CA2469326A1 - Oil sand conditioning process and apparatus - Google Patents
Oil sand conditioning process and apparatus Download PDFInfo
- Publication number
- CA2469326A1 CA2469326A1 CA002469326A CA2469326A CA2469326A1 CA 2469326 A1 CA2469326 A1 CA 2469326A1 CA 002469326 A CA002469326 A CA 002469326A CA 2469326 A CA2469326 A CA 2469326A CA 2469326 A1 CA2469326 A1 CA 2469326A1
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- Prior art keywords
- water
- oil sand
- mixing drum
- mixture
- oil
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- 239000003027 oil sand Substances 0.000 title claims abstract description 50
- 238000000034 method Methods 0.000 title claims abstract description 19
- 230000008569 process Effects 0.000 title claims abstract description 12
- 230000003750 conditioning effect Effects 0.000 title 1
- XLYOFNOQVPJJNP-UHFFFAOYSA-N water Substances O XLYOFNOQVPJJNP-UHFFFAOYSA-N 0.000 claims abstract description 39
- 238000002156 mixing Methods 0.000 claims abstract description 26
- 239000002002 slurry Substances 0.000 claims abstract description 22
- 238000005065 mining Methods 0.000 claims abstract description 11
- 238000010438 heat treatment Methods 0.000 claims abstract description 4
- 238000002360 preparation method Methods 0.000 claims description 22
- 239000000203 mixture Substances 0.000 claims description 16
- 238000012216 screening Methods 0.000 claims description 5
- 230000009471 action Effects 0.000 claims description 4
- 230000006870 function Effects 0.000 claims description 3
- 230000008901 benefit Effects 0.000 claims description 2
- 230000005484 gravity Effects 0.000 claims description 2
- 238000005303 weighing Methods 0.000 claims description 2
- 238000007599 discharging Methods 0.000 claims 1
- 238000005259 measurement Methods 0.000 claims 1
- 230000008450 motivation Effects 0.000 claims 1
- 239000010426 asphalt Substances 0.000 abstract description 7
- 238000005516 engineering process Methods 0.000 abstract description 2
- 230000001143 conditioned effect Effects 0.000 abstract 1
- 238000010924 continuous production Methods 0.000 abstract 1
- 239000004576 sand Substances 0.000 description 9
- 238000012545 processing Methods 0.000 description 4
- 238000005086 pumping Methods 0.000 description 3
- 238000013019 agitation Methods 0.000 description 2
- 238000013461 design Methods 0.000 description 2
- 238000004519 manufacturing process Methods 0.000 description 2
- 239000011159 matrix material Substances 0.000 description 2
- 239000002184 metal Substances 0.000 description 2
- 229910000746 Structural steel Inorganic materials 0.000 description 1
- 238000003339 best practice Methods 0.000 description 1
- 238000006243 chemical reaction Methods 0.000 description 1
- 230000002950 deficient Effects 0.000 description 1
- 230000000694 effects Effects 0.000 description 1
- 230000007613 environmental effect Effects 0.000 description 1
- 238000000227 grinding Methods 0.000 description 1
- 239000000463 material Substances 0.000 description 1
- 238000005007 materials handling Methods 0.000 description 1
- 235000013372 meat Nutrition 0.000 description 1
- 238000003801 milling Methods 0.000 description 1
- 239000002245 particle Substances 0.000 description 1
- 238000011084 recovery Methods 0.000 description 1
- 230000000717 retained effect Effects 0.000 description 1
- 239000011435 rock Substances 0.000 description 1
- 238000005549 size reduction Methods 0.000 description 1
- 239000007787 solid Substances 0.000 description 1
- 238000003860 storage Methods 0.000 description 1
- 230000002459 sustained effect Effects 0.000 description 1
- 238000012546 transfer Methods 0.000 description 1
- 239000002699 waste material Substances 0.000 description 1
Classifications
-
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B01—PHYSICAL OR CHEMICAL PROCESSES OR APPARATUS IN GENERAL
- B01F—MIXING, e.g. DISSOLVING, EMULSIFYING OR DISPERSING
- B01F35/00—Accessories for mixers; Auxiliary operations or auxiliary devices; Parts or details of general application
- B01F35/71—Feed mechanisms
- B01F35/717—Feed mechanisms characterised by the means for feeding the components to the mixer
