubbles to move 8 through the bitumen matrix and reach the surface where they can break out.
9 Second, there is a concern that mechanical shearing will cause the water and solids in the bitumen froth to emulsify. If emulsification occurs, it 11 makes it more difficult for the downstream centrifuges to carry out their 12 separation work, that is, to separate the solids and water from the bitumen.

The present invention is based on the discovery that mechanical 16 shearing is effective to deaerate bitumen froth sufficiently so that it is 17 pumpable and thus can be propelled through a pipeline. The discovery is 18 particularly useful because it has been shown to work with LEE bitumen froth, 19 which typically has a temperature between 20 to 45°C and therefore is quite viscous. It was not predictable that mechanical shearing would be effective to 21 reduce the air content in such froth to a pumpable level, preferably less than 22 10 vol. %, more preferably about 6 vol. %. The air content in deaerated froth 23 has to be sufficiently low in order for the froth to be pumpable for pipeline 24 purposes. We have demonstrated that two distinct ways of mechanically (E4163279.DOC;1 f 5 1 shearing the froth will reduce its air content to the desired level , although the 2 invention is not to be limited to either of these techniques. More particularly 3 we have shown that 4 . passing the froth through a confining passageway and shearing the froth with an impeller while it is in the passageway; or 6 ~ temporarily retaining the aerated froth in a tank and circulating it 7 repeatedly through a pump;
8 will each serve to successfully deaerate the froth so that it is pumpable.
9 So, in one aspect the invention provides a method comprising:
providing primary bitumen froth obtained by flotation in a primary separation 11 vessel and recovering it therefrom; and deaerating the froth by mechanically 12 shearing it to reduce its air content.
13 In another aspect, the invention provides a method for supplying a 14 stream of deaerated bitumen froth comprising: providing aerated bitumen froth produced by flotation; deaerating the froth by mechanically shearing it;
16 and pumping the deaerated froth through a pipeline.
17 Having ascertained that mechanically shearing LEE bitumen froth will 18 work to deaerate it as required, we have combined it with the LEE process to 19 provide a novel method for recovering deaerated bitumen froth from oil sand containing bitumen comprising:
21 ~ dry mining the oil sand;
22 . mixing the as-mined oil sand with heated water to produce a dense, 23 low temperature slurry, preferably having a density in the range 1.4 24 to 1.65 g/cc and a temperature in the range 20 to 45°C;
;E4163279.DOC;1 } 6 1 ~ pumping the slurry through a pipeline for sufficient distance to 2 condition the slurry;
3 ~ preferably adding flood water and air to the slurry, more preferably 4 as it moves through the pipeline, to produce a diluted, aerated slurry;
6 ~ introducing the product slurry into a primary separation vessel and 7 temporarily retaining it therein under quiescent conditions while 8 simultaneously preferably injecting hot underwash water just below 9 the forming froth to raise its temperature and venting excess air out of the PSV feedwell, to produce aerated bitumen froth; and 11 ~ recovering the froth and mechanically shearing it to deaerate it 12 sufficiently so that the deaerated froth can be pumped through a 13 pipeline.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
16 Figure 1 is a block diagram setting forth one embodiment of a process 17 in accordance with the invention;
18 Figure 2 is a schematic side view of a PSV that has been equipped 19 with a deaerating device forming part of the launder;
Figure 3 is a schematic side view of the deaerating device identified by 21 the circle in Figure 2;
22 Figure 4 is a top plan view of part of the device of Figure 3;
23 Figure 5 is a plot of bitumen froth air content versus impeller speed, for 24 two tests run using the PSV and deaerating device shown in Figures 2 and 3;
{E4163279.DOC;1 } 7 1 Figure 6 is a schematic showing a test circuit used in the mechanical 2 deaeration process of repeated pumping; and 3 Figure 7 is a plot of the bitumen froth air content versus recirculation 4 time using repeated pumping.

