CA2665747A1 - Usage of oil facilities waste sludge and fine tailings water for generation of hot water and steam for bitumen production - Google Patents

Abstract

A system and method for the reuse of solids rich water like fine tailings or lime sludge for extracting bitumen from shallow and deep underground oil sand formations comprising the steps of mixing hot combustion gas with solid rich water under pressure. Gasifying the liquid water to gas phase steam and solids. Removing the solids from the gas phase to generate solid lean gas phase. Mixing the gas with process water to condense the steam and recover the gas heat and using the generated hot water for extraction the bitumen from oilsands. For generating steam the solid lean gas phase is mixed with saturated water to scrub the remaining solids and produce saturated steam. The solid rich saturated water recycled and gasified by mixing with the combustion gases and the saturated steam is condensed to generate heat and clean condensed water for steam generation for use for EOR.

Description

USAGE OF OIL FACILITIES WASTE SLUDGE AND FINE TAILINGS WATER FOR
GENERATION OF HOT WATER AND STEAM FOR BITUMEN PRODUCTION
FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This application relates to a system and method for water recovery from waste water like mature fine tailing water in the oilsand industry. The recovered water can be used during the bitumen extraction process or for steam generation. The heat is used for heating the process water or for steam generation. The generated process waste is in the form of stable solid material that can support traffic. The recovered water can be used for steam generation in a commercially -available, non-direct prior art steam generator, as in OTSG and Boiler type facilities. The invention minimizes the need for settling fine tailing basins and enables a sustainable tailing practice of "reclaiming as you go". This means continually reclaiming the excavated oilsand areas as the mine progress to a new location.

The steam can be used for Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) facilities or for separation of bitumen from sand and water in open mining oil sand facilities. The water recovery process includes solid generation and separation in a ZLD (Zero Liquid Discharge), where a dry solid waste or semi-dry slurry is generated for effective disposal. The heat is recovered and used to heat the processed water, or to pre-heat boiler feed water for steam generation.

Tailing pond water is a by-product of the oil, water and sand separation process. These ponds are increasingly becoming a significant environmental problem, as the scale of oil sand recovery increases. Hundreds of ducks died last summer after mistakenly landed in contaminated ponds in northern Alberta. The tailing pond problem is continually escalating, as seen in 1979 when there were tens of millions cubic meters of fine fluid tailings. Currently there are close to eight hundred million of cubic meters of MFT (Mature Fine Tailings). Some of the oldest tailing ponds are located (irresponsibly), in close proximity to the Athabasca River.
An extensive rainfall in the area can cause these tailing ponds to overflow directly into the river, with devastating effects on the natural environment and on the settlement down the river. The mature tailing water contains suspended fine sediment (less than 40 microns). This sediment can include: clay, heavy metals, hydrocarbonslike bitumen, diluent, PAHs (Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons which occur in oil and are byproducts of burning fuels) and Naphthenic Acids, (surfactants found in all heavy oil), sulphate and sodium salinity. The PAHs tend to settle out with the fine sediments.

(See the February 2009 PEMBINA report "The waters that bind us", paragraph 2-`Water and oil sands development" by Peggy Holroyd and Terra Simieritsch.) In Situ, oil Sands projects also generate large quantities of disposal water and sludge from their softeners as part of the facility water treatment plant, the steam generation facility and the oil separation process.

Another basic characteristic of an oil sands project is the use of heat and steam. This is a common characteristic for both the surface oil sands mining and the In-situ oilsands plants.

In mining, the processed water is heated using steam. Steam is also used to remove NCG and to separate diluent from the sand and the water.

In-Situ EOR (Enhanced Oil Recovery) facilities use steam for underground injection to separate the oil from the sand and mobile it to the surface. Typical EOR In - Situ facilities use SAGD and CSS ("Huff and Puff) technologies.

Most of the work done to resolve the oil sands tailing ponds problem, and especially that of mature fine tailing ponds, is separate from the existence of the oil sand mine and the energy -intensive extraction plant. Using this approach (of separating the cause from the problem) will merely defer the solution to the future, at which time oil facilities plants will stop operating and will probably be reclaimed. Such an approach can defer the mature fine tailing reclamation costs to the future. It is expected that the ERCB (Energy Resources Conservation Board) will reinforce actions to resolve the MFT problem. In a presentation done by the ERCB it was mentioned that "Fluid tailing volumes growing steadily.. no fluid tailings pond reclaimed ..and neither the public nor the government is prepared to continue to accept commitments that are not met and increasing liabilities" (See "Oil Sands Tailings: Regulatory Perspective"
presentation by Richard Houlihan and Haneef Mian from the ECRB, presented on December 10, 2008 at the International Oil Sands Tailings Conference in Edmonton, Alberta). The strategy currently in use by Alberta regulators is to force oil producers to implement at least a partial solution for the problems associated with oil sand tailing ponds.

(See: Tailings Performance Criteria and Requirements for Oil Sands Mining Schemes- Directive 074 issued on February the 3rd 2009 by The Energy Resources Conservation Board (ERCB), a quasi-judicial agency of the government of Alberta. It can be viewed at:
http://www.ercb.ca) A basic technical problem and/or disadvantage arises from delaying the resolution of the MFT
problem to the future; where the oil is recovered, it would be uneconomic to use my intensive energy method, that uses extensive heat to resolve the fine tailing pond problem. It produces hot water and steam that is used by the oil sand production facility, with minimal energy waste. In the future, if the heat energy cannot be consumed by a producing oilsand facility, the heat energy will be wasted. This will make the implementation of my invention to consume the MFT pond unfeasible. Other methods (like thickening, centrifuge, weather drying and water capping) that do not use intensive heat, can still be used, even without the operation of oilsand niines. This can be considered as a disadvantage of my invention compared to other solutions for the MFT.
However, there is no commercially feasible solution currently in use that completely resolves the oil sand tailing problem in Alberta. There are several activities being carried out by the oil sand producers that are at different R&D stages. (See "Past, Present and Future of Tailing" a presentation by Mark Shaw of Suncor Energy, Alan Fair of Syncrude and Jonathan Matthews of Shell Canada Energy on December 7-10, 2008 at the International Oil Sands Tailings Conference in Edmonton, Alberta). The technologies considered there and tested by the industry include:
Evaporation Dry and Freeze Thaw, In-Situ Densification (coke capping), Thickened Tailing, Accelerated Dewatering, Centrifuge MFT, MFT Water Capped lake and Consolidated Tailing (CT).

Currently, there is a large-scale centrifuge pilot project . The tailing ponds require either mechanical or chemical manipulation before subjecting the tailing fine clays to the spin dry cycle. To consolidate its tailings (CT), gypsum, a byproduct of the flue gas system for scrubbing out sulphur is added, possibly with lime. The theory assumes that the gypsum interacts electrostatically with the clay and the weight of the added sand squeezes out the water. For the thickening process, flocculants are used. The flocculants are organic polymers that increase settling to generate non-segregating tailings. The chemical treatment, in which very long molecules stick to different clays and interact mechanically, is enhanced through the addition of sand. Another activity uses C02. High priority CO2 is the by-product of a hydrogen plant. The C02 results in very slight acidification that helps release calcium ions. Most importantly, it also has an electrostatic effect and reacts chemically. Whatever the process, the resulting dry stackable tailings have similar properties. The only commercially operated options are the CT
and the MFT Water Capped Lake. A Field pilot is currently being done for the Centrifuge MFT, the Accelerated Dewatering and thickened tailings. Most of the methods used by the industry include natural (or accelerated) dewatering. The relay on dry weather in Fort Mcmurray can be tricky. For example, project execution personnel are well aware of the challenges involved in reducing the moisture content in the soil (to increase soil compaction) due to unexpected precipitation in that area. There is a chance that the precipitation in the area will increase in the future due to global warming. It is to be expected that drying the MFT will be even more challenging. The prior-art commercially available thickening tailing process and the MFT
centrifuge or thickening process can be incorporated and in the invention to increase the total amount of treated tailing and solids removed.