- B01F35/71705—Feed mechanisms characterised by the means for feeding the components to the mixer using belts
-
- C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
- C10—PETROLEUM, GAS OR COKE INDUSTRIES; TECHNICAL GASES CONTAINING CARBON MONOXIDE; FUELS; LUBRICANTS; PEAT
- C10G—CRACKING HYDROCARBON OILS; PRODUCTION OF LIQUID HYDROCARBON MIXTURES, e.g. BY DESTRUCTIVE HYDROGENATION, OLIGOMERISATION, POLYMERISATION; RECOVERY OF HYDROCARBON OILS FROM OIL-SHALE, OIL-SAND, OR GASES; REFINING MIXTURES MAINLY CONSISTING OF HYDROCARBONS; REFORMING OF NAPHTHA; MINERAL WAXES
- C10G1/00—Production of liquid hydrocarbon mixtures from oil-shale, oil-sand, or non-melting solid carbonaceous or similar materials, e.g. wood, coal
- C10G1/04—Production of liquid hydrocarbon mixtures from oil-shale, oil-sand, or non-melting solid carbonaceous or similar materials, e.g. wood, coal by extraction
- C10G1/047—Hot water or cold water extraction processes
-
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B01—PHYSICAL OR CHEMICAL PROCESSES OR APPARATUS IN GENERAL
- B01F—MIXING, e.g. DISSOLVING, EMULSIFYING OR DISPERSING
- B01F23/00—Mixing according to the phases to be mixed, e.g. dispersing or emulsifying
- B01F23/70—Pre-treatment of the materials to be mixed
-
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B01—PHYSICAL OR CHEMICAL PROCESSES OR APPARATUS IN GENERAL
- B01F—MIXING, e.g. DISSOLVING, EMULSIFYING OR DISPERSING
- B01F23/00—Mixing according to the phases to be mixed, e.g. dispersing or emulsifying
- B01F23/70—Pre-treatment of the materials to be mixed
- B01F23/711—Heating materials, e.g. melting
-
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B01—PHYSICAL OR CHEMICAL PROCESSES OR APPARATUS IN GENERAL
- B01F—MIXING, e.g. DISSOLVING, EMULSIFYING OR DISPERSING
- B01F29/00—Mixers with rotating receptacles
- B01F29/25—Mixers with rotating receptacles with material flowing continuously through the receptacles from inlet to discharge
-
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B01—PHYSICAL OR CHEMICAL PROCESSES OR APPARATUS IN GENERAL
- B01F—MIXING, e.g. DISSOLVING, EMULSIFYING OR DISPERSING
- B01F29/00—Mixers with rotating receptacles
- B01F29/60—Mixers with rotating receptacles rotating about a horizontal or inclined axis, e.g. drum mixers
- B01F29/63—Mixers with rotating receptacles rotating about a horizontal or inclined axis, e.g. drum mixers with fixed bars, i.e. stationary, or fixed on the receptacle
-
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B03—SEPARATION OF SOLID MATERIALS USING LIQUIDS OR USING PNEUMATIC TABLES OR JIGS; MAGNETIC OR ELECTROSTATIC SEPARATION OF SOLID MATERIALS FROM SOLID MATERIALS OR FLUIDS; SEPARATION BY HIGH-VOLTAGE ELECTRIC FIELDS
- B03B—SEPARATING SOLID MATERIALS USING LIQUIDS OR USING PNEUMATIC TABLES OR JIGS
- B03B9/00—General arrangement of separating plant, e.g. flow sheets
- B03B9/02—General arrangement of separating plant, e.g. flow sheets specially adapted for oil-sand, oil-chalk, oil-shales, ozokerite, bitumen, or the like
Landscapes
- Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
- Chemical Kinetics & Catalysis (AREA)
- Oil, Petroleum & Natural Gas (AREA)
- Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
- Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
- Wood Science & Technology (AREA)
- General Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
- Organic Chemistry (AREA)
- Geology (AREA)
- Production Of Liquid Hydrocarbon Mixture For Refining Petroleum (AREA)
Abstract
In the field of mining, an improvement in process flowsheet technology and apparatus for preparing run-of-mine oil sands ore for a subsequent process step in which oil sand can be conditioned in a series-wise combination of continuous process steps by feeding water and oil sands ore into a mixing drum rotating about a substantially horizontal axis, in which the combined steps of mixing, tumbling and heating the oil sands in a water bath during a controlled residence time are effective both in breaking down lumps of the ore into smaller sized pieces and in liberating bitumen from the particulate components of the oil sands ore so as to produce a pumpable oil sand slurry.