7 Applicants' theory behind using mechanical shearing as a means of 8 releasing the air from bitumen is as follows. It is believed that forces of 9 mechanical shearing cause the air bubbles to elongate which results in more air bubble surface area. Therefore, there is a greater opportunity for the air 11 bubbles to contact one another and coalesce into larger air bubbles. It is 12 known in the art that it is much easier for larger bubbles to reach the surface 13 of the bitumen froth and break out. Also, the entrapped air bubbles have a 14 greater potential for exposure to the air surface of the bitumen froth if the bitumen froth is constantly mixed. Once exposed to the air surface, the air 16 bubbles can then be quickly released to the atmosphere.
17 Aerated oil sand slurry is prepared at low temperature = as set out in 18 Figure 1 and described as follows. In the low energy extraction process (LEE
19 process), the oil sand is dry mined and mixed at the mine site with water using means such as a cyclofeeder to produce a dense (between 1.4 and 21 1.65 g/cc) slurry having a low temperature (in the range of 20 to 35°C). The 22 dense slurry is then pumped through a pipeline having sufficient length so 23 that the retention time is at least 4 minutes, to achieve conditioning of the 24 slurry. Air is added to the slurry as it moves through the pipeline to produce {E4I63279.DOC;1 ) g 1 aerated slurry. The resulting aerated, dense, low temperature slurry can be 2 fed at high loading into a primary separation vessel (PSV). The slurry is 3 continuously introduced into the PSV, where the sand settles to the bottom 4 and the bitumen froth is produced by floating to the top and is recovered.
The aerated bitumen froth is then deaerated so that the bitumen froth can be 6 pipelined to the extraction site for further processing.
7 As shown in Figures 2,3 and 4, one method for mechanically 8 deaerating bitumen froth comprises passing the froth from the PSV through a 9 tube or funnel containing low shear, low speed impeller. As previously mentioned, aerated bitumen froth floats to the top of the PSV 1 and attached 11 to the PSV 1 is a froth launder 2 that catches the aerated bitumen froth as it 12 spills over the top of the PSV 1.
13 Launder chute 3 is an extension of the launder 2 and is equipped with 14 a weir box 4 through which the froth flows. The box 4 has a transverse wall at its upstream end, forming a flow inlet 6. The floor 8 of the chute 3 forms 16 the bottom wall 9 of the box 4. The bottom wall 9 forms an opening 10 17 communicating with a funnel 11 forming a confining passageway 12.
18 Contained within the boundaries of the funnel 11 and positioned directly 19 below the opening 10 is a low shear, low speed impeller 13 mounted on a shaft 14 driven by a motor 15. A second larger impeller 16 is located directly 21 above the bottom opening 10. The second impeller 16 aids in directing the 22 viscous bitumen froth through the bottom opening 10 and past the low shear 23 impeller 13. Vertical baffles 17 are placed directly below the shearing 24 impeller 13. The baffles 17 prevent the viscous bitumen froth from simply {E4163279.DOC;1 } 9 1 turning with the impeller 13. The weir 7 impedes the flow of the bitumen froth 2 thereby forcing all of the froth to pass through the impeller 13. The box 4 has 3 a downstream transverse wall 18 which functions as a weir to aid in retarding 4 the flow of the bitumen froth to further ensure that all of the froth is subjected to the shearing process.

6 The deaerated bitumen froth exits the launder 2 via the launder chute 7 3 into a froth holding tank (not shown).

8 In Figure 6, a circuit 20 is shown for practicing an alternative method 9 for deaerating bitumen froth by mechanical shearing. This method comprises pumping the froth one or more times through a positive displacement pump.
11 More particularly, aerated froth travels down the launder chute 3 and exits 12 into a froth holding first tank 22. The froth is pumped out of the first tank 22 13 via a positive displacement discharge pump 23 through a conduit 24 and 14 drops into a froth holding second tank 25. For the purposes of the experiment only, any water and solids that settle at the bottom of the second 16 tank 25 are first pumped out of the tank via a positive displacement circulation 17 pump 26 through conduit 27 and discarded. The remaining bitumen froth is 18 then pumped out of the second tank 25 via the circulation pump 26 and 19 recirculated through conduit 28 back to the second tank 25. The froth is recirculated through the circulation pump 26 until deaeration is complete.

(E4163279.DOC;1 ) 1 ~

1 The operability of these two methods is demonstrated by the following 2 examples.
3 Example I
4 In this example, bitumen froth was deaerated using the impeller process. Several different aerated bitumen froth preparations were recovered 6 from the same low grade oil sand (7.9 % bitumen, 39 % -44w fines) using the 7 LEE process. The bitumen froth tested consisted of, on average, 39 wt 8 bitumen, 49 wt % water and 13 wt % solids. The average air content of the 9 froth was 50 vol. %. The froth temperature at the shearing impeller 13 was between 35 and 38°C. A larger 6 bladed pitched impeller 16, 101 mm in 11 diameter and 29 mm high, was used to force the froth past a smaller 4 bladed 12 turbine shearing impeller, 38 mm in diameter and 11 mm high.
13 Samples of the deaerated froth were collected as the froth exited the 14 launder 2 via the launder chute 3. Figure 5 shows the froth air content of the bitumen froth after having passed through the shearing impeller, the shearing 16 impeller being operated over a range of speeds.
17 It can be seen from the results in Figure 5 that reduction in air content 18 of the bitumen froth leveled off as the impeller speed approached 600 rpm.
19 At speeds over 600 rpm, the air content of the froth remained fairly constant at about 10 vol. %.