The present invention is based on the opportunity of solving the waste sludge or fine tailing water problem through the use of intensive heat processes, while recovering the water and heat.
It can then be used for steam generation. Otherwise, the processed water can be heated for oil extraction. Through this integrated approach, the tailing pond waste can be treated using energy-intensive processes (like DCSG - Direct Contact Steam Generation), to generate steam and solid wastes that can be disposed of in landfill with minimal environmental impacts.

Various patents have been issued, that are relevant to this invention. For example, U.S. Patent application No. 12/139,403, published on January 22, 2009 to Bozak et al., describes a method for treating tailing wastes. The method includes the use of jet pumps for agitating the tailing to separate during the carbon phase. The tailings are flocculated and dewatered.
U.S. Patent 4,969,520 Issued on November 13, 1990 to Jan et al., describes a method for treating water for the production of steam for EOR while generating sludge (which is composed mainly ofcalcium carbonate and magnesium hydroxide). It also describes the separation and recovery of liquids from the sludge with centrifuge, possibly using a flocculant. The solids are disposed of in a disposal land fill. U.S. Patent 6,036,748 Issued on March 14, 2000 to Wallace et al., describes a process for reducing the temperature and dissolving gases in black water, which is generated by a gasifier. The process includes flashing the water under low pressure, to release the gas and generate evaporation within the black water. This reduces the water temperature while generating water vapor. Some of the water vapor is later condensed and recycled. The remaining cooled black water is treated to remove the solids. U.S. Patent 6,706,199 issued on March 16, 2004 to Winter et al., describes a method and apparatus for withdrawing and dewatering slag from a gasification system, using a sloped conveying lock hopper with rotating auger located in the conveyer of the lockhopper. The solid slag converges upwards while separating from the water. U.S. Patent 6,027,056 Issued on February 22, 2000 to Maciejewski et al., describes a method for the assembly and slurrying of oil sand, containing oversize lumps and water, while removing the oversize lumps and producing slurry suitable for piping to a separation facility.

It is a goal of the present invention to provide a system and method for the use of waste water while recovering the water and producing solid waste, to improve deep tar extraction EOR
facilities, like SAGD or CSS.

It is another objective of the present invention to provide a system and method for the use of discharged water and tailing water, while recovering the water and removing solid waste to improvement oil sand extraction facilities, like oil sand surface mining and excavating.

These and other objectives and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from a reading of the attached specifications and appended claims.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIGURE 1 shows a general block diagram of a prior art steam generation facility for the oil industry. These facilities are standard and commercially available. They include two basic units - a water treatment unit 1 and steam generating unit 2 that uses the treated water. The water treatment facility can be any type of commercially available facility, a warm lime softener, an RO (Reverse Osmosis), an evaporation based facility or ion exchange - based facility. Feed water 3 is treated to remove impurities. The particular facility in use and the level of water purity depends on the water 4 quality required by the steam generation facility, as there is a significant difference between the water requirements of OTSGs and boilers. The water treatment plant 1 generates a stream of rejected water. This reject water is typical of the water treatment process being used. It can include sludge from the lime softeners, water from the filters, ion exchangers and polisher back-flashes, RO reject water, evaporator blowdown etc'. The steam generation plant can be an OTSG (Once Through Steam Generation) or Co-Gen that generates 80% steam 7.
It could also be a steam boiler that generates 100% steam 7. In the heavy oil industry, it is standard to use OTSG for in-situ facilities (like SAGD or CSS) and to use steam boilers producing 100% quality steam for the oil sand open mining facilities, as seen in steam generation facility 2. Most of the water is recycled and used as an in-direct heat transfer medium. Steam generation facility 2 uses carbon based fuel or hydrocarbon fuel 5 and oxidizer gas 6. In most of the current oil sands projects, the fuel in use is natural gas and the oxidizer gas is air. There are also commercial projects in which the fuel is syngas, mainly CO. An additional option is to use the produced bitumen, possibly in the form of a slurry mixture. Typically, the oxidation gas 6 is air under atmospheric pressure. Another option is to use enriched air or pure oxygen as the oxidizing gas, (see patent application PCT/FR05/01745 for Mihel Conturie et al, issued 6-July-2005). However, oxycombustion requires the use of an air separation unit to generate oxygen -rich gas stream. This type of boiler can be used if the produced high concentration C02 discharged from boiler 8 can be used as part of the process or for sequestration (to offset the air separation plant costs). Typically, the combustion gas 8 is released to the atmosphere through the steam generator stack at a temperature slightly higher than the dew -point, to prevent corrosion.
The steam generation emits a stream of reject water. The quality and quantity of the reject water depends on the steam generation facility in question. For OTSG, 80% quality steam is generated.
The remaining 20% water can be flashed in a few stages to recover water in the form of low-pressure steam. 9. Then, the remaining water is discharged as reject water, preferably to disposal wells (or to a separate ZLD facility, if required by environment regulators).
For boiler - based steam generation, there is constantly water being discharged from the boiler mud drums 9. The produced steam 7 is used for injection into the underground formation, (in the case of In-Situ steam generation facilities) or for heating the processed water, the bitumen slurry and the sandy water. The steam is also used for flashing the diluent into the open mine excavation - based oil sand facilities.

FIGURE 2 is a schematic view of the present invention for the generation of hot water for oil sand mining extraction facilities, with full tailing water recycling, to achieve zero liquid discharge with no fine tailing discharge.

Energy 1 is being injected to reactor 3. The energy should be in the form of high temperature combustion gas, typically in the range of 1300-400C. If it were to be combusted inside the reactor, it might become an oxidizing gas (like air) or a mixture of carbon or hydrocarbon fuel, (like natural gas or petcoke slurry). The energy is released in the form of heat, to generate hot combustion gas. Fine tailing water 5, possibly with high concentrations of solids like clay, hydrocarbons and other contaminants is injected into Direct Contact Steam Generator reactor 3,where most of the water evaporates as it is converted to steam. There are several feasible designs for the reactor 3. The design can include a horizontal rotating reactor, a fluidized bed reactor and an up-flow reactor or any other reactor that can be used to generate a stream of gas and solids. The inventor filed a few patent applications for possible reactors that may be used as reactor 3. Possibility for reactors 3 include, but not limited to: US patent application 12/037,703 filed by the inventor on February 26, 2008, US patent application 12/406,823 filed by the inventor on March 18, 2009, US provisional patent application 61/092,668 filed by the inventor on August 28, 2008, and US provisional patent application 61/092,669 filed by the inventor on August 28, 2008. Any available DCSG design that can consume fine tailings can be used as reactor 3. A stream of hot gas 6, possibly with carried-on solids generated in reactor 3, flows into a commercially available solid-gas separator 20. Also, solids 4 can be discharged directly from the reactor 3, depending on the type of reactor used. The separated solids 22 and 4 are disposed of in a landfill. They can be mixed with tailing slurries to generate stable material that can be disposed of into an oilsand mine for re-claiming and support traffic. The solid lean gas flow, with steam from water flow 5, is converted to gas. Then, it is mixed with the oilsand mine process water 8 in vertical vessel 7. The processed water is heated due to direct contact with the gas 21.
The water carried within the gas condenses and is converted to process water 8. The heated water 9 is typically at temperatures of 70C-90C. It is recycled back to the oil sand mine, where it can be mixed with the excavated oil sand, after passing through the breaker. The pressure in the system can range from slightly over 1 bar up to 50bar. The increase in pressure augments the efficiency of the water heating and recovery and reduces the needed facility size. The down-side of using high pressure, however, is that higher construction costs for the facility will need to be taken into consideration.

FIGURE 3 is a schematic view of one illustration of the present invention for the generation of pre-heated water that later can be used for steam generation in an oil sand EOR facility or mining extraction facility. The invention has full disposal water recycling, to achieve zero liquid discharge.

