CA2882609A1 - Removal of residual bitumen from oil sands tailings - Google Patents
Removal of residual bitumen from oil sands tailings Download PDFInfo
- Publication number
- CA2882609A1 CA2882609A1 CA2882609A CA2882609A CA2882609A1 CA 2882609 A1 CA2882609 A1 CA 2882609A1 CA 2882609 A CA2882609 A CA 2882609A CA 2882609 A CA2882609 A CA 2882609A CA 2882609 A1 CA2882609 A1 CA 2882609A1
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- Canada
- Prior art keywords
- bitumen
- biochar
- tailings
- absorbent
- absorbed
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- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B01—PHYSICAL OR CHEMICAL PROCESSES OR APPARATUS IN GENERAL
- B01D—SEPARATION
- B01D15/00—Separating processes involving the treatment of liquids with solid sorbents; Apparatus therefor
-
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B01—PHYSICAL OR CHEMICAL PROCESSES OR APPARATUS IN GENERAL
- B01J—CHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROCESSES, e.g. CATALYSIS OR COLLOID CHEMISTRY; THEIR RELEVANT APPARATUS
- B01J20/00—Solid sorbent compositions or filter aid compositions; Sorbents for chromatography; Processes for preparing, regenerating or reactivating thereof
- B01J20/22—Solid sorbent compositions or filter aid compositions; Sorbents for chromatography; Processes for preparing, regenerating or reactivating thereof comprising organic material
-
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B01—PHYSICAL OR CHEMICAL PROCESSES OR APPARATUS IN GENERAL
- B01J—CHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROCESSES, e.g. CATALYSIS OR COLLOID CHEMISTRY; THEIR RELEVANT APPARATUS
- B01J20/00—Solid sorbent compositions or filter aid compositions; Sorbents for chromatography; Processes for preparing, regenerating or reactivating thereof
- B01J20/28—Solid sorbent compositions or filter aid compositions; Sorbents for chromatography; Processes for preparing, regenerating or reactivating thereof characterised by their form or physical properties
- B01J20/28014—Solid sorbent compositions or filter aid compositions; Sorbents for chromatography; Processes for preparing, regenerating or reactivating thereof characterised by their form or physical properties characterised by their form
-
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B01—PHYSICAL OR CHEMICAL PROCESSES OR APPARATUS IN GENERAL
- B01J—CHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROCESSES, e.g. CATALYSIS OR COLLOID CHEMISTRY; THEIR RELEVANT APPARATUS
- B01J20/00—Solid sorbent compositions or filter aid compositions; Sorbents for chromatography; Processes for preparing, regenerating or reactivating thereof
- B01J20/30—Processes for preparing, regenerating, or reactivating
- B01J20/34—Regenerating or reactivating
- B01J20/3483—Regenerating or reactivating by thermal treatment not covered by groups B01J20/3441 - B01J20/3475, e.g. by heating or cooling
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- Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
- Analytical Chemistry (AREA)
- Chemical Kinetics & Catalysis (AREA)
- Organic Chemistry (AREA)
- Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
- Thermal Sciences (AREA)
- Production Of Liquid Hydrocarbon Mixture For Refining Petroleum (AREA)
Abstract
The present invention relates the recovery of residual bitumen from oil sands tailings. The residual bitumen appears to prevent consolidation of the tailings and its removal increases the rate of sedimentation. Processes are disclosed for the production of biochar, the mixing of biochar with oil sands tailings to absorb residual bitumen in the tailings, separation of the biochar from the tailings and the recovery of the absorbed bitumen through pyrolysis and subsequently reuse the biochar. The recovered bitumen is cracked into higher API gravity oil and is therefore a higher quality oil than the starting bitumen.
