WO2012166229A2 - Procédé de traitement d'une alimentation bitumineuse doté d'un commande par rétroaction - Google Patents

Procédé de traitement d'une alimentation bitumineuse doté d'un commande par rétroaction Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2012166229A2
WO2012166229A2 PCT/US2012/028573 US2012028573W WO2012166229A2 WO 2012166229 A2 WO2012166229 A2 WO 2012166229A2 US 2012028573 W US2012028573 W US 2012028573W WO 2012166229 A2 WO2012166229 A2 WO 2012166229A2
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Prior art keywords
slurry
bitumen
solvent
agglomeration
agglomerates
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WO2012166229A3 (fr
Inventor
Olusola B. Adeyinka
Brian C. Speirs
Thomas R. Palmer
Anjaneya S. Kovvali
Emilio Alvarez
Fritz PIERRE
David C. Rennard
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ExxonMobil Upstream Research Co
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ExxonMobil Upstream Research Co
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Priority to US14/113,207 priority Critical patent/US20140076784A1/en
Publication of WO2012166229A2 publication Critical patent/WO2012166229A2/fr
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical
Publication of WO2012166229A3 publication Critical patent/WO2012166229A3/fr
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Classifications

    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C10—PETROLEUM, GAS OR COKE INDUSTRIES; TECHNICAL GASES CONTAINING CARBON MONOXIDE; FUELS; LUBRICANTS; PEAT
    • C10G—CRACKING HYDROCARBON OILS; PRODUCTION OF LIQUID HYDROCARBON MIXTURES, e.g. BY DESTRUCTIVE HYDROGENATION, OLIGOMERISATION, POLYMERISATION; RECOVERY OF HYDROCARBON OILS FROM OIL-SHALE, OIL-SAND, OR GASES; REFINING MIXTURES MAINLY CONSISTING OF HYDROCARBONS; REFORMING OF NAPHTHA; MINERAL WAXES
    • C10G1/00—Production of liquid hydrocarbon mixtures from oil-shale, oil-sand, or non-melting solid carbonaceous or similar materials, e.g. wood, coal
    • C10G1/04—Production of liquid hydrocarbon mixtures from oil-shale, oil-sand, or non-melting solid carbonaceous or similar materials, e.g. wood, coal by extraction
    • C10G1/045—Separation of insoluble materials
    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C10—PETROLEUM, GAS OR COKE INDUSTRIES; TECHNICAL GASES CONTAINING CARBON MONOXIDE; FUELS; LUBRICANTS; PEAT
    • C10G—CRACKING HYDROCARBON OILS; PRODUCTION OF LIQUID HYDROCARBON MIXTURES, e.g. BY DESTRUCTIVE HYDROGENATION, OLIGOMERISATION, POLYMERISATION; RECOVERY OF HYDROCARBON OILS FROM OIL-SHALE, OIL-SAND, OR GASES; REFINING MIXTURES MAINLY CONSISTING OF HYDROCARBONS; REFORMING OF NAPHTHA; MINERAL WAXES
    • C10G1/00—Production of liquid hydrocarbon mixtures from oil-shale, oil-sand, or non-melting solid carbonaceous or similar materials, e.g. wood, coal
    • C10G1/04—Production of liquid hydrocarbon mixtures from oil-shale, oil-sand, or non-melting solid carbonaceous or similar materials, e.g. wood, coal by extraction
    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C10—PETROLEUM, GAS OR COKE INDUSTRIES; TECHNICAL GASES CONTAINING CARBON MONOXIDE; FUELS; LUBRICANTS; PEAT
    • C10G—CRACKING HYDROCARBON OILS; PRODUCTION OF LIQUID HYDROCARBON MIXTURES, e.g. BY DESTRUCTIVE HYDROGENATION, OLIGOMERISATION, POLYMERISATION; RECOVERY OF HYDROCARBON OILS FROM OIL-SHALE, OIL-SAND, OR GASES; REFINING MIXTURES MAINLY CONSISTING OF HYDROCARBONS; REFORMING OF NAPHTHA; MINERAL WAXES
    • C10G1/00—Production of liquid hydrocarbon mixtures from oil-shale, oil-sand, or non-melting solid carbonaceous or similar materials, e.g. wood, coal