Energy 1 is introduced to Direct Contact Steam Generator reactor 3. The energy may be in the form of high temperature combustion gas, typically in the range of 1300C-400C, or as a mixture of carbon or hydrocarbon fuel, like natural gas or petcoke slurry and an oxidizing gas like air.
The combustion inside the reactor releases the energy in the form of heat to generate hot combustion gas. Contaminated water 5, like MFT, are injected into reactor 3.
There, most of the water is converted to steam leaving solids with low moisture content. There are several possibilities for the design of reactor 3. The design can be a horizontal rotating reactor, an up-flow reactor or any other type of reactor that can be used to generate a stream of solids and gas.
A stream of hot gas 6, possibly with carried-on solids generated in reactor 3 flows into commercially available solid-gas separator 20. Solids 4 can also be discharged directly from the reactor 3, depending on the type of reactor used. The separated solids 22 and 4 are disposed of in a landfill. The solids lean flow 21, (rich with steam from flow 5), mixes with cooled, condensed water 8 in direct contact vertical vessel 7. The solid remnants that previously passed through solid separation unit 20 and were carried on with the gas flow 21, are washed with the heated water 9. They are recycled back to the water treatment facility that originally supplied water for the steam generation facility (not shown). The condensing water 11 is cooled in heat exchanger 10, while the heated water 13 is used as apre-heated water for steam generation. The heat extracted from gas flow 21, due to water condensation in vessel 7 and from the NCG (Non Condensable Gas) cooling, is a result of direct heat exchange with recycled condensed water 8.
BFW (boiler Feed Water) 13 from a commercially - available water treatment and steam generation facility (not shown), flows through heat exchanger 10 to collect heat and generate pre-heated BFW 13. It is then used in the steam generation facility to generate high-pressure steam for EOR. For example, it may be used in an SAGD or for any other function that requires steam in an oilsand bitumen extraction facility. The temperature of the pre-heated water is dependant on the pressure in vessel 7. The pressure in the system can range from slightly over 1 bar up to 100bar. The temperature of the preheated water, as well as the overall thermal efficiency of the system increases as the pressure increases, however this advantage comes with added facility costs. The system generates a stream of NCG 2 that can be further treated through a process such as C02 separation for C02 sequestration. The C02 can also be injected to an underground reservoir, to recover oil or maintain the reservoir pressure. The solids free NCG 2 can be used in the oil extraction process for slurry aeration or be released to the atmosphere, possibly after going through an expander to recover energy for compressing the process oxidizer gas (not shown).

FIGURE 4 is a schematic view of the present invention for the generation of hot water for oil sand mining extraction facilities, with full tailing water recycling to achieve zero liquid discharge with no fine tailing discharge and with S02 removal.

Energy 1 is being injected to reactor 3. The energy should be in the fonn of high temperature combustion gas, typically in the range of 1300-400C. If it were combusted inside the reactor, it might become an oxidizing gas (like air) or a mixture of carbon or hydrocarbon fuel, (like sulfur rich petcoke slurry). The energy is released in the form of heat, to generate hot combustion gas.
Fine tailing water 5, (possibly with high concentrations of solids like clay, hydrocarbons and other contaminants), is injected into the horizontal counter flow Direct -Contact Steam Generator reactor 3. Inside, most of the water evaporates as it is converted to steam. A stream of hot gas 6, possibly with carried-on solids and S02 gas generated in reactor 3, flows into a commercially available solid-gas separator 20. Also, solids 4 can be discharged directly from the reactor 3, depending on the type of reactor used. The separated solids 22 and 4 are disposed of in a landfill or mixed with the MFT to generate stable material that can be disposed of in an oilsand mine for re-claiming and support traffic. The solid lean flow 21, rich with water converted to gas from flow 5, is mixed with saturated water in vessel 12. Lime stone is supplied as well, to capture the S02. The saturated water generates saturated NCG and steam 13. The solid rich water, including the generated gypsum, is recycled back to the DCSG 3, whereeventually it is released in solid form 4. The saturated, clean flow is injected to vessel 7 where it is used to heat the processed water used for ore preparation 9. The processed water is heated due to direct contact with the gas 13. The water carried within the gas condenses and is converted to processed water 8. The heated process water 9 is typically at temperatures of 70C-90C. It is recycled back to the oil sand mine, where it can be mixed with the excavated oil sand after the breaker. The pressure in the system can range from slightly over 1 bar up to 50bar. This increase in pressure augments the efficiency of the water heating and recovery and reduces the needed facility size. The down-side with using high pressure, however, is that higher construction costs for the facility will need to be taken into consideration.

FIGURE 5 is a schematic view of an illustration of the invention, shown in combination with a commercially available steam generation facility 30. A prior art steam generation facility 30 included a water treatment unit 1 and a steam generation unit 2. The discharged water from water treatment plant 10 and the discharged water from the steam generation facility 9 is injected to a Direct Contact Steam Generator facility 15, where the discharged water is subjected to a hot pressurized combustion gas. The pressure can vary from lbar up to 70bar. The hot gases are generated from the combustion of carbon-based fuel 14 and oxidizer gas 13. The fuel 14 can be in the form of gas (like natural gas), liquid (like slurry or liquid hydrocarbon) or solid, like pet-coke or coal. Dry solids or semi-dry solids 16 in non-pumpable slurry form are removed from the produced gas flow 17. The discharged solids 16 can be disposed of efficiently in a landfill. Gas flow 17 contains non-condensable gas and steam from water 12 in the form of gas, possibly with some carried-on solid remnants. The gas 17 is washed in vessel 20 through direct contact with saturated water 21. During this stage, additional steam can be generated. Make-up water 22 is continually added. The water can include lime and additional alkalis to remove gas contaminants, like S02. Solid rich contaminated saturated liquid - phase water 18 is recycled back to the direct contact steam generator 15. There, it will be converted to mainly gas 17 and solids 16 for disposal. A saturated, solids free steam and non-condensed gas mixture 23 is generated. Stream 23 is mixed in pressurized vesse125 with the boiler feed water 19 from water treatment plant 1. The steam is condensed into water 24. The temperature and pressure in vessel 25 is different in comparison to vessel 20, as the purpose of vessel 25 is to recover the saturated steam flow generated in vessel 20. Water 24, is at a lower temperature from being saturated at the partial pressure level inside vesse125. The heat from the non -condensable gas and from the condensed water vapor in gas flow 23 is recovered in direct contact with BFD
19, This is done to generate heated boiler feed water 26. The heated BFW can be at a temperature in the range of 50-200C. Based on the pressure inside vessel 25, the percentage of NCG will vary and so will the volume of BFW 19 that was injected to vesse125 from the water treatment plant. This is done to collect the heat and the water. The generated heated BFW 26 is pumped from the bottom of vessel 25 to the boiler 2, and is then pressurized and converted to steam at steam generation facility 2. The system may include pre-treatment of the BFW, to remove dissolved gases that have negative impacts on the steam generation facility, like traces of C02 or S02 (not shown).
The steam generation unit 2 used for this process should be a common, commercially available, direct facility unit. This may include an OTSG or steam boiler, possibly with economizer, air pre-heater, flue gas recycler or any other commercially available improvement.
Fuel 5 and air are used in the steam generation facility 2 for steam generation, while generating flue gases 8. The steam generation facility generates high-pressure steam 7 and some reject water 9. The reject water is recycled back,along with the water treatment facility reject water 10, to the direct contact steam generation unit 15. The high-pressure steam 7 can be used for EOR and is injected to an underground formation, as in SAGD or is used as the heat source in an oilsand mining plant operation.