Description
Removal of Residual Bitumen From Oil Sands Tailings Background The Athabasca bituminous sand or oil sand deposits are presently being surfaced mined for oil extraction. Those deposits close to the surface are physically removed and the bitumen is extracted by making a slurry of oil sands and hot water. Two tonnes of oil sands are mined for each barrel of oil produced. Approximately 135,000 cubic metres of oil are recovered daily. Three times the volume of oil produced or 405,000 cubic meters of water are sent to tailings ponds where the fine material settles out over time. The tailings ponds are estimated to cover 180 square kilometers. The fine tailings produce a somewhat stable suspension that may take decades to consolidate.
Regulations are in effect that require the volume of fluid fine tailings be reduced and the ponds be ready for reclamation no longer than five years after the ponds cease to be in service.
Canberra (2008) suggests that the stable suspensions are largely the result of the residual bitumen content. The bitumen specific gravity is slightly less than that of water. The bitumen is viscous and once mixed with the sediments it is virtually locked into the sediments. The consolidation of fine sediments requires the migration of water out of the inter-particle voids. If the residual bitumen blocks the pore throats, water cannot move and the particles remain in suspension.
Diagram 1 shows the structure of fine tailings. The sand size fraction separates rapidly from the finer fraction is deposited in close to the tailings discharge point. Removal of some or all of the residual bitumen will therefore allow the pore water to migrate upwards and the sedimont to consolidate.
The amount of residual bitumen in the fine tailings varies between 0 and 5%.
The residual bitumen is an economic loss to the oil sands producer. Apart from the obvious loss of revenue from the sale of the oil, there is a costly environmental impact. Some free bitumen floats to the surface as the tailings are discharged into the ponds. Heavy fines have been levied against producers for allowing water fowl to land on the tailings ponds and become oil coated. Methane generated by the anaerobic decomposition of the residual bitumen contributes to the overall greenhouse gas emissions.
The volume of tailings produced per day is in the order of 400,000 cubic meters or approximately 62,000 imperial gallons per minute. Process upgrades have increased the bitumen recovery to between 90% and 100%. Therefore the amount of residual bitumen has decreased with increasing efficiency.
For the study conducted in connection with the present invention the residual bitumen content of the tailings was 0.57%. Given the volume of tailings produced, this small residual translates into approximately two cubic meter (12.6 bbl) of oil being discharged per minute.
There is therefore an economic and environmental reason to remove the remaining bitumen from the tailings. Faster consolidation extends the life of the pond as the volume will reduce faster. Since the inter pore water will be released, more water is available for recycling. Less bitumen should also reduce the amount of greenhouse gasses being released from the ponds.
If the residual bitumen is to be removed from the fine tailings, plant processes have to be installed to capture the bitumen prior to its release into the tailings ponds. Given the volume of water and bitumen being disposed of, any new process has to carefully consider the magnitude of the materials management issues. The novel approach in the present invention is to mix the tailings with a hydrophobic, organic based oil absorbent. The absorbent will capture some or all of the residual bitumen and then processed to recover the absorbed bitumen. The absorbent will then be available for reuse.
Brief Description of Disclosure The present invention provides a novel means of removing residual bitumen from oil sands tailings using biochar or a like hydrophobic, oleophillic absorbent. The hydrophobic, oleophillic biochar is mixed with the tailings and some or all of the residual bitumen is absorbed on the biochar. The absorbent particle size is large enough relative to the fine tailings to allow the absorbent and absorbed bitumen to be removed by a separator. The remaining water, fine particles and remaining unabsorbed bitumen are then sent to the tailings pond where the fines will compact at an increased rate because fewer pores are blocked by the bitumen droplets.
In a preferred form of the present invention, the absorbent is manufactured from organic material such as biomass. The biomass includes, but is not restricted to, forest and agricultural waste materials. The biomass is carbonized into biochar char in a reactor. The choice of reactor depends on the required mass of biochar required for the volume of tailings produced per unit time.