Description
1 TITLE: SINGLE P~4SS CRUSHING FLOWSHEET
fn the field of mining the technology of oil-sand recovery and processing is unique to the 6 deposits found in Northern Alberta, Canada in terms of the evolution of process logic 7 and equipment suitable for mining and processing the oil-sand ore. 1n the oil-sand mine, 8 equipment used to excavate and transportthe run-of-mine (ROM) oil-sand ore is as 9 large in scale as at any world-wide mining operations, typically using electric-hydraulic shovels of up to 62 cubic metre capacity buckets loading into haulage trucks of up to 400 11 tonnes capacity to transport the ROM oi!-sand ore to a centralized oil-sand slurry 12 preparation facility.
14 Due to the massive scale of the mining equipment and the-characteristics of the oil-sand itself; the ore received from the mining operation typically contains a very large range of 16 lump sizes spanning from 3,500 mm arid weighing up to 30 tonnes down to sand 17 particles of a few millimeters. The ROM on: typically contains up to 306 moisture, 2°!0 18 to 18% bitumen and 45°~o to 55% sand content by weight and also contains amounts of 19 siltstone rock having an unconfined compressive strength of 165 to 221 MPa as a Waste component.
22 The harsh environmental conditions at oit-sand operations encompass an ambient 23 temperature range from +35 degrees Celsius down to -51 degrees Celsius. All mining 24 and shiny preparation equipment is required to function with unhindered effectiveness and productivity under these ambient conditions. Mater7afs handling properties of the 26 ROM ore are highly variable over this temperature range. The oil-sand ore comprises 27 frozen, highly abrasive lumps in winter but exhibits sticky, cohesive behaviour in summer, 28 largely due to the infiluence of the contained moisture and bitumen components in the 29 particulate matrix.
31 Although it has been demonstrated that oil sand lump size can be reduced and oil or 32 bitumen can be liberated under the combined influences of mechanical agitation in 33 intimate contact with water, especially heated water, the practical and effective 34 implementation of such a process in full scale apparatus suited to the mining 2!8 1 environment has not been achieved. It wilt be clear to one practiced in the art, however, 2 that any siltstorfe component in the ROM ore carries na economic value and will be 3 unaffected by mixing with water. The slurry preparation process would therefore benefit 4 if the siltstone component could be removed from the oil sands and water mixture by alternate means for separate handling and disposal.
7 The slurry preparation process step is typically required to prepare all ROM
ore to be 8 suitable for tong-distance transport as a water-based slurry to a remote upgrading facility, 9 at single-stream production rates exceeding 10,000 tonnes per hour of 'ROM
oil-sand.
Typical prerequisites for efficient slurry pumping are crushing the oil-sand ore to minus 11 100 mm followed by the preparation of a homogeneous water slurry, typically with a 12 consistency of about 64°lo solids by weight at a specific gravity of 1.5.
14 Current practice for oil-sand slurry preparation in the industry requires the use of multiple series-wise equipment processing steps to accomplish controlled ore feeding, screening 16 and crushing prior to slurry pipelining. Designers and equipment vendors are challenged 17 to create a facility containing multiple items of processing equipment with intermediary 18 conveying transfer stages bath for the harsh environment and the high production rates.
19 The oil-sand slung preparation eguipment is typically housed within large, structural steel modules iocat~i within the active oil-sand mining area. These modules must be 21 constructed suitably for re-locaticm on atypical frequency of 1 to 3 years per operating 22 location.