FIGURE 6 is a schematic view of the present invention that includes commercially available steam generation facilities, with non-direct pre-heating of the BFW. Figure 6 is similar to figure 5, with a few differences. The prior art in figure 6 shows steam generation that requires high quality BFW, as in the case of a package boiler. In the boiler, condensed water from the direct contact mixture of the BFW with the saturated steam and NCG (non condensable Gas) flow cannot be used without complicated treatment before using the water in the steam boiler 2. A
prior art steam generation facility 30 includes a water treatment unit 1 and a steam generation unit 2. The discharged water from the water treatment plant and the steam generation facility 10, are injected directly to a Direct Contact Steam Generator facility 15. There, the discharged water is subjected to a pressurized hot combustion gas. The hot gases are generated from the combustion of carbon-based fuel 14 and oxidizing gas 13. Dry solids or semi-dry solids 16 in non-pumpable slurry form are removed from the produced gas flow 17. The discharged solids 16 can be disposed of efficiently in a landfill or in an excavation site, where they can be covered and re-claimed back into the environment. Gas flow 17 contains hot combustion non-condensable gas and steam from the water that was converted to steam, with possibly some carried-on solid remnants. The gas 17 is washed in vessel 20 through direct contact with saturated water 21. During this stage, additional steam is generated. Make-up water 22 is continually added. The water can include lime and additional alkalis to remove gas contaminants like S02. A saturated, solids free steam and non-condensed gas mixture 18 is generated. Heat and water from stream 18 is recovered in heat exchanger 22 with BFW 19 from the steam generation facility. The heated BFW 23 is used in the steam generation facility for steam generation. The recovered liquid condensed water 26 is recycled back to the water treatment facility 1 for further treatment, before it can be fed into steam generation facility 2. The remaining non Condensable Gas, with some carry-on water vapor 27, can be released to the atmosphere, or sent for further treatment (like C02 sequestration). The produced steam 7 from the steam generation facility 2 can be used for many functions. It can be used for underground injection, (as in EOR), or to heat water or to separate bitumen from oilsand slurry. As well, it can be used to flash out diluent in open oil sand mine extraction.

FIGURE 7 is a schematic view of the present invention for the integration of the present invention with a commercially available steam generation facility and with non-direct pre-heating of the BFW. Figure 7 is similar to figure 6 with a few differences.
The prior art in figure 7 includes steam generation that requires high quality BFW. A prior art steam generation facility 30 includes a water treatment unit 1 and steam generation unit 2. The discharged water from the water treatment plant and from the steam generation facility 10 are injected directly to a Direct Contact Steam Generator facility 15, where the discharged water is subjected to a pressurized hot combustion gas. The hot gases are generated from the combustion of carbon-based fuel 14 and oxidizing gas 13. Dry solids, or semi-dry solids 16 in slurry form are removed from the produced gas flow 17. The discharged solids 16 can be disposed of efficiently in a landfill or at the excavation site where the solids can be covered and re-claimed by nature. Gas flow 17 contains hot combustion, non-condensable gas and steam from the water that was converted to steam, possibly with some carried-on solid remnants. The gas 17 is washed in vessel 20 through direct contact with saturated water 21. During this stage, additional steam is generated. Make-up water 22 is continually added. The water can include lime and additional alkalis to remove gas contaminants like S02. A saturated, solids free steam non-condensed gas mixture 18 is generated. The heat and water from stream 18 is recovered in vesse123 with direct heat exchange with recycled water 23. The recycled water 26 flows through liquid-liquid heat exchanger 25, with the BFW 19 (from the steam generation facility). The heated BFW 32 is used in the steam generation facility. The recovered liquid condensed water 31is recycled back to the water treatment facility 1, for further treatment before it can be fed into the steam generation facility 2 and heated in heat exchanger 25. The remaining Non Condensable Gas, with some carry-on water vapor 24, can be released to the atmosphere. Or it can be sent to undergo further treatment, like C02 sequestration. The produced steam 7, from the steam generation facility 2 can be used for underground injection as in EOR, to heat water and separate bitumen from oilsand slurry.

FIGURE 8 is a schematic view of an integrated facility of the present invention with a commercially available steam generation facility and EOR for heavy oil production. The steam for EOR is generated using a lime softener based water treatment plant and OTSG (Once Through Steam Generator) steam generation facility. This type of configuration is most common in EOR done in Alberta. It is obtained from deep oil sand formations using SAGD or CSS.
Produced water 3, is broken down inside separator facility to oi14 and water 5. There are many methods of separating the bitumen from the water. The most common one uses gravity. Light hydrocarbons can be added to the product to improve the separation process.
The water, with some oil remnants, flows to a produced water de-oiling facility 6. In this facility, de-oiling polymers are added. Waste water, with oil and solids, is rejected from the de-oiling facility 6. In a traditional system, the waste water would be recycled or disposed of in deep injection wells.
The de-oiled water 10 is injected into warm lime softener 12, where lime, magnesium oxide and other softening chemicals are added 8. The softener generates sludge 13. In a standard facility, the sludge is disposed of in landfill. The sludge is semi-wet and hard to stabilize. The softened water 14 flows to a filter, 15, where filter waste is generated 16. The waste is sent to an ion-exchange package 19, where regeneration chemicals 18 are continually used and rejected with carry-on water as waste 20. In a standard system, the treated water 21, flows to an OTSG where approximately 80% quality steam is generated 27. The OTSG typically uses natural gas 25 and air 26 to generate steam. The flue gas is released to the atmosphere through stack 24. Its saturated steam pressure is around 100bar and the temperature is slightly greater than 300C. The steam is separated in separator 28, to generate 100% steam 29 for EOR and blow-down water 30.
The blow down water can be used as a heat source and also to generate low pressure steam. The steam, 29 is delivered to pads, where it is processed and injected to the ground through injection well 53. The production well 54 produces an emulsion of water and bitumen 3.
In some EOR

facilities, injection and production occur in the same well, where the steam is 80% quality steam 27 . The steam is then injected to the well with the water. This is typical of the CSS pads.
The reject streams include the blow down water from OTSG 33, as well as the oily waste water, solids and polymer remnants from the produced water de-oiling unit. This also includes sludge 13 from the lime softener, filtrate waste 16 from the filters and regeneration waste from the Ion-Exchange system 20. The reject streams are collected 33 and injected to Direct Contact Steam Generation 34. Additional water 32, from any available water source, can be added. The energy source can be a gas, liquid, solid, carbon or hydrocarbon - based fuel 36 and oxidizing gas, (like air) 35. The DCSG can be vertical, stationary, horizontal or rotating, as schematically drafted in scheme 34. Dry solids 37 are discharged from the DCSG, after most of the liquid water is converted to steam. The combustion gas and steam 38 temperature can vary between 120C to 300C. The pressure can vary between lbar to 50 bar. The solid lean gas is injected into vessel 41, where the gas is washed with saturated water 42 to remove the solids remnants.
The water can include lime to remove sulfur gas. Make-up water 47, can be added to the vessel 47. Solid rich water, possibly with gypsum (generated from the reaction between the sulfur and the lime), is continually removed from the bottom of vessel 41. It is recycled back to the DCSG, where the solids are removed in dry or semi-dry form 37. The liquid water is converted back to steam 38.
The solid - free saturated steam and combustion gases 43 flow to a second vessel 45. In this vessel, the steam condensates to liquid water 44. Then, it is cooled due to direct contact heat exchange with the BFW (Boiler Feed Water). Water 21 is generated by the water treatment facility 1 and partially by the ion-exchange system 19. The heated water, 22 can be sent back as pre-heated BFW to the OTSG, to generate 80% quality steam. Or, it can be recycled back to water treatment facility 40, where it is added to de-oiled produced water 10.