{E4163279.DOC;1 } 1 1 1 Example II
2 The bitumen froth samples tested in the following example were 3 recovered from four different oil sand batches using the LEE process.
4 Samples 1 and 2 were recovered from low grade oil sands (7.3 wt% bitumen, 31.9 wt % fines and 8.0 wt% bitumen, 34.6 wt% fines, respectively) and 6 samples 3 and 4 were recovered from medium grade oil sands (10.9 wt%
7 bitumen, 23.5 wt% fines and 11.6 wt% bitumen, 18.9 wt% fines, respectively).
8 With reference to Figure 6, aerated bitumen froth was initially collected 9 in the froth holding first tank 22. The collected froth was then pumped to the froth holding second tank 25 thro ugh 3/4 inch diameter pipe 24 by means of 11 a Moyno 2L4 discharge pump 23 until the second tank was filled with bitumen 12 froth. Because it took time to fill the tank (up to two hours), water and sand 13 had settled out at the bottom of the tank. Therefore, when the tank was 14 finally filled, pipe 27 was opened and the water and sand that had settled at the bottom of the tank were pumped out via a Moyno 1 L3 circulation pump 16 26. Pipe 27 was then closed and pipe 28 was opened. The froth was then 17 pumped out through pipe 28 via the circulation pump 26 and recirculated back 18 to the second tank 25. After the first recirculation, the froth was continuously 19 recirculated in this fashion for approximately 1 hour.
Table 1 shows the composition of the four froth samples in the second 21 tank 25 after the settled sand and water had been removed from the tank.

{E4163279.DOC;1} 12 1 Table 1 Bitumen wtl Water wt% Solids wt% Froth temp.

Sample 1 60 27 13 38 C

Sample 2 46 40 14 30 C

Sample 3 60 29 11 35 C

Sample 4 55 30 15 43 C

3 Table 2 shows the air content of each of the above samples at various 4 stages of the above process. An initial sample was taken from the first tank 22 and is referred to as "static froth". A second sample was taken from the 6 second tank 25 after the froth was pumped through the 3/4 inch diameter pipe 7 24 via the Moyno 2L4 discharge pump 23. This froth sample is referred to as 8 "once-through froth" as it has already been pumped through one pump. A
9 third sample of froth was taken after the froth had been pumped through pipe 28 via the Moyno 1 L3 circulation pump 26 and this froth sample is referred to 11 as "recirculated froth".
12 Table 2 Static Once-through Recirculated Sample 1 41 vol. % air 21 vol. % air 6 vol. % air Sample 2 49 vol. % air 19 vol. % air 11 vol. % air Sample 3 39 vol. % air 33 vol. % air 4 vol. % air Sample 4 44 vol. % air 30 vol. % air 4 vol. % air {E4163279.DOC;1 } 13 1 Table 2 shows that a single pass through a progressive cavity pump 2 (i.e. the discharge pump 23) reduced the air content of the low grade oil sand 3 froth samples (1 and 2) from 45 vol. % to 20 vol. % on average. The air 4 content of the medium grade oil sand froth samples (3 and 4) was also reduced after a single pass from 41.5 vol. % to 31.5 vol. % on average.
6 However, the reduction was less dramatic with the medium grade samples 7 than with the low grade samples suggesting that pumping is a less effective 8 means for liberating air when medium grade oil sand is used.
9 However, after the second pass through a gravity pump (i.e. the circulation pump 26), froth samples 3 and 4 had air contents lower than the 6 11 % target while froth samples 2 still contained 11 vol. % air. All froth samples 12 were recirculated through the circulation pump 26 at a flow rate of 4L/min for 13 at least 60 minutes. Samples were taken every fifteen minutes and the air 14 content determined. Note that the sample taken at time zero was after the froth had been pumped twice (once by each pump). Pumping the froth twice 16 achieved the 6°!° target in several of the cases. Figure 7 shows that the air 17 content of all four samples rapidly reached steady levels of 4 to 6 vol. %
air.