24 Disadvantages of the prior art fior oil-sand slung preparation arise largely from practitioners attempting to adapt conventional process equipment and conventional 26 process fiowsheet logic to the Canadian oil and context. Canadian patent Number CA
27 2195604 by Maciejewski et al describes "a vertically oriented stack of components, 28 (which) functions to slurry oil sand with water in preparat;on for pumping through a 29 pipeline". Although this patent describes process steps including water addition and tumbling of the oil sands ore and water through a vertically oriented arrangement of 31 baffles, the equipment stack would be overly tall with limited effectiveness due to the 32 limited and uncontrolled residence time of the oil sand contacting the water. Similarly, 33 Canadian patenfi number CA 2235938 by Doucet et al describes "an apparatus for 34 preparing a pumpabte oil sand and water slung (which) comprises a rotatable: vessel 3f8 1 having a perforated tubular wall... ". This example of prior art is patterned ort the well-2 known conceptof the "Bradley Breaker" which is essentially a rotary screen arranged to 3 alternately lift and drop lumps of a material to achieve a simultaneous crushing action 4 and a screening action. This prior art similarly lacks both controlled residence time and intimate contact with the water, as the water will preferentially drain away from contact 6 with the oil sands lumps immediately upon entering the perforated rotating vessel. The 7 prior art can therefore be characterized as "process flowsheet deficient"
with respect to 8 inherent limitations in meeting modern oil-sand mining plant requirements in a practical 9 and efficient manner.
11 The preferred embodiment of this invention comprises a unique and effective series-wise 12 combination of ~ntinuaus process steps comprising feeding water and oil sand into a 13 mixing drum motivated to rotate about a substantially horizontal axis, in which the 14 combined steps of mixing, tumbling and heating the oil sands in a water bath during a controlled residence time are effective both in; breaking down lumps of the ore into 16 smaller sized pieces and in liberating the contained bitumen from the particulate 17 components of the oil sands ore. These process flowsheet improvements beneficially 18 impact the design of the slung preparation plant and also facilitate design for re-location 19 of the slung preparation plant facility.
22 With reference to the Figures:
23 Figure 1 is a conventional oil-sand slung preparation plant process flowsheet illustrating 24 best practices of the prior art for size reduction of the oil sand ore for a subsequent slurry preparation process step for pumping the oil sand slurry to a remote upgrading facility.
27 Figure 2 is a detailed llustration of the slurry preparation step of Figure 1 following the 28 crushing and screening and materials handling steps, In Figure 1, haulage truck 1 dumps RQM oil-sand into receiving hopper 2 from which 31 reclaim conveyor 3 withdraws oil-sand and feeds it via chute 4 to primary conventional 32 crusher 5. The primary crushed oil-sand passes through chute 6 to second receiving 33 hopper 7 from which reclaim conveyor 8 withdraws oif-sand and feeds it via chute 9 to 34 conveyor 10 feeding via chute 11-° to mufti-deck screen 12. Oversize rejects from screen 1 12 feed via chute 13 for storage in rejects pile,14. Oversize oi!-sand from screen 12 2 feeds via chute 15 to secondary conventional crusher 16. The secondary crushed oil-3 sand passes through chute 17 to conveyor 18 to chute 19 and conveyor 20 to feed oil-4 sand via chute 21 back onto screen 12 in a closed circuit re-handling loop.
Undersize from screen 12 feeds via chute 22 to conveyor 23 and chute 24 to tank; 25;
tank 25 6 representing a simplified oil-sand slung preparation circuit. Water addition 26 controlled 7 by valve 27 is also added to tank 25 feeding slurry pump 28 delivering oil-sand lurry 8 through pipeline 29 to a remote facility (not shown). The primary and secondary 9 flowsheet crushing steps illustrated in Figure 1 could, alternately, be simplified to having only one or no crushing steps or to having no internal oil sands recirculation and 11 screening steps.
13 In Figure 2 oil sand is delivered from conveyor 23 through chute 24 into mixing drum 30.
14 Water addition 26 into chute 24 begins to mix very crudely with the oil sands dre in the chute, but subsequently achieves intimate and sustained contact with the oil sands 16 inside the mixing drum, where raduced diameters at the entry and discharge ends of the 17 drum forma substantial pool or bath to be retained internally of the drum.
The rotation 18 of the drum causes alternate lifting and falling and tumbling of the mixture of oil sands 19 and water, assisted by the internal fitment of various kinds of baffles or lifters or spirals as are known in the art for the purposes of increasing internal shear forces in the mixture, 21 increasing the lifting and falling effects and assisting to transport the mixture towards the 22 discharge end. Mixing drum 30 may also be siigh~y inclined, either to assist or to retard 23 the transporting of the initial feed mixture from the #eed end of,the drum towards the 24 discharge end where it discharges onto screen 31. Oversize oil sand lumps discharge from the screen to chute 32 feeding conveyor 33 going, alternatively, to a refuse dump 26 or to be recycled back to a prior crushing step. Undersize from the screen is permitted 27 direct entry into slung tank 25, where it undergoes further agitation and density rimming 28 as appropriate prior to entering a pump suction nozzle located at the bottom of the tank, 29 for the purpose of being pumped to a remote bitumen upgrading plant.