FIGURE 9 is a schematic view of an integrated facility with a commercially available steam generation facility 1, for open mining at oilsand facility 60. The steam for the bitumen extraction is generated with commercially available boilers 17, that include steam and mud drums. The water for steam generation is produced using a standard, commercially available water treatment facility that is based on ion exchange and polishers. Raw water 3 flows to de-mineralized water clarifier and filter 2. The filtered water 6, flows to cation reactor and de-gasifier 7. The water flows to anion reactor 11. From the anion reactor, it goes to a mixed bed polisher 14, to generate de-mineralized BFW quality water 16. Chemicals arecontinually supplied during the process, to remove minerals. In the process, reject and backwash water is continually generated 5, 9, 12, 15.
The reject water contains minerals and water treatment chemicals. The reject water is collected and injected to the vertical up-flow, cold fluid bed, direct contact steam generator 30. Fuel 27 and oxidizer are injected to the bottom of fluidized bed steam generator 30.
The water 26 is sprayed into the steam generator 30, above the combustion zone. The sprayed water is composed of: water treatment facility 1 reject water, boiler blow-down water 22 and reject water 47 from oilsand mine extraction facility 60. The reject water includes tailing water and possibly hydrocarbon contaminants. The liquid water is converted to steam and carries most of the solids upwards, where they are discharged at the top of the vessel, as a solid - rich stream of gas 31.
Some of the cooler discharged gas, at a temperature range of 150C-400C, is recycled back to the bottom of the vertical steam generator 30, to maintain the cold fluid bed below the combustion zone. It reduces the temperature and increases the up-flow stream in vessel 30. Solids 36 are removed in dry form from the solid - rich gas flow 33. The solid lean gas flow 35, is washed in tower 38 with saturated water to remove any solid remnants. Sulfur gas can be removed as well with the use of lime. After most of the solids have been removed, the solid rich water is recycled back to steam generator 30. Make-up water is added to vessel 38, to maintain saturated liquid water level. The saturated stream of steam and NCG 40 flows to vessel 42, where heat is recovered using direct - contact cold water circulation 43. The recovered heat goes in through liquid heat exchanger 44. The heat increases the temperature of the treated BFW (Boiler Feed Water) in steam generation facility 1. The heated BFW temperature can be in the range of 70C-200C, depending on the partial steam pressure of vessel 42. The heated BFW 23 is fed to the boiler steam generator 17, to generate high pressure steam for oil sand mine and bitumen extraction facility 60.

FIGURE 10 is a schematic view of the integrated facility of the present invention for open mine oilsand extraction plant 60, using commercially available steam generation facilities and a gasifier for syngas generation. The steam for bitumen extraction can be generated using a commercially available boiler 12, an OTSG 20 or a gasifier 54. The steam boiler 12 and the gasifier 54 generate steam from BFW water 9. The steam is used for heating purposes, through heat exchangers in a close cycle. This minimizes the size of the heat treatment facility 1 required to generate high quality BFW, as it will have to produce only start-up and make-up water. The water treatment plant 1 for the generation of BFW is commercially available in a package. The water 2, for production of BFW in the water treatment package is fresh water (not processed water from bitumen extraction 60). For example, river water can be used without oil traces. The BFW 16 is fed to the steam boiler 12 facility. Some of the BFW 11 is fed to the gasifier unit 54.
The produced steam 15 from the steam boiler 12 and from the gasifier 55 is fed to oil extraction plant 60, to heat the processed water. The condensed water 17 is recycled back from oilsand plant 60, as a BFW to be re-used at the boiler 12 and the gasifier 54. The oilsand extraction facility requires processed steam, as well. The processed steam is used in direct contact with the process flow. For example, for froth de-aeration or for flashing out light carbons and diluent.
The steam generated through OTSG can use much lower quality water than boiler 12 and gasifier 54. The generated 80% steam 29, is separated in separator 30 to generate 100%
steam 31 and blow-down water 18. The 100% steam and the blow-down water 18 are both used in the oilsand open mine facility 60. The blow-down water 18 is mixed with process water, from facility 60, with the pressure dropping to generate processed hot water at 80-90C for tar separation. Some processed water 19 from facility 60 can be sent to water treatment plant 24.
The use of fresh water, 27 instead of the processed water 19, is preferable to reduce the water treatment plant 24 requirements, as it eliminates the oil removal stage. The water treatment plant is tailor - made to the quality of the source water. If fresh river water w as used, the plant, 24 would be very simple, as the OTSG can use this type of water with minimum treatment (I.e.-filtering, oxygen removal and adding anti scaling additives). If the water used by the water treatment plant is processed water, then the water treatment system 24, will be similar to a typical water treatment plant used in EOR facilities, like SAGD, described in Fig. 8. The gasifier 54, can be any type that is commercially - available. The use of a gasifier, with a water quenching bath is preferable. That is because the integration of gasifier 54 with DCSG (Direct Contact Steam Generation) 46 eliminates the problem of treating the "black" and "grey" water 45. This is because the gasifier quenching water 45, is converted to steam and the solids are discharged in a dry form and are ready for landfill. Water - quenching gasifiers were developed by Texaco from the 1950'. Currently, they are available from GE. The gasifier, 54 uses oxygen enriched gas 56 and carbon fuel 57. The carbon fuel can be petcoke or coal slurry. In the gasifier, the exothermic reaction heat generates high pressure steam 55 from BFW 11. The pressurized hot discharged syngas 47, flows to DCSG 46, where it is mixed with solid rich water to generate a stream of gas 44, with dry solid discharge 48. The water injected to the DCSG 46 may be the solid rich quenching water from gasifier 54, the concentrated fine tailing water 43 from the oilsand bitumen extraction facility 60. It can also be the recycled saturated water 42. The solids are discharged from the DCSG through pressure chambers 50 and 51, to reduce the atmospheric pressure. Heat exchanger 49 can be used to recover heat from the discharged solids. The solid lean gas flow 44 is treated in vessel 40, where the solid remnants are scrubbed from the gas flow.
The liquid water in vessel 40 is saturated so that additional steam is continually generated. Make-up water, 41 is added to vessel 40, to generate a saturated stream of solid -free syngas and steam 39. The heat and water is recovered from the saturated stream 39 in vessel 37.
This is done through direct contact between the treated water 25 and the up-flow saturated gas 39 in vessel 37. The steam is converted to water and washed from the syngas, generating cooler and dryer syngas 36 and hot water 28, that is used in the OTSG 20 to generate 80% steam.
To avoid the direct use of the water that recovers the heat from the syngas in the OTSG, a heat exchanger can be added (not shown). The syngas is treated using various commercially -available methods in facility 35. Sulfur, mainly H2S can be removed from the syngas. Hydrogen can be generated for use in oil upgrading. The sweet syngas 34, composed mainly of CO, may be used to replace natural gas as the fuel source in the OTSG 20 and steam boiler 12. It can also be used to generate electricity and steam in a co-generation facility (not shown).