Typically biochar is manufactured at temperatures between 300 degrees centigrade to 600 degrees centigrade in an oxygen reduced atmosphere. The hot biochar may be either cooled and stored in silos or mixed immediately with the tailings. The ratio of biochar to tailings is set according to the desitred aborption of the bitumen. The example presented below uses 2.5% biochar by mass, relative to the mass of the fine tailings although higher ratios may be effective in removing more biochar.
The spent biochar is returned to the reactor where it is reheated to between 400 degrees and 600 degrees. The absorbed bitumen is cracked into lighter weight oil and recovered in a condenser. Most oil sands contain sulphur and prior to condensation of the hydrocarbon, a sulphur removal system may be required. The recarbonized bitumen is reused as an absorbent and the cracked hydrocarbon is stored in an appropriate tank or immediately transferred for blending into the ongoing bitumen recovery process.
Description of Drawings Drawing 1 shows an idealized sketch of a clay, silt and bitumen mixture. The void space is assumed to be full of water and any chemicals that have been entrained by the recovery process or otherwise.
Drawing 2 is a flow diagram of the process showing the process from the addition of wood chips to the reactor to the recovery of upgraded bitumen. A single reactor is used to both carbonize the biomass and recover the bitumen.
Drawing 3 shows a process whereby the biochar is produced separately from the recovery of the bitumen.
Drawing 4 shows the increased consolidation rate through the addition of biochar.
Detailed Description The embodiments of this invention will now be described with reference to Drawings 2 and 3 Wood chips from any source can be used. The size and geometry will be a function of the equipment used to prepare the wood chips. Ideally the chips should be equi-dimensional with a side length of 5mm to lOmm. Uniform chips are rarely available, therefore the aspect ratio for the chips should be as close to being equal as practically possible. The prepared wood chips are placed in a hopper or storage bin (1) where upon the chips are augered into a pyrolysis reactor (2). Drying the wood chips to less than 20% prior to carbonization may be desirable as lower moisture content wood may make the subsequent parts of the process more efficient.
Drawing 2 shows a process where a single reactor is used to prepare the absorbent as well as recovery the bitumen. The reactor (2) can be any pyrolysis unit whereby the absorbent and bitumen can be heated to between 300 centigrade and 600 centigrade in an oxygen reduced environment.
Hydrophobicity is normally imparted to the biomass at temperatures above 250 centigrade. The minimum temperature is dictated more by the subsequent cracking of the bitumen during the bitumen recovery stage than the requirements for hydrophobicity of the biochar.
Drawing 3 presents a separate carbonization stage. The advantage of a separate carbonization system (13) is the gases and tars produced during carbonization are separated from the gases and oils produced during bitumen recovery. There will be some attrition of the biochar and the separate carbonization process means the carbonizer can be sized to simply add make up char when required. Alternatively the carbonizer does not have to be located in proximity to the bitumen recovery system. The carbonizer can be located closer to the source of the biomass and only the biochar delivered to the chip hopper (1) or other storage device.
The difference between the two flow sheets has been described above. Apart from these differences, the remainder of the process is the same for both approaches. The biochar (3) is conveyed to a continuous flow mixing chamber (4) where tailings (6) from the primary oil recovery process are blended together in a predetermined ratio. The weight of biochar is adjusted to a ratio of 1% to 10% by weight of tailings. Following mixing the absorbent is separated (5) from the tailings. Separation can be accomplished by any method typically used in industrial process. These process can include, but not limited to hydrocyclones or screens. The liquid fraction is conveyed to the tailings ponds as is currently the practice. The reclaimed biochar (7) is conveyed to the pyrolysis reactor (2) where the mass is heated to a temperature sufficiently high to crack and vapourize the bitumen. The hot pyrolysis vapours then conveyed to the condensing system (10). Since bitumen contains approximately 5%
sulphur, sulphur removal (9) may be required prior to condensation. Sulphur removal is a mature technology and units can be sized and purchased to fit into the system. The cracked and partially upgraded bitumen is conveyed to storage (11), while the non-condensing gas (12) is returned to the pyrolysis reactor (2) where the gas provides some of the heat required to crack and recover the bitumen.