31 Pre-heating of the water entering at 26 is known to improve the liberation of bitumen 32 from the oil sands particulate matrix; as does the additional meat generated by the direct 33 conversion of mechanical kinetic energy into heat energy internally of the drum within 34 the water and oil sand mixture.
5r$
2 The simplified oil sand slurry preparation arcuit associated with tank 25 of Figure 1 could 3 also represent any "subsequent process step" of any ore preparation plant whefiher or 4 not it involves the preparation of a pumpable slung. An alternate subsequent process step, for example, may be a milling and grinding process step in which lump size 6 received from the ore preparation p~antwill still be required to be closely controlled.
8 A preferred means to achieve a controlled density of the oil sand slurry is to proportion 9 the addition rate of the water according to the mass flow rate of the oil sand. With reference to Figure 1 it is clear that the oi( sand rate entering the slurry preparation step 11 could be measured with a conventional belt weightometer {not shown) installed on 12 conveyor belt 23. Similarly, water in-flow rate at (ine 26 could be controlled by valve 27 13 operating in closed loop feedback from a measurecrrent sensor for water flow rate {not 14 shown). In this way the ultimate density of the oil sand slurry can be controlled in the slurry preparation step.
17 It will be clear to one practiced in the art that means to remove tramp metal such as a 18 conventional belt magnet must be provided. Although not shown on the figures his 19 tramp metal removal means is understood to be present on at least one of the conveyors on the flowsheet.
14 Due to the massive scale of the mining equipment and the-characteristics of the oil-sand itself; the ore received from the mining operation typically contains a very large range of 16 lump sizes spanning from 3,500 mm arid weighing up to 30 tonnes down to sand 17 particles of a few millimeters. The ROM on: typically contains up to 306 moisture, 2°!0 18 to 18% bitumen and 45°~o to 55% sand content by weight and also contains amounts of 19 siltstone rock having an unconfined compressive strength of 165 to 221 MPa as a Waste component.
22 The harsh environmental conditions at oit-sand operations encompass an ambient 23 temperature range from +35 degrees Celsius down to -51 degrees Celsius. All mining 24 and shiny preparation equipment is required to function with unhindered effectiveness and productivity under these ambient conditions. Mater7afs handling properties of the 26 ROM ore are highly variable over this temperature range. The oil-sand ore comprises 27 frozen, highly abrasive lumps in winter but exhibits sticky, cohesive behaviour in summer, 28 largely due to the infiluence of the contained moisture and bitumen components in the 29 particulate matrix.
31 Although it has been demonstrated that oil sand lump size can be reduced and oil or 32 bitumen can be liberated under the combined influences of mechanical agitation in 33 intimate contact with water, especially heated water, the practical and effective 34 implementation of such a process in full scale apparatus suited to the mining 2!8 1 environment has not been achieved. It wilt be clear to one practiced in the art, however, 2 that any siltstorfe component in the ROM ore carries na economic value and will be 3 unaffected by mixing with water. The slurry preparation process would therefore benefit 4 if the siltstone component could be removed from the oil sands and water mixture by alternate means for separate handling and disposal.
7 The slurry preparation process step is typically required to prepare all ROM
ore to be 8 suitable for tong-distance transport as a water-based slurry to a remote upgrading facility, 9 at single-stream production rates exceeding 10,000 tonnes per hour of 'ROM
oil-sand.
Typical prerequisites for efficient slurry pumping are crushing the oil-sand ore to minus 11 100 mm followed by the preparation of a homogeneous water slurry, typically with a 12 consistency of about 64°lo solids by weight at a specific gravity of 1.5.
14 Current practice for oil-sand slurry preparation in the industry requires the use of multiple series-wise equipment processing steps to accomplish controlled ore feeding, screening 16 and crushing prior to slurry pipelining. Designers and equipment vendors are challenged 17 to create a facility containing multiple items of processing equipment with intermediary 18 conveying transfer stages bath for the harsh environment and the high production rates.