FIGURE 11 is a schematic view of the invention, with an open mine oilsand extraction facility, where the hot process water for the ore preparation is generated from condensing the steam generated from the fine tailings. A typical mine and extraction facility is briefly described in block diagram 1(See "Past, Present and Future Tailings, Tailing Experience at Albian Sands Energy" presentation by Jonathan Matthews from Shell Canada Energy on December 8, 2008 at the International Oil Sands Tailings Conference in Edmonton, Alberta). Mined Oil sand feed is transferred in trucks to an ore preparation facility, where it is crushed in a semi-mobile crusher 3. It is also mixed with hot water 57 in a rotary breaker 5. Oversize particles are rejected and removed to landfill. The ore mix goes through slurry conditioning, where it is pumped through a special pipe line 7. Cheniicals and air are added to the ore slurry 8. In the invention, the NCG
(Non Condensed Gas) 58 that are released under pressure from tower 56 can replace the injected air at 8 to generate aerated slurry flow. The conditioned aerated slurry flow is fed into the bitumen extraction facility, where it is injected into a Primary Separation Ce119. To improve the separation, the slurry is recycled through floatation cells 10. Oversized particles are removed through a screen 12, in the bottom of the separation cell. From the flotation cells, the coarse and fine tailing are separated in separator 13. The fine tailing flows to thickener 18. To improve the separation in the thickener, flocculant is added 17. Recycled water 16 is recovered from the thickener and fine tailings are removed from the bottom of thickener 18. The froth is removed from the Primary Separation Cell 9, to vessel 21. In this vessel, steam 14 is injected to remove air and gas from the froth. The recovered froth is maintained in a Froth Storage Tank 23. The steam can be produced in a standard high pressure steam boiler 40, in OTSG or by a COGEN, using the temperature in a gas turbine tail (not shown). The boiler consumes fuel gas 38 and air 39. The coarse tailings 15 and the fine tailings 19 are removed to tailing processing area 60. The fine and coarse tailings can be combined or removed separately (not shown) to the tailing process area 60. In unit 60, the sand and other large solid particles are removed and then put back into the mine, or stored in stack-piles. Liquid flow is separated into 3 different flows, mostly differing in their solid concentration. A relatively solids - free flow 62 is heated. This flow is used as heated process water 57 in the ore preparation facility, for generation of the oilsand slurry 6. The fine tailing stream separates into two sub streams. The most concentrated fine tailings 51 are mixed with dry solids generated by the DCSG, to generate a solid and stable substrate material that can be put back into the mine and support traffic. The medium concentrated fine tailing stream 61 flows to DCSG facility 50. Fuel 46 and oxidizing gas 47 are used in the facility to generate a hot combustion gas. The combustion can be at full or partial combustion (like in a gasifier). Some of the combustion energy in facility 50 can be used to generate "standard" steam in an heat exchanger (like in a boiler or gasifier with a radiation heat exchange section). The discharged combustion gas energy is used to convert the fine tailing 61 water into a dry or semi dry solid and gas stream. The temperature of the discharged solid - rich gas can vary from 150C to 400C. The solids are separated from the gas stream in any commercial available facility 45. This facility can include: cyclone separators, centrifugal separators, mesh separators, electrostatic separators or other combination technologies. The solids lean gas 52 flows into tower 56. The gas flows up into the tower through a set of trays, while the solid carried-on remnants are scrubbed from the up flowing gas through direct contact with the liquid water. The water vapor that was generated from heating the fine tailing in the DCSG becomes condensed and is added to the down-flowing extraction water process 57. The presence of small amounts of remaining solids in the hot process water is acceptable. That is because the hot water is mixed with the crushed oilsand 3 in the breaker during ore preparation.
The temperature of the discharged hot water 57 is in between 70C-95C, typically in the 80C-90C range. The hot water is supplied to the ore preparation facility. The separated dry solids from the DCSG are mixed with the concentrated slurry flow from the tailing water separation facility 60. They are used to generate stable solid waste that can be returned to the oilsand mine.
Any commercial available mixing method can be used in the process: a rotating mixer, Z type mixer , screw mixer, extruder or any other commercially available mixer. The slurry 51 can be pumped to the mixing location, while the dry solids can be transported pneumatically to the mixing location. The NCG (Non Condensed Gases) 58, that were not condensed by the process water are discharged from the top of the tower 56. It replaces the air and can be injected into the slurry at 8 for aeration. It can also be expanded on a turbo expander to recover excess energy.
Further, it can b treated to remove gas fractions (like recover C02 for EOR or sequestration).
Otherwise it can just be released to the atmosphere. The described arrangement, where the fine tailing are separated into 2 streams 61 and 51, is intended to maximized the potential of the process to recober MFF. It is meant to maximized the convertion of fine tailings into solid waste for each weight unit of the supplied fuel source. The system can work in the manner described for tailing pond water recovery. The tailing pond water is condensed into hot water generation 57, without the combination of the dry solids 53 and tailing slurry 51. The generated dry solids 53 are a "water starving" dry material. As such, they are effective in the process of drying MFT
(Mature Fine Tailing), to generate trafficable solid material without relying on weather conditions to dry excess water. The water affinity of the dry solid composite released from the DCSG 50 is dependent on its composition and particle size. The most effective water affinity material are solids that, with the presence of water, create crystals with water molecules. The gypsum belongs to this group of materials. If highly sulfurous material fuel is used in the DCSG
(like petcoke), lime can be added to remove the S02 and generate gypsum. The gypsum will lose its crystal water when it undergoes the high temperatures inside the DCSG, as its water will be converted to steam. This will improve the efficiency of the capability of the dry discharged solids to solidify a MFT slurry to a stage where it can carry traffic. (See U.S.
Patent No. 6,960,308 called "Endothermic Heat Shield Composition And Method For The Preparation Thereof' issued to the inventor on November 1, 2005).

FIGURE 12 is a schematic view of the invention, with an open mine oilsand extraction facility, where the hot process water for the ore preparation is generated from condensing the steam produced from the fine tailings. As shown in Fig. 11, a typical mine and extraction facility is briefly described in a block diagram. The tailing water from the oilsand mine facility 1 is disposed of in a tailing pond. The tailing ponds are built in such a way that the sand tailings are used to build the containment areas for the fine tailings. The tailing sources come from Extraction Process. They include the cyclone underflow tailings 13, mainly coarse tailings and the fine tailings from the thickener 18, where flocculants are added to enhance the solid settling and recycling of warm water . Another source of fine tailings are the Froth Treatment Tailings, where the tailings are discarded by the solvent recovery process, characterized by high fines content, relatively high asphaltene content and residual solvent. (See "Past, Present and Future Tailings, Tailing Experience at Albian Sands Energy" a presentation by Jonathan Matthews from Shell Canada Energy on December 8, 2008 at the International Oil Sands Tailings Conference in Edmonton, Alberta). A Sand dyke 55 contains tailing pond. The sand separates from the tailing and generates a sand beach 56. Fine tailings 57 are put above the sand beach at the middle-low section of the tailing pond. Some fine tailings are trapped in the sand beach 56. On top of the fine tailing is the recycled water layer 58. The tailing concentration increases with depth. Close to the bottom of the tailing layer are the MFT (Mature Fine Tailings). (See "The Chemistry of Oil Sands Tailings: Production to Treatment" presentation by R.J. Mikula, V.A.
Munoz, O.E.
Omotoso, and K.L. Kasperski of CanmetENERGY, Devon, Alberta, Natural Resources Canada on December 8, 2008 at the International Oil Sands Tailings Conference in Edmonton, Alberta).
The recycled water 41 is pumped from a location close to the surface of the tailing pond, (typically from a floating barge). The fine tailings that are used for generating steam and solid waste in my invention are MFT. They are pumped from the deep areas of the fine tailings 43.
Fuel 48 and oxidizing gas 49 are injected in a DCSG. MFT (Mature Fine Tailing) 43 is pumped from the lower section of the tailing pond and is then directed to the DCSG
50. The DCSG
described in figure 12 is a horizontal, counter flow rotating DCSG. However, any available DCSG that can transfer the MFT to gas and solids can be used as well. Under the heat and pressure inside the DCSG, the MFT turn into gas and solids, as the water converts to steam. The solids are recovered in a dry form or in a semi-dry, semi-solid slurry form 51. The semi-dry slurry form is stable enough to be sent back into the oilsand mine without the need for further drying tosupport traffic. The produced steam 14, needed for extraction and froth treatment, is generated by a standard steam generation facility 36 from BFW 37, fuel gas 38 and air 39. The blow-down water 20 can be recycled to the process water 20. By continually consuming the fine tailing water 43, the oil sand mine facility can use a much smaller tailing pond as a means of separating the recycled water from the fine tailing. This is cost effective and it is the simplest way to do so, as it does not involve any moving parts (in contrast to the centrifuge or thickening facilities). This solution will allow for the creation of a sustainable, fully recyclable water solution for the open mine oilsand facilities.