When a single reactor system is used (Drawing 2) there will be some tars and water produced during carbonization of the biomass. This water and tar will form a separate phases and will require removal from the recovered bitumen. The recovery of the water phase and tar phase have not been included in Drawing 2.
Example Laboratory scale experiments were conducted to evaluate the potential for removal of bitumen from the tailings. A know volume of raw fine tailings was mixed with 2.5% coarse biochar. The liquid was separated from the fine tailings and the carbon content measured. It was concluded that 2.5% biochar absorbed approximately 33% of the bitumen. Slow recarbonizing the bitumen/biochar mixture showed that 10% of the volatiles were removed. The vapours were not condensed and therefore the yield of oil and non-condensing gas is not known at this time.
Approximately 1 liter samples of tailings with no biochar, 1% biochar and 2.5%
biochar were mixed in Erlenmeyer flasks for 30 minutes and then poured into 1.2 litre graduated cylinders. Clear water was soon visible at the top of the cylinder. The height of sediments was measure on regular intervals and the percent solids in the sediments was measured. Drawing 4 shows that 1% biochar improves the rate of consolidation, but 2.5% significantly improves the rate of consolidation. The starting solids content for the three samples was 14.7%. After 33 days the sample with no biochar saw an increase in solids content from 14.7% to 16.7%. During the same interval the 2.5% biochar sample increased from 14.7% to 21.7%. While the rate of increase in solids content is decreasing for all three samples, the
Regulations are in effect that require the volume of fluid fine tailings be reduced and the ponds be ready for reclamation no longer than five years after the ponds cease to be in service.
Canberra (2008) suggests that the stable suspensions are largely the result of the residual bitumen content. The bitumen specific gravity is slightly less than that of water. The bitumen is viscous and once mixed with the sediments it is virtually locked into the sediments. The consolidation of fine sediments requires the migration of water out of the inter-particle voids. If the residual bitumen blocks the pore throats, water cannot move and the particles remain in suspension.
Diagram 1 shows the structure of fine tailings. The sand size fraction separates rapidly from the finer fraction is deposited in close to the tailings discharge point. Removal of some or all of the residual bitumen will therefore allow the pore water to migrate upwards and the sedimont to consolidate.
The amount of residual bitumen in the fine tailings varies between 0 and 5%.
The residual bitumen is an economic loss to the oil sands producer. Apart from the obvious loss of revenue from the sale of the oil, there is a costly environmental impact. Some free bitumen floats to the surface as the tailings are discharged into the ponds. Heavy fines have been levied against producers for allowing water fowl to land on the tailings ponds and become oil coated. Methane generated by the anaerobic decomposition of the residual bitumen contributes to the overall greenhouse gas emissions.
The volume of tailings produced per day is in the order of 400,000 cubic meters or approximately 62,000 imperial gallons per minute. Process upgrades have increased the bitumen recovery to between 90% and 100%. Therefore the amount of residual bitumen has decreased with increasing efficiency.
For the study conducted in connection with the present invention the residual bitumen content of the tailings was 0.57%. Given the volume of tailings produced, this small residual translates into approximately two cubic meter (12.6 bbl) of oil being discharged per minute.
There is therefore an economic and environmental reason to remove the remaining bitumen from the tailings. Faster consolidation extends the life of the pond as the volume will reduce faster. Since the inter pore water will be released, more water is available for recycling. Less bitumen should also reduce the amount of greenhouse gasses being released from the ponds.
If the residual bitumen is to be removed from the fine tailings, plant processes have to be installed to capture the bitumen prior to its release into the tailings ponds. Given the volume of water and bitumen being disposed of, any new process has to carefully consider the magnitude of the materials management issues. The novel approach in the present invention is to mix the tailings with a hydrophobic, organic based oil absorbent. The absorbent will capture some or all of the residual bitumen and then processed to recover the absorbed bitumen. The absorbent will then be available for reuse.
Brief Description of Disclosure The present invention provides a novel means of removing residual bitumen from oil sands tailings using biochar or a like hydrophobic, oleophillic absorbent. The hydrophobic, oleophillic biochar is mixed with the tailings and some or all of the residual bitumen is absorbed on the biochar. The absorbent particle size is large enough relative to the fine tailings to allow the absorbent and absorbed bitumen to be removed by a separator. The remaining water, fine particles and remaining unabsorbed bitumen are then sent to the tailings pond where the fines will compact at an increased rate because fewer pores are blocked by the bitumen droplets.
In a preferred form of the present invention, the absorbent is manufactured from organic material such as biomass. The biomass includes, but is not restricted to, forest and agricultural waste materials. The biomass is carbonized into biochar char in a reactor. The choice of reactor depends on the required mass of biochar required for the volume of tailings produced per unit time.
Typically biochar is manufactured at temperatures between 300 degrees centigrade to 600 degrees centigrade in an oxygen reduced atmosphere. The hot biochar may be either cooled and stored in silos or mixed immediately with the tailings. The ratio of biochar to tailings is set according to the desitred aborption of the bitumen. The example presented below uses 2.5% biochar by mass, relative to the mass of the fine tailings although higher ratios may be effective in removing more biochar.
The spent biochar is returned to the reactor where it is reheated to between 400 degrees and 600 degrees. The absorbed bitumen is cracked into lighter weight oil and recovered in a condenser. Most oil sands contain sulphur and prior to condensation of the hydrocarbon, a sulphur removal system may be required. The recarbonized bitumen is reused as an absorbent and the cracked hydrocarbon is stored in an appropriate tank or immediately transferred for blending into the ongoing bitumen recovery process.
Description of Drawings Drawing 1 shows an idealized sketch of a clay, silt and bitumen mixture. The void space is assumed to be full of water and any chemicals that have been entrained by the recovery process or otherwise.
Drawing 2 is a flow diagram of the process showing the process from the addition of wood chips to the reactor to the recovery of upgraded bitumen. A single reactor is used to both carbonize the biomass and recover the bitumen.
Drawing 3 shows a process whereby the biochar is produced separately from the recovery of the bitumen.
Drawing 4 shows the increased consolidation rate through the addition of biochar.
Detailed Description The embodiments of this invention will now be described with reference to Drawings 2 and 3 Wood chips from any source can be used. The size and geometry will be a function of the equipment used to prepare the wood chips. Ideally the chips should be equi-dimensional with a side length of 5mm to lOmm. Uniform chips are rarely available, therefore the aspect ratio for the chips should be as close to being equal as practically possible. The prepared wood chips are placed in a hopper or storage bin (1) where upon the chips are augered into a pyrolysis reactor (2). Drying the wood chips to less than 20% prior to carbonization may be desirable as lower moisture content wood may make the subsequent parts of the process more efficient.
Drawing 2 shows a process where a single reactor is used to prepare the absorbent as well as recovery the bitumen. The reactor (2) can be any pyrolysis unit whereby the absorbent and bitumen can be heated to between 300 centigrade and 600 centigrade in an oxygen reduced environment.
Hydrophobicity is normally imparted to the biomass at temperatures above 250 centigrade. The minimum temperature is dictated more by the subsequent cracking of the bitumen during the bitumen recovery stage than the requirements for hydrophobicity of the biochar.
Drawing 3 presents a separate carbonization stage. The advantage of a separate carbonization system (13) is the gases and tars produced during carbonization are separated from the gases and oils produced during bitumen recovery. There will be some attrition of the biochar and the separate carbonization process means the carbonizer can be sized to simply add make up char when required. Alternatively the carbonizer does not have to be located in proximity to the bitumen recovery system. The carbonizer can be located closer to the source of the biomass and only the biochar delivered to the chip hopper (1) or other storage device.
The difference between the two flow sheets has been described above. Apart from these differences, the remainder of the process is the same for both approaches. The biochar (3) is conveyed to a continuous flow mixing chamber (4) where tailings (6) from the primary oil recovery process are blended together in a predetermined ratio. The weight of biochar is adjusted to a ratio of 1% to 10% by weight of tailings. Following mixing the absorbent is separated (5) from the tailings. Separation can be accomplished by any method typically used in industrial process. These process can include, but not limited to hydrocyclones or screens. The liquid fraction is conveyed to the tailings ponds as is currently the practice. The reclaimed biochar (7) is conveyed to the pyrolysis reactor (2) where the mass is heated to a temperature sufficiently high to crack and vapourize the bitumen. The hot pyrolysis vapours then conveyed to the condensing system (10). Since bitumen contains approximately 5%
sulphur, sulphur removal (9) may be required prior to condensation. Sulphur removal is a mature technology and units can be sized and purchased to fit into the system. The cracked and partially upgraded bitumen is conveyed to storage (11), while the non-condensing gas (12) is returned to the pyrolysis reactor (2) where the gas provides some of the heat required to crack and recover the bitumen.
When a single reactor system is used (Drawing 2) there will be some tars and water produced during carbonization of the biomass. This water and tar will form a separate phases and will require removal from the recovered bitumen. The recovery of the water phase and tar phase have not been included in Drawing 2.
Example Laboratory scale experiments were conducted to evaluate the potential for removal of bitumen from the tailings. A know volume of raw fine tailings was mixed with 2.5% coarse biochar. The liquid was separated from the fine tailings and the carbon content measured. It was concluded that 2.5% biochar absorbed approximately 33% of the bitumen. Slow recarbonizing the bitumen/biochar mixture showed that 10% of the volatiles were removed. The vapours were not condensed and therefore the yield of oil and non-condensing gas is not known at this time.
Approximately 1 liter samples of tailings with no biochar, 1% biochar and 2.5%
biochar were mixed in Erlenmeyer flasks for 30 minutes and then poured into 1.2 litre graduated cylinders. Clear water was soon visible at the top of the cylinder. The height of sediments was measure on regular intervals and the percent solids in the sediments was measured. Drawing 4 shows that 1% biochar improves the rate of consolidation, but 2.5% significantly improves the rate of consolidation. The starting solids content for the three samples was 14.7%. After 33 days the sample with no biochar saw an increase in solids content from 14.7% to 16.7%. During the same interval the 2.5% biochar sample increased from 14.7% to 21.7%. While the rate of increase in solids content is decreasing for all three samples, the
2.5% biochar continues to outperform the 1% biochar and no bioichar. It is evident from Drawing 4 that even small percentages of biochar can dramatically improve the consolidation rate. It is also concluded that the assumption made by Canberra with respect to the bitumen retarding consolidation appears to be valid.
Claims 1) A process for recovery of bitumen from fine tailings produced in oil sands processing, in which a hydrophobic/oleophillic absorbent is mixed with oil sands tailings and a portion or all of the residual bitumen in the tailings is absorbed.
2) An absorbent for use in the process of Claim 1 that is capable of withstanding a temperature of 700C
in an oxygen reduced environment.
Claims 1) A process for recovery of bitumen from fine tailings produced in oil sands processing, in which a hydrophobic/oleophillic absorbent is mixed with oil sands tailings and a portion or all of the residual bitumen in the tailings is absorbed.
2) An absorbent for use in the process of Claim 1 that is capable of withstanding a temperature of 700C
in an oxygen reduced environment.
3) An absorbent as claimed in Claim 2 that is prepared from biomass have a dimension of 0.25 to 5 cm.
4) The process of claim 1, wherein upon separation of the absorbent and absorbed bitumen from the tailings, the absorbent and bitumen are carbonized in an oxygen reduced atmosphere at a temperature between 300C and 700C where upon the absorbed bitumen is cracked and vapourized.
5) Vapourized bitumen produced by the process of Claim 4 in a cooled and condensed state.
6) The absorbent of Claim 2 or 3, regenerated for reuse for the further absorption of bitumen in tailings.
References tp:,/,1v,,w. w.nrcan.gc.ca/sites/w w.nrcan.gc.ca/files/energv/pdfleneene/pubpub/pdf/OS Tailings Mana i4ement-erw.,.pdf Additional references to follow
References tp:,/,1v,,w. w.nrcan.gc.ca/sites/w w.nrcan.gc.ca/files/energv/pdfleneene/pubpub/pdf/OS Tailings Mana i4ement-erw.,.pdf Additional references to follow
Claims (6)
Approximately 1 liter samples of tailings with no biochar, 1% biochar and 2.5%
biochar were mixed in Erlenmeyer flasks for 30 minutes and then poured into 1.2 litre graduated cylinders. Clear water was soon visible at the top of the cylinder. The height of sediments was measure on regular intervals and the percent solids in the sediments was measured. Drawing 4 shows that 1% biochar improves the rate of consolidation, but 2.5% significantly improves the rate of consolidation. The starting solids content for the three samples was 14.7%. After 33 days the sample with no biochar saw an increase in solids content from 14.7% to 16.7%. During the same interval the 2.5% biochar sample increased from 14.7% to 21.7%. While the rate of increase in solids content is decreasing for all three samples, the 2.5% biochar continues to outperform the 1% biochar and no bioichar. It is evident from Drawing 4 that even small percentages of biochar can dramatically improve the consolidation rate. It is also concluded that the assumption made by Canberra with respect to the bitumen retarding consolidation appears to be valid.
Claims
1) A process for recovery of bitumen from fine tailings produced in oil sands processing, in which a hydrophobic/oleophillic absorbent is mixed with oil sands tailings and a portion or all of the residual bitumen in the tailings is absorbed.
2) An absorbent for use in the process of Claim 1 that is capable of withstanding a temperature of 700C
in an oxygen reduced environment.
in an oxygen reduced environment.
3) An absorbent as claimed in Claim 2 that is prepared from biomass have a dimension of 0.25 to 5 cm.
4) The process of claim 1, wherein upon separation of the absorbent and absorbed bitumen from the tailings, the absorbent and bitumen are carbonized in an oxygen reduced atmosphere at a temperature between 300C and 700C where upon the absorbed bitumen is cracked and vapourized.
5) Vapourized bitumen produced by the process of Claim 4 in a cooled and condensed state.
6) The absorbent of Claim 2 or 3, regenerated for reuse for the further absorption of bitumen in tailings.
Priority Applications (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA2882609A CA2882609A1 (en) | 2015-02-20 | 2015-02-20 | Removal of residual bitumen from oil sands tailings |
Applications Claiming Priority (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA2882609A CA2882609A1 (en) | 2015-02-20 | 2015-02-20 | Removal of residual bitumen from oil sands tailings |
Publications (1)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| CA2882609A1 true CA2882609A1 (en) | 2016-08-20 |
Family
ID=56684792
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA2882609A Abandoned CA2882609A1 (en) | 2015-02-20 | 2015-02-20 | Removal of residual bitumen from oil sands tailings |
Country Status (1)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| CA (1) | CA2882609A1 (en) |
Cited By (1)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CN111148556A (en) * | 2017-09-27 | 2020-05-12 | Rj利格鲁普公司 | Method and device for clarifying pyrolysis oil |
-
2015
- 2015-02-20 CA CA2882609A patent/CA2882609A1/en not_active Abandoned
Cited By (2)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CN111148556A (en) * | 2017-09-27 | 2020-05-12 | Rj利格鲁普公司 | Method and device for clarifying pyrolysis oil |
| CN111148556B (en) * | 2017-09-27 | 2022-08-26 | Rj利格鲁普公司 | Method and device for clarifying pyrolysis oil |
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