19 The oil-sand slung preparation eguipment is typically housed within large, structural steel modules iocat~i within the active oil-sand mining area. These modules must be 21 constructed suitably for re-locaticm on atypical frequency of 1 to 3 years per operating 22 location.
24 Disadvantages of the prior art fior oil-sand slung preparation arise largely from practitioners attempting to adapt conventional process equipment and conventional 26 process fiowsheet logic to the Canadian oil and context. Canadian patent Number CA
27 2195604 by Maciejewski et al describes "a vertically oriented stack of components, 28 (which) functions to slurry oil sand with water in preparat;on for pumping through a 29 pipeline". Although this patent describes process steps including water addition and tumbling of the oil sands ore and water through a vertically oriented arrangement of 31 baffles, the equipment stack would be overly tall with limited effectiveness due to the 32 limited and uncontrolled residence time of the oil sand contacting the water. Similarly, 33 Canadian patenfi number CA 2235938 by Doucet et al describes "an apparatus for 34 preparing a pumpabte oil sand and water slung (which) comprises a rotatable: vessel 3f8 1 having a perforated tubular wall... ". This example of prior art is patterned ort the well-2 known conceptof the "Bradley Breaker" which is essentially a rotary screen arranged to 3 alternately lift and drop lumps of a material to achieve a simultaneous crushing action 4 and a screening action. This prior art similarly lacks both controlled residence time and intimate contact with the water, as the water will preferentially drain away from contact 6 with the oil sands lumps immediately upon entering the perforated rotating vessel. The 7 prior art can therefore be characterized as "process flowsheet deficient"
with respect to 8 inherent limitations in meeting modern oil-sand mining plant requirements in a practical 9 and efficient manner.
11 The preferred embodiment of this invention comprises a unique and effective series-wise 12 combination of ~ntinuaus process steps comprising feeding water and oil sand into a 13 mixing drum motivated to rotate about a substantially horizontal axis, in which the 14 combined steps of mixing, tumbling and heating the oil sands in a water bath during a controlled residence time are effective both in; breaking down lumps of the ore into 16 smaller sized pieces and in liberating the contained bitumen from the particulate 17 components of the oil sands ore. These process flowsheet improvements beneficially 18 impact the design of the slung preparation plant and also facilitate design for re-location 19 of the slung preparation plant facility.
22 With reference to the Figures:
23 Figure 1 is a conventional oil-sand slung preparation plant process flowsheet illustrating 24 best practices of the prior art for size reduction of the oil sand ore for a subsequent slurry preparation process step for pumping the oil sand slurry to a remote upgrading facility.
27 Figure 2 is a detailed llustration of the slurry preparation step of Figure 1 following the 28 crushing and screening and materials handling steps, In Figure 1, haulage truck 1 dumps RQM oil-sand into receiving hopper 2 from which 31 reclaim conveyor 3 withdraws oil-sand and feeds it via chute 4 to primary conventional 32 crusher 5. The primary crushed oil-sand passes through chute 6 to second receiving 33 hopper 7 from which reclaim conveyor 8 withdraws oif-sand and feeds it via chute 9 to 34 conveyor 10 feeding via chute 11-° to mufti-deck screen 12. Oversize rejects from screen 1 12 feed via chute 13 for storage in rejects pile,14. Oversize oi!-sand from screen 12 2 feeds via chute 15 to secondary conventional crusher 16. The secondary crushed oil-3 sand passes through chute 17 to conveyor 18 to chute 19 and conveyor 20 to feed oil-4 sand via chute 21 back onto screen 12 in a closed circuit re-handling loop.
Undersize from screen 12 feeds via chute 22 to conveyor 23 and chute 24 to tank; 25;
tank 25 6 representing a simplified oil-sand slung preparation circuit. Water addition 26 controlled 7 by valve 27 is also added to tank 25 feeding slurry pump 28 delivering oil-sand lurry 8 through pipeline 29 to a remote facility (not shown). The primary and secondary 9 flowsheet crushing steps illustrated in Figure 1 could, alternately, be simplified to having only one or no crushing steps or to having no internal oil sands recirculation and 11 screening steps.
13 In Figure 2 oil sand is delivered from conveyor 23 through chute 24 into mixing drum 30.
14 Water addition 26 into chute 24 begins to mix very crudely with the oil sands dre in the chute, but subsequently achieves intimate and sustained contact with the oil sands 16 inside the mixing drum, where raduced diameters at the entry and discharge ends of the 17 drum forma substantial pool or bath to be retained internally of the drum.
The rotation 18 of the drum causes alternate lifting and falling and tumbling of the mixture of oil sands 19 and water, assisted by the internal fitment of various kinds of baffles or lifters or spirals as are known in the art for the purposes of increasing internal shear forces in the mixture, 21 increasing the lifting and falling effects and assisting to transport the mixture towards the 22 discharge end. Mixing drum 30 may also be siigh~y inclined, either to assist or to retard 23 the transporting of the initial feed mixture from the #eed end of,the drum towards the 24 discharge end where it discharges onto screen 31. Oversize oil sand lumps discharge from the screen to chute 32 feeding conveyor 33 going, alternatively, to a refuse dump 26 or to be recycled back to a prior crushing step. Undersize from the screen is permitted 27 direct entry into slung tank 25, where it undergoes further agitation and density rimming 28 as appropriate prior to entering a pump suction nozzle located at the bottom of the tank, 29 for the purpose of being pumped to a remote bitumen upgrading plant.
31 Pre-heating of the water entering at 26 is known to improve the liberation of bitumen 32 from the oil sands particulate matrix; as does the additional meat generated by the direct 33 conversion of mechanical kinetic energy into heat energy internally of the drum within 34 the water and oil sand mixture.
5r$
2 The simplified oil sand slurry preparation arcuit associated with tank 25 of Figure 1 could 3 also represent any "subsequent process step" of any ore preparation plant whefiher or 4 not it involves the preparation of a pumpable slung. An alternate subsequent process step, for example, may be a milling and grinding process step in which lump size 6 received from the ore preparation p~antwill still be required to be closely controlled.
8 A preferred means to achieve a controlled density of the oil sand slurry is to proportion 9 the addition rate of the water according to the mass flow rate of the oil sand. With reference to Figure 1 it is clear that the oi( sand rate entering the slurry preparation step 11 could be measured with a conventional belt weightometer {not shown) installed on 12 conveyor belt 23. Similarly, water in-flow rate at (ine 26 could be controlled by valve 27 13 operating in closed loop feedback from a measurecrrent sensor for water flow rate {not 14 shown). In this way the ultimate density of the oil sand slurry can be controlled in the slurry preparation step.
17 It will be clear to one practiced in the art that means to remove tramp metal such as a 18 conventional belt magnet must be provided. Although not shown on the figures his 19 tramp metal removal means is understood to be present on at least one of the conveyors on the flowsheet.
Claims (8)
1. In the field of mining an improved oil sand slurry preparation process employing process steps of feeding oil sand into a mixing drum means at a continuous controlled rate, simultaneously feeding water into said mixing drum means at a continuous controlled rate, arranging an interior volume means within said mixing drum means so as to receive and hold said oil sand and said water in intimate contact therebetween, imparting a mixing action to said oil sand and said water within said interior volume means to form a mixture, controlling the mixing time of said mixture as a function of said continuous feed rates of said oil sand and said water into said interior volume means within said mixing drum means and arranging continuous discharge of said mixture by gravity overflow means from said interior volume means of said mixing drum means, the combined benefit of achieving intimate contact of said oil sand with said water under the influence of said mixing action and said controlled mixing time comprising said improved process for oil sand slurry preparation,
2. The process of Claim 1 being modified by heating said water prior to feeding said water into said mixing drum means.
3. The process of Claim 1 being modified by additionally screening said mixture discharging from said mixing drum means.
4. Said continuous controlled feed rate of said oil sand in Claim 1 being achieved by closed loop control using conveyor belt weighing means to measure and control the delivery rate of the oil sand into said interior volume means.
5. Said continuous controlled feed rate of said heated water in Claim 1 being achieved by closed loop control using mass or volumetric flow measurement means to measure and control the delivery rate of said water into said interior volume means.
6. An apparatus for preparing a pumpable oil sand and water slurry comprising a mixing drum means being substantially cylindrical, being oriented with a substantially horizontal centerline, being arranged to receive oil sand and water simultaneously at one end thereof and to discharge a mixture of said oil sand and said water at the opposite end thereof, being arranged with internal dams at said one end thereof and said opposite end thereof so as to form said interior volume means for the purpose of retaining a volume of said mixture, being arranged with motivation means to rotate said mixing drum means about said centerline and being arranged with internal paddle means attached to the interior cylindrical walls of said mixing drum means to impart shear forces into said mixture as the mixing drum means is motivated to rotate.
7. Said mixing drum apparatus of Claim 6 being suitable to accept heated water or unheated water for the purpose of forming said mixture.
8. Said mixing drum apparatus of Claim 6 wherein said mixture is arranged in combination to discharge from said mixing drum means onto a screen means for the purpose of removing oversize lumps of oil sand from said mixture.
Priority Applications (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA002469326A CA2469326A1 (en) | 2004-05-28 | 2004-05-28 | Oil sand conditioning process and apparatus |
Applications Claiming Priority (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA002469326A CA2469326A1 (en) | 2004-05-28 | 2004-05-28 | Oil sand conditioning process and apparatus |
Publications (1)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| CA2469326A1 true CA2469326A1 (en) | 2005-11-28 |
Family
ID=35452287
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA002469326A Abandoned CA2469326A1 (en) | 2004-05-28 | 2004-05-28 | Oil sand conditioning process and apparatus |
Country Status (1)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| CA (1) | CA2469326A1 (en) |
Cited By (7)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US7651042B2 (en) | 2005-11-09 | 2010-01-26 | Suncor Energy Inc. | Method and apparatus for creating a slurry |
| US8016216B2 (en) | 2005-11-09 | 2011-09-13 | Suncor Energy Inc. | Mobile oil sands mining system |
| US8136672B2 (en) | 2004-07-30 | 2012-03-20 | Suncor Energy, Inc. | Sizing roller screen ore processing apparatus |
| US8328126B2 (en) | 2008-09-18 | 2012-12-11 | Suncor Energy, Inc. | Method and apparatus for processing an ore feed |
| US8393561B2 (en) | 2005-11-09 | 2013-03-12 | Suncor Energy Inc. | Method and apparatus for creating a slurry |
| CN107824454A (en) * | 2017-03-20 | 2018-03-23 | 中国石油化工股份有限公司 | A kind of oil-sand granularity sieve apparatus and application method |
| CN110721603A (en) * | 2019-12-04 | 2020-01-24 | 娄底市兴华有色金属有限公司 | Antimony ore is controlled to smelt and is used compounding equipment |
-
2004
- 2004-05-28 CA CA002469326A patent/CA2469326A1/en not_active Abandoned
Cited By (12)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US8136672B2 (en) | 2004-07-30 | 2012-03-20 | Suncor Energy, Inc. | Sizing roller screen ore processing apparatus |
| US8851293B2 (en) | 2004-07-30 | 2014-10-07 | Suncor Energy, Inc. | Sizing roller screen ore processing apparatus |
| US7651042B2 (en) | 2005-11-09 | 2010-01-26 | Suncor Energy Inc. | Method and apparatus for creating a slurry |
| US8016216B2 (en) | 2005-11-09 | 2011-09-13 | Suncor Energy Inc. | Mobile oil sands mining system |
| US8025341B2 (en) | 2005-11-09 | 2011-09-27 | Suncor Energy Inc. | Mobile oil sands mining system |
| US8317116B2 (en) | 2005-11-09 | 2012-11-27 | Suncor Energy Inc. | Method and apparatus for processing a sized ore feed |
| US8393561B2 (en) | 2005-11-09 | 2013-03-12 | Suncor Energy Inc. | Method and apparatus for creating a slurry |
| US9016799B2 (en) | 2005-11-09 | 2015-04-28 | Suncor Energy, Inc. | Mobile oil sands mining system |
| US8328126B2 (en) | 2008-09-18 | 2012-12-11 | Suncor Energy, Inc. | Method and apparatus for processing an ore feed |
| US8622326B2 (en) | 2008-09-18 | 2014-01-07 | Suncor Energy, Inc. | Method and apparatus for processing an ore feed |
| CN107824454A (en) * | 2017-03-20 | 2018-03-23 | 中国石油化工股份有限公司 | A kind of oil-sand granularity sieve apparatus and application method |
| CN110721603A (en) * | 2019-12-04 | 2020-01-24 | 娄底市兴华有色金属有限公司 | Antimony ore is controlled to smelt and is used compounding equipment |
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Legal Events
| Date | Code | Title | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| EEER | Examination request | ||
| FZDE | Discontinued |