FIGURE 13 is a schematic view of gasifier unit and an open mine oilsand extraction facility, where the hot process water is heated in direct contact with the syngas. In this figure, the MFT
33 is not converted into steam and solid, but is just mixed with the dry solids generated by the system 15. Gasifier 5, with water quenching bath at its bottom generates HP
steam 3, from BFW
4 that is supplied from water treatment plant (not shown). The gasifier generates syngas from partial combustion of low grade fuel, like petcoke or coal 1. The hot syngas is mixed with water in an up-flow direct contact steam generator 10. ( Refer to U.S. provisional patent application 61/092,668, filed by the inventor on August 28, 2008). The dry solid particles are removed from the gas flow with cyclone and electrostatic separator 16. The solid lean syngas stream flows to vessel 23, where it is mixed in direct contact with cold extraction water 27 to heat the water to 80C-90C. The hot process water 24 is used in the ore preparation facility 40.
The dry solids 15, generated by gasifier 5 are mixed with MFT 33 that is pumped. It is removed from the tailing pond to generate stable material that can be used to support traffic. In the process, water from the MFT is not recovered. Instead, it is used to generate steam or hot process water. This arrangement is less effective in recovering MFT, but much easier to implement.

FIGURE 14 is a schematic view of the invention, with open mine oilsand extraction facility, where the hot process water for the ore preparation is generated from condensing the steam generated from the fine tailings. The tailing water from the oilsand mine facility 43 is disposed of in a tailing pond. Fuel 3, possibly petcoke, coal or asphaltin slurry and oxidizer 4 (like air) are fed into and combusted inside a horizontal parallel flow DCSG 1. Concentrated MFT 2 is injected to the DCSG, as well. The MFT is converted to gas, steam , and solids. The solids are removed in a solid gas separation 7 where the solid lean stream is washed in tower 10 by saturated water. In the tower, the solids are washed out and removed. S02 can be removed from the saturated water with lime. The solid rich discharge flow 13 can be recycled back to the DCSG or to the tailing pond. The amount of heat recovery is limited while maintaining heat exchanger 17 at a reasonable size. Heat is recovered from saturated gas 16.
Steam is condensed to water 20. The recovered heat can be used for pre-heating the BFW (not shown) or for use in any other process. The condensed water 20 can be used as hot process water and can be added to the flow 24. The remaining heat is recovered and water vapor is washed. It becomes liquid water in vessel 21 because of direct contact with cold process water 25. The NCG 36 can be used as part of the process for slurry aeration (not shown). The fine tailings 32 are pumped from the tailing pond and separated into two flows by a centrifugal process 14. This unit separates the fine tailing into two components: solid rich 30 and solid lean 33 flow. The centrifuge unit is commercially available and was tested successfully in two field pilots (See "The Past, Present and Future of Tailings at Syncrude" presentation by Alan Fair from Syncrude on December 7-10, 2008 at the International Oil Sands Tailings Conference in Edmonton, Alberta).
The solid lean flow can contain less than 1% solids. The solid rich flow is thick slurry ("cake") that contains more than 60% solids. The solid lean flow is recycled back to a settling basin (not shown) and eventually used as a process water 35. The solid concentration is not dry enough to be disposed of efficiently and to support traffic. This can be solved ( shown in my invention) through mixing it with the "water starving", virtually dry solids generated by the DCSG and discharged from the gas-solid separator. The mixing of the dry solids and the thick slurry can be achieved through many commercially available methods. In this particular figure, the mixture loaded with the stable solids for disposal on a truck 28. This is done by a screw conveyer 29 where the slurry 30 and the dry material 8 are added to the bottom of a screw conveyor and mixed by the screw. The produced solid material 27 can be backfilled into the oilsand mine excavation site. In this particular figure, there are two options for supplying the fine tailing water to the DCSG. One is to supply the solid rich thick slurry 30 from the centrifuge unit 31. The other is to provide the "conventional" MFT, typically with 30% solids, as pumped from the settlement pond. For option 1, the overall amount of recovered MFr will be larger, while the heat efficiency and the amount of heat recovered from each ton of fuel will be smaller (vice versa for option 2).

FIGURE 15 is a schematic view of the invention, with an open mine oilsand extraction facility, where the heat source is a gasifier with maximization of the MFT recovery. The partial combustion is taking place inside the gasifier. The hot syngas 5 flows to the horizontal parallel flow DCSG 1. Concentrated MFT 2, is injected to the DCSG, as well. The MFT is converted to gas, mainly steam, and solids 6. The solids 8 are removed in a solid gas separation 7. The solid lean stream flows through heat exchanger 11, where it heats the process water 12 indirectly through a heat exchanger. Sour condensing water 13 is removed from the bottom for further treatment. The syngas 17 is further treated. This treatment can include the removal of the H2S in an amine plant. It can also include generating hydrogen and CO based gas to replace the natural gas (not shown). The fine tailings 14 are pumped from the tailing pond and separated into two flows through a specific separation process. This separation can be based on a centrifuge or on a thickener, (like a High Compression Thickener). This unit separates the fine tailings into solid rich 16 and solid lean 2 flows. The solid lean flow is fed into the DCSG 1 where dry solids are generated and removed from the gas-solid separator. The solid rich flow 16 is mixed with the dry solids 8 in a screw conveyor, to generate a stable material 27.

FIGURE 16 is a schematic view of the invention, with an open mine oilsand extraction facility, where the hot processed water for the ore preparation is generated from condensation of the steam generated from the fine tailings. The tailing water from the oilsand mine facility 43 is disposed in a tailing pond. Fuel 5, (possibly petcoke, coal or asphaltin slurry and air 6) is injected and combusted inside a horizontal counter flow DCSG 7. MFT flow 9 is injected to the DCSG. The MFT is converted to gas, mainly steam, and solids. The solids are removed directly from the DCSG. The solid lean discharge stream 10 is washed in tower 13 by saturated water. In the tower, the solids are washed out and removed. S02 is removed by lime. The solid - rich discharge flow 11 with the generated gypsum is recycled back to the DCSG 7.
The saturated gas 15 flows to vessel 20, where it is mixed with the cold process water 22 recycled from the tailing pond. The generated hot water is used in ore preparation unit 40. The pressurized NCG from vessel 20 can be used in the process (not shown) or expanded on a turbo expander 18 to recover part of the energy used for compressing the oxidizing air 18. The fine tailings 25 are pumped from the tailing pond and separated into two flows by a centrifuge process.
This unit separates the fine tailings into solid rich flow 9 and solid lean flow. The centrifuge unit is commercially available. The solid lean flow is recycled back to process water 22. The solid concentrated flow 9 is mixed with the dry solids 4 to generate stable disposal material.

FIGURE 17 is a schematic view of the invention, with an open mine oilsand extraction facility, where the hot process water for the ore preparation is generated from condensing the steam generated from the fine tailing through a heat exchanger. Fuel 3 and oxidizer 4 are mixed and combusted inside a horizontal parallel flow DCSG 1. MFT 2 is injected to the DCSG as well.
The MFT is converted to gas, mainly steam, and solids. The solids are removed in a solid gas separation 7. The solid lean stream is washed in tower 10 by discharged fine tailing water from the oilsand extraction facility. This tailing water collects the heat from the up-flow gas and the condensed saturated water 17. The hot tailing water 13 exchanges heat with heat exchanger 12, where the water heats the cold process water while cooling the tailing water.
The cooled tailing water 15 is directed to the tailing pond where its acidity (especially due to the S02 gas generated by the fuel combustion) might accelerate the steeling time for the fine tailings, thus decreasing the tailing pond size. The hot process water is used for the ore preparation.
The pressurized NCG
17 is used for aeration of the slurry.