(E4163279.DOC;1 J 14

Claims (19)

1. A method comprising:
providing primary bitumen froth obtained by flotation in a primary separation vessel and recovering it therefrom; and applying a mechanical shearing force to the primary bitumen froth sufficient to reduce the air content of the froth so that the deaerated froth can be pumped through a pipeline.

2. The method as set forth in Claim 1 wherein:
the step of applying mechanical shearing force to the primary bitumen froth is by passing the froth through a confining passageway and mechanically shearing it with an impeller while in the passageway.

3. The method as set forth in Claim 1 wherein:
the step of applying mechanical shearing force to the primary bitumen froth is by repeatedly circulating the froth through a pump.

4. The method as set forth in Claims 1, 2, or 3 wherein the air content of the froth is reduced to less than 10 volume percent.

5. The method as set forth in Claims 1, 2, or 3 wherein the air content of the froth is reduced to less than 6 volume percent.

6. A method for recovering deaerated primary bitumen froth from oil sand containing bitumen, comprising:
dry mining the oil sand;
mixing the as-mined oil sand with heated water to produce a slurry having a density in the range 1.4 to 1.65 g/cc and temperature in the range 20 -45°C;
pumping the slurry through a pipeline to condition the slurry for flotation;
adding air to the slurry as it moves through the pipeline, to produce aerated slurry;
introducing the aerated slurry into a primary separation vessel and temporarily retaining it therein under quiescent conditions to produce aerated primary bitumen froth;
and recovering the primary bitumen froth and applying a mechanical shearing force to the primary bitumen froth sufficient to reduce the air content of the froth so that the deaerated froth can be pumped through a pipeline.

7. The method set forth in Claim 6 comprising:
adjusting the density of the slurry as it approaches the primary separation vessel to reduce its density to less than 1.5g/cc;
venting excess air from the primary separation vessel through a vent stack extending into the aerated slurry in the vessel; and adding sufficient heated water as an underwash layer just beneath the froth to ensure production of froth having a temperature greater than about 35°C.

8, The method as set forth in Claim 7 wherein:
the step of applying mechanical shearing force to the primary bitumen froth is by passing the froth through a confining passageway and mechanically shearing it with an impeller while in the passageway

9. The method as set forth in Claim 7 wherein:
the step of applying mechanical shearing forces to the primary bitumen froth is by repeatedly circulating the froth through a pump.

10. The method as set forth in Claims 6, 7, 8, or 9 wherein the air content of the froth is reduced to less than 10 volume percent.

11. The method as set forth in Claims 6, 7, 8 or 9 wherein the air content of the froth is reduced to less than 6 volume percent.

12. A method for supplying a stream of deaerated bitumen froth, comprising:
providing aerated primary bitumen froth produced by flotation;
applying a mechanical shearing forces to the primary bitumen froth sufficient to reduce the air content of the froth; and pumping the deaerated froth through a pipeline.

13. The method as set forth in Claim 12, wherein:

the air content of the froth is reduced to less than 10 volume percent in the course of deaeration.

14. The method as set forth in Claim 13 wherein;
the step of applying mechanical shearing force to the primary bitumen froth is by passing the froth through a confining passageway and mechanically shearing it with an impeller while in the passageway.

15. The method as set forth in Claim 13 wherein:
the step of applying mechanical shearing force to the primary bitumen froth is by repeatedly circulating the froth through a pump.

16. A method for supplying pumpable primary bitumen froth to a pipeline, comprising:
dry mining oil sand;
mixing the as-mined oil sand with heated water to produce an aerated, dense, low temperature slurry;
pumping the slurry through a pipeline for sufficient distance to condition the slurry for flotation;
introducing the conditioned slurry into a primary separation vessel and temporarily retaining it therein under quiescent conditions to produce aerated primary bitumen froth;
applying mechanical shearing forces to the primary bitumen froth sufficient to reduce the air content of the froth to render it pumpable through a pipeline;
and pumping the deaerated froth through a pipeline.

17. The method as set forth in Claim 16 wherein:
the air content of the froth is reduced to lass than 10 volume percent.

18. The method as set forth in Claim 17 wherein:
the step of applying mechanical shearing force to the primary bitumen froth is by passing the froth through a confining passageway and mechanically shearing it with an impeller while in the passageway

19. The method as set forth in Claim 17 wherein:
the step of applying mechanical shearing force to the primary bitumen froth is by repeated circulation through a pump.