    • C10G1/04—Production of liquid hydrocarbon mixtures from oil-shale, oil-sand, or non-melting solid carbonaceous or similar materials, e.g. wood, coal by extraction
    • C10G1/047—Hot water or cold water extraction processes
    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C10—PETROLEUM, GAS OR COKE INDUSTRIES; TECHNICAL GASES CONTAINING CARBON MONOXIDE; FUELS; LUBRICANTS; PEAT
    • C10G—CRACKING HYDROCARBON OILS; PRODUCTION OF LIQUID HYDROCARBON MIXTURES, e.g. BY DESTRUCTIVE HYDROGENATION, OLIGOMERISATION, POLYMERISATION; RECOVERY OF HYDROCARBON OILS FROM OIL-SHALE, OIL-SAND, OR GASES; REFINING MIXTURES MAINLY CONSISTING OF HYDROCARBONS; REFORMING OF NAPHTHA; MINERAL WAXES
    • C10G33/00—Dewatering or demulsification of hydrocarbon oils
    • C10G33/08—Controlling or regulating
    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C10—PETROLEUM, GAS OR COKE INDUSTRIES; TECHNICAL GASES CONTAINING CARBON MONOXIDE; FUELS; LUBRICANTS; PEAT
    • C10G—CRACKING HYDROCARBON OILS; PRODUCTION OF LIQUID HYDROCARBON MIXTURES, e.g. BY DESTRUCTIVE HYDROGENATION, OLIGOMERISATION, POLYMERISATION; RECOVERY OF HYDROCARBON OILS FROM OIL-SHALE, OIL-SAND, OR GASES; REFINING MIXTURES MAINLY CONSISTING OF HYDROCARBONS; REFORMING OF NAPHTHA; MINERAL WAXES
    • C10G2300/00—Aspects relating to hydrocarbon processing covered by groups C10G1/00 - C10G99/00
    • C10G2300/10—Feedstock materials
    • C10G2300/1033—Oil well production fluids
    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C10—PETROLEUM, GAS OR COKE INDUSTRIES; TECHNICAL GASES CONTAINING CARBON MONOXIDE; FUELS; LUBRICANTS; PEAT
    • C10G—CRACKING HYDROCARBON OILS; PRODUCTION OF LIQUID HYDROCARBON MIXTURES, e.g. BY DESTRUCTIVE HYDROGENATION, OLIGOMERISATION, POLYMERISATION; RECOVERY OF HYDROCARBON OILS FROM OIL-SHALE, OIL-SAND, OR GASES; REFINING MIXTURES MAINLY CONSISTING OF HYDROCARBONS; REFORMING OF NAPHTHA; MINERAL WAXES
    • C10G2300/00—Aspects relating to hydrocarbon processing covered by groups C10G1/00 - C10G99/00
    • C10G2300/40—Characteristics of the process deviating from typical ways of processing
    • C10G2300/4081—Recycling aspects
    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C10—PETROLEUM, GAS OR COKE INDUSTRIES; TECHNICAL GASES CONTAINING CARBON MONOXIDE; FUELS; LUBRICANTS; PEAT
    • C10G—CRACKING HYDROCARBON OILS; PRODUCTION OF LIQUID HYDROCARBON MIXTURES, e.g. BY DESTRUCTIVE HYDROGENATION, OLIGOMERISATION, POLYMERISATION; RECOVERY OF HYDROCARBON OILS FROM OIL-SHALE, OIL-SAND, OR GASES; REFINING MIXTURES MAINLY CONSISTING OF HYDROCARBONS; REFORMING OF NAPHTHA; MINERAL WAXES
    • C10G2300/00—Aspects relating to hydrocarbon processing covered by groups C10G1/00 - C10G99/00
    • C10G2300/40—Characteristics of the process deviating from typical ways of processing
    • C10G2300/44—Solvents
    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C10—PETROLEUM, GAS OR COKE INDUSTRIES; TECHNICAL GASES CONTAINING CARBON MONOXIDE; FUELS; LUBRICANTS; PEAT
    • C10G—CRACKING HYDROCARBON OILS; PRODUCTION OF LIQUID HYDROCARBON MIXTURES, e.g. BY DESTRUCTIVE HYDROGENATION, OLIGOMERISATION, POLYMERISATION; RECOVERY OF HYDROCARBON OILS FROM OIL-SHALE, OIL-SAND, OR GASES; REFINING MIXTURES MAINLY CONSISTING OF HYDROCARBONS; REFORMING OF NAPHTHA; MINERAL WAXES
    • C10G2300/00—Aspects relating to hydrocarbon processing covered by groups C10G1/00 - C10G99/00
    • C10G2300/80—Additives
    • C10G2300/805—Water

Definitions

  • the present disclosure relates generally to the field of hydrocarbon extraction from mineable deposits, such as bitumen from oil sands.
  • Solvent extraction processes for the recovery of the hydrocarbons have been proposed as an alternative to water extraction of oil sands.
  • the commercial application of a solvent extraction process has, for various reasons, eluded the oil sands industry.
  • a major challenge to the application of solvent extraction to oil sands is the tendency of fine particles within the oil sands to hamper the separation of solids from the hydrocarbon extract. Solids agglomeration is a technique that can be used to deal with this challenge.
  • Solids agglomeration is a size enlargement technique that can be applied within a liquid suspension to assist solid-liquid separation.
  • the process involves agglomerating fine solids, which are difficult to separate from a liquid suspension, by the addition of a second liquid.
  • the second liquid preferentially wets the solids but is immiscible with the suspension liquid.
  • the second liquid displaces the suspension liquid on the surface of the solids.
  • the fines solids consolidate into larger, compact agglomerates that are more readily separated from the suspension liquid.
  • Solids agglomeration has been used in other applications to assist solid-liquid separation.
  • the process has been used in the coal industry to recover fine coal particles from the waste streams produced during wet cleaning treatments (see for example, U.S. Patent Nos. 3,856,668 (Shubert); 4, 153,419 (Clayfield); 4,209,301 (Nicol et al.); 4,415,445 (Hatem) and 4,726,810 (Ignasiak)).
  • Solids agglomeration has also been proposed for use in the solvent extraction of bitumen from oil sands. This application was coined Solvent Extraction Spherical Agglomeration (SESA). A more recent description of the SESA process can be found in Sparks et al., Fuel 1992 (71 ); pp 1349-1353.
  • SESA Previously described methodologies for SESA have not been commercially adopted.
  • the SESA process involves mixing oil sands with a hydrocarbon solvent, adding a bridging liquid to the oil sands slurry, agitating the mixture in a slow and controlled manner to nucleate particles, and continuing such agitation to permit these nucleated particles to form larger multi-particle spherical agglomerates for removal.
  • the bridging liquid is preferably water or an aqueous solution since the solids of oil sands are mostly hydrophilic and water is immiscible with hydrocarbon solvents.
  • 4,057,486 involves combining solvent extraction with solids agglomeration to achieve dry tailings suitable for direct mine refill.
  • organic material is separated from oil sands by mixing the oil sands material with an organic solvent to form a slurry, after which an aqueous bridging liquid is added in the amount of 8 to 50 wt% of the feed mixture.
  • an aqueous bridging liquid is added in the amount of 8 to 50 wt% of the feed mixture.
  • solid particles from oil sands come into contact with the aqueous bridging liquid and adhere to each other to form macro-agglomerates of a mean diameter of 2 mm or greater.
  • the formed agglomerates are more easily separated from the organic solvent compared to un-agglomerated solids.
  • the multi-phase mixture need only be agitated severely enough and for sufficient time to intimately contact the aqueous liquid with the fine solids.
  • the patent discloses that it is preferable that the type of agitation be a rolling or tumbling motion for at least the final stages of agglomeration. These types of motion should assist in forming compact and spherical agglomerates from which most of the hydrocarbons are excluded.
  • the formed agglomerates are referred to as macro-agglomerates because they result from the consolidation of both the fine particles (sized less than 44 ⁇ ) and the coarse particles (sized greater than 200 ⁇ ) found in the oil sands.
  • the additional solvent acts to wash the excess bitumen from the agglomerates.
  • the additional bridging liquid allows the agglomerates to grow by a layering mechanism and under the increasing compressive forces produced by the tapered rotating drum bed depth.
  • the compressive forces act to preferentially remove hydrocarbon liquid from the pores of the agglomerates such that, when optimal operating conditions are imposed, the pores of the agglomerates end up being filled with only the bridging liquid, and the solvent that remains on the surface of the agglomerates is easily recovered.
  • U.S. Patent No. 4,406,788 (Meadus et al.) describes a similar apparatus to that of U.S. Patent No. 3,984,287 (Measdus et al.), but where the extraction and agglomeration processes occurs within a single vessel. Within this vessel, the flow of solvent is counter-current to the flow of agglomerates which results in greater extraction efficiency.
  • U.S. Patent No. 4,719,008 (Sparks et al.) describes a process to address the agglomeration challenge posed by varying ore grades by means of a micro-agglomeration procedure in which the fine particles of the oil sands are consolidated to produce agglomerates with a similar particle size distribution to the coarser grained particles of the oil sands.
  • a micro-agglomeration procedure the solid-liquid separation behavior of the agglomerated oil sands will be similar regardless of ore grade.
  • the micro-agglomeration process is described as occurring within a slowly rotating horizontal vessel.
  • the conditions of the vessel favor the formation of large agglomerates; however, a light milling action is used to continuously break down the agglomerates.
  • the micro-agglomerates are formed by obtaining an eventual equilibrium between cohesive and destructive forces. Since rapid agglomeration and large agglomerates can lead to bitumen recovery losses owing to entrapment of extracted bitumen within the agglomerated solids, the level of bridging liquid is kept as low as possible commensurate with achieving economically viable solid-liquid separation.
  • the desired amount of bridging liquid for the agglomeration process will depend on the ore quality and the chemistry of the fines. Because the ore quality and chemistry will change on a frequent basis as different mine shelves are progressed, the recipe of the agglomeration process may need to change accordingly in order to maintain the agglomeration output within an acceptable range.
  • the bridging liquid is either added directly to the dry oil sands or is added to the oil sands slurry comprising the oil sands and the hydrocarbon solvent.
  • bitumen extraction and particle agglomeration occurs simultaneously.
  • the growth of agglomerates may hamper the dissolution of the bitumen into the solvent, it may lead to trapping of bitumen within the agglomerates, and it may result in an overall increase in the required residence time for bitumen extraction.
  • the bridging liquid is added to the oil sands slurry, excessive agglomeration may occur in the locations of bridging liquid injection.
  • agglomerates will tend to be larger than the desired agglomerate size and result in an increase in the viscosity of the slurry.
  • a higher slurry viscosity may hamper the mixing needed to uniformly distribute the bridging liquid throughout the remaining areas of the slurry. Poor bridging liquid dispersion may result in a large agglomerate size distribution, which is not preferred.
  • An important step in the agglomeration process is the distribution of the bridging liquid throughout the liquid suspension. Poor distribution of the bridging liquid may result in regions within the slurry of too low and too high binging liquid concentrations. Regions of low bridging liquid concentrations may have no or poor agglomeration of fine solids, which may result in poor solid-liquid separation.
  • Regions of high bridging liquid concentration may have excess agglomeration of solids, which may result in the trapping of bitumen or bitumen extract within the large agglomerates.
  • the milling action of the rotating vessel acts to both breakup large agglomerates and distribute the bridging liquid throughout the vessel in order to achieve uniform agglomerate formation.
  • the rotating vessel would need to be large enough to process the high volumetric flow rates of oil sands. Accomplishing uniform mixing of the bridging liquid in such a large vessel would require a significant amount of mixing energy and long residence times.
  • Coal mining processes often produce aqueous slurries comprising fine coal particles.
  • Solids agglomeration has been proposed as a method of recovering these fine coal particles, which may constitute up to 30 wt.% of the mined coal.
  • the hydrophobic coal particles are agglomerated within the aqueous slurry by adding an oil phase as the bridging liquid.
  • the coal particles become wetted with an oil layer and adhere to each other to form agglomerates.
  • the hydrophilic ash particles are not preferentially wetted by the oil phase and, as a result, remain un-agglomerated and suspended in the aqueous phase.
  • the agglomerated coal material, with reduced ash content, is readily separated from the aqueous slurry by mechanical methods such as screening.
  • U.S. Patent No. 4,153,419 (Clayfiled et al.) describes a process for the agglomeration of coal fines within an aqueous slurry by staged addition of a bridging liquid to the aqueous slurry.
  • Each agglomeration stage comprises the addition of a bridging liquid to the slurry, agitation of the mixture, and removal of agglomerates from the aqueous slurry.
  • U.S. Patent No. 4,415,445 (Van Hattem et al.) describes a process for the agglomeration of coal fines within an aqueous slurry by the addition of a bridging liquid and the addition of seed pellets that are substantially larger than the coal fines.
  • the presence of seed pellets induces agglomerate growth to occur predominately by a layering mechanism rather than by a coalescence mechanism. Since the rate of agglomeration occurs much faster by layering compared to coalescence, the process described therein allows agglomerates to form very quickly so that, for a given residence time, a higher throughput of agglomerates can be obtained compared to the throughput obtainable in the absence of seed pellets.
  • U.S. Patent No. 4,726,810 (Ignasiak) describes a process for the agglomeration of coal fines within an aqueous slurry by the addition of a bridging liquid comprising a low quality oil, such as bitumen, and a light hydrocarbon diluent, such as kerosene.
  • the aqueous slurry mixture is agitated by pumping it through a pipeline within which coal particles agglomerate and may later be separated from the slurry by screening.
  • the process allows for the selective agglomeration of low-rank coal using substantially a low quality oil.
  • the present disclosure relates to a method of processing a bituminous feed.
  • bituminous feed is contacted with an extraction liquor to form a slurry.
  • a bridging liquid is added to the slurry, and solids are agitated within the slurry to form an agglomerated slurry comprising agglomerates and a low solids bitumen extract.
  • the slurry is analyzed and the processing method is adjusted accordingly.
  • the present disclosure provides a method of processing a bituminous feed, the method comprising: a) contacting the bituminous feed with an extraction liquor to form a slurry, wherein the extraction liquor comprises a solvent; b) adding a bridging liquid to the slurry, and agitating solids within the slurry, to form an agglomerated slurry comprising agglomerates and a low solids bitumen extract; c) measuring at least one property of the agglomerated slurry, the agglomerates, or the low solids bitumen extract; and d) comparing the at least one property to a target range, and where the at least one property that is measured does not fall within the target range, adjusting at least one parameter of the method of processing the bituminous feed, for controlling the agglomeration.
  • Fig. 1 is a flow chart illustrating a disclosed embodiment.
  • Fig. 2 is a schematic illustrating a disclosed embodiment.
  • Fig. 3 is a schematic illustrating a disclosed embodiment.
  • Fig. 4 is a schematic illustrating a disclosed embodiment.
  • Fig. 5 is a schematic illustrating a disclosed embodiment.
  • Fig. 6 is a schematic illustrating a disclosed embodiment.
  • Fig. 7 is a calibration curve relating bitumen content of a bitumen extract comprised of bitumen and solvent to the measured density of the bitumen extract.
  • Fig. 8 is a graph of bitumen recovery and initial filtration rate as a function of extraction time with the agglomeration time kept constant at 2 minutes.
  • Fig. 9 is a graph is a graph of bitumen recovery and initial filtration rate as a function of agglomeration time with the extraction time kept constant at 5 minutes.
  • Fig. 10 is a schematic illustrating a disclosed embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION
  • the present disclosure relates to a method of processing a bituminous feed using feedback control. This method may be combined with aspects of other solvent extraction processes, including, but not limited to, those described above in the background section, and those described in Canadian Patent Application Serial No. 2,724,806 ("Adeyinka et al.”), filed December 10, 2010 and entitled “Processes and Systems for Solvent Extraction of Bitumen from Oil Sands”.
  • Adeyinka et al. Prior to describing embodiments specifically related to the feedback control, a summary of the processes described in Adeyinka et al. will now be provided.
  • a low solids bitumen extract can be separated from the agglomerated slurry for further processing.
  • the mixing of a second solvent with the low solids bitumen extract to extract bitumen may take place, forming a solvent-bitumen low solids mixture, which can then be separated further into low grade and high grade bitumen extracts.
  • Recovery of solvent from the low grade and/or high grade extracts is conducted, to produce bitumen products of commercial value.
  • a bridging liquid is added to the slurry and solids are agitated within the slurry to form an agglomerated slurry comprising agglomerates and a low solids bitumen extract (