EXAMPLE 1: The following flow table is a simulation of a rotating direct -contact steam generator, as described in FIG. 14 for 50bar pressure. The simulated flow shows the flow 6 being discharged from the pressurized rotating drum. The heat source is coal slurry, internally combusted. The water source is settlement pond water. The discharged steam, flue gas and solids mixture is described in the following table:

Cmrka~ CoIJ'icxj~] IReactar_GUtletClut IX-01Sn0 r+~ rnkr-c oaoo30 021 V~Ff~C 1) 9135J3 r s f~ ora7~ D.oo 0.00 T [L,, 400.0t7~ILJ~Q.~IOFIGE . . .. 0.00804' 4.39 _, .. ..... :=na.t[~In OCC>a47 025 lkpd] 5555.00 rrrRacU+vCtAVlLFE o.aoazi oai hb!2F~~r ~k niDe h] 545.42 ,ae W., s,nFr aami4 ocse . ., -wr~r.S~1F'17E O.W OAGS
N1dSSFj> [kg,h] 11722.72 r-l-Fn.,L a_oo ono ..... . E'rti.f3:r . . D06aD0 Vokr.~flow{m3tr) 504.5iy F1~wre oiro oai `,t t3q~loY n~F 6 v[m3,Fr] 12. fi- , wrnnF ! Dno ~.oim 0.70 StdCc75VCY ntflow (5 ,C.,^'C'] 3.i~11E+5 u.FU, u:arõoE 0.100129 r ~:,cs G qcuC~/+7 '' E~;G3~T
WAT[it 0 ~3[e2 eskw 351-Er#~-"g}[W"] 3~+I suz~~ ~lo;rx 012129 2495.79.. ... tpP^J "7FY1 Xt[~ 0.00658 77,17 H[k.akral] 250~.i v ~ 01OW38 3915z o ooo>.
S [r ~k.m~ ] '39.A7o ar GY,4 ooo2ov;zs.9~~le Ulah'el~t 21 av ~c 3Z=~ 0.000766 exõ rrF s,a,~ 000 000 ~es~ars }[ ~ m't 23.2331 yaMa, Hrk:JC~ 00085z 100:a2 {,~~ oxL~E '. _.. 0 002292682 ~-Rl(~K-yn~JE~] 313.Gi~ 90 1 (/ZCN7RKikIpF oO09824476.
? amalCLr~a vi y[~1~ Fr,:] 0 0 7 5 ~ okl ^CI t' lL rcs - xJEe 0.00072 sai y( .
. p"mx',a"r-,-.[IF 000 D00 Ji6+;CO [NS, t ... 3.2892E+'2i 5Y I,~LI~MOKICE 0.000% 6Z3 ,r ]ll'..:.-.. I =.IDt 002248. 26356 f(~J!3fV ~fA3,l-A~] ... 0.915 M4~CN1A . _ 0,00037 .. . 4.34 FeC Lr ~ G'~G ~o-a cr~ cr11onL1- P.oooa~. 3tD5 ( fy~~.~yy7 c;r?ECn: 'Anr:Dr .. .. 0 a0039 462 _.~._ . u M . ~t;~r=:E O oU.
WR HR 0.87201 475b2 0 .00 ET,,,,Q*~ Om o.m CAF 10J DIOk1Dt 0.10397 56.71 E r~>_ ooa r,m PF IP"I^,E O.OU ODO
l./~L' a~J 4~x)DE , . . 0.00505. 2:76 rrvkuJTRtf , . ... 000'. OAO
41FD O .~383 4492 0)fL~ad 0.00227 1_24 _ Sk.tV,w- 1;~WI0..,.
HYIFS~C`rh 0.00108 0.59 W;'E o.a9~~s e s7~
Cp7B"74 GIUwGE 0.24939 3.OSR
rRC,CTV 0.D011 0b0 "ParJ+k a r;:rGe ; o.o20660253 J[Tk~~C~TJ 0 00059 0.32 ~~ "L' o Oo7x a.c~av , .. .... . HVLJRCK~N . ... 000? QA37 ctar,~F~~oal` 000 0,00 AF,`s' o.00361 oow . ~J:r2R7~J = CtCU229 OD28gAL MIPlJP!Oxi~ 0.00181 0:~ 000. o.am FL~l' f 1011DE 0AQ086 0,48 ~ n lrx , a,. ,~ o.m19s on24 DdJJB

EXAMPLE 2: The following graph is a simulation of the system pressure impact on the performance of the process described in Fig. 2. The variable is the system pressure. The heated process water 9 is at a temperature of 90C. The graph is for the combustion of 1000kg/hour of petcoke as fuel in air. The pressure is in bar. The conclusion drawn from the simulation graph is that the optimal pressure for that particular system is in the range of 10bar.
Beyond that , the pressure of the recovery efficiency increases slightly, but the facility TIC
(Total Installed Cost) and operation costs will increase dramatically due to the high pressure.

................................ . . . ................. . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . ................ . . . . . ............... .................
......................................... . . . . . .......... . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . .
90C Water Yield vs. P
12000a ..;_...... .

zooooc _;._........_. .................. .............. ....................
.:.................................... _._................. ._ ................................ ...........................
........_._........... ..
aoooe . ............ . ..............._ GOOOC

2000C .... .... ..... ............ .. . .............. .............. .......
.........
e 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 .

EXAMPLE 3: The following results show the simulation of a hot water generation system, as described in figure 12. The system pressure is 10bar. The simulation balance was done for 1 ton/hour of petcoke. Flow S-1 on the spreadsheet is stream 43 on figure 12 and it is MFT with 23% solid concentration. Flow S-3 is flow 48 on figure 12 and it is petcoke fuel. Flow S-2 is flow 49 on figure 12 and it is the combustion gas (air). Flow S-6 is flow 47 on figure 12 and it is the discharged gas and steam stream from the DCSG. The discharged gas during the simulation was about 300C. The discharged gas temperature could change the amount of MFT
converted to hot water and solid waste per each ton of fuel (or per each ton of generated hot process water).
Reducing the DCSG discharged gas temperature will increase the amount of MFT
43 consumed by the DCSG. Stream S-7 is stream 51 on figure 12. 90% of the MFT solids are removed through S-7 where the rest carry on to S-6. It is expected that the discharged solids will include some water, however, to simplify the simulation it is assumed that all the water evaporates. Stream S-8 is the cold process water supplied from the tailing pond 41. It is assumed that the tailing pond recycled water is at 20C. Stream S-10 is the generated hot process water. The heated process water temperature is 90C.

The bottom-line is that the simulation results show that for each one ton/hour of combusted petcoke, about 100ton/hour of 90C heated process water is generated. About 12ton/hour of MFT
are converted to process hot water and dry solids. This does not include the additional MFT that can be removed by mixing the generated "water starving" dry solids from the DCSG with additional MFT or even with dewatered centrifuge MFT "cake".

s-1 5-3 (thtATEfl) S-2 (ARC) (FUEL) S5S-6 S-7 5-8 S-10 T,C 20.00 25.00 25.00 299.73 299.73 29933 20.00 89.98 Enthalpy.MlJh 165005.00 -97.30 0.00 165103.70 152754,60 -12349.13 1467370.00 1580274.00 Mass Flowrate, kg/h 12311.00 12527.84 1000A0 25838.84 23281.94 2556,90 92300.00 101463.90 H20 4470.00 0.00 0.00 947000 9470.00 0.00 92300.00 101179.80

Claims (2)

1. A method for the reuse of solids rich water like fine tailing for extracting bitumen from shallow underground oil sand formations comprising the steps of:

mixing hot combustion gas with fine tailing water under pressure;
gasifying the liquid water to gas phase comprising steam and solids;
removing the solids from the gas phase;

mixing the gas with process water in direct contact to condense the steam and recover the gas heat; and using the generated hot water for extraction the bitumen from the oilsand.

2. A method for the reuse of solids rich water like lime softeners sludge for extracting bitumen from oil sand formations comprising the steps of:

mixing hot combustion gas with softeners water sludge under pressure;
gasifying the liquid water to gas phase comprising steam and solids;
removing the solids from the gas phase;

mixing the gas phase with saturated water to scrub the remaining solids and produce saturated steam;

recycling the solid rich saturated water and mixing it with the combustion gases to convert the liquids to gas; and condensing the saturated steam to generate heat and clean condensed water for steam generation.
using the hot condensed water for steam generation.
injecting the steam into underground formation for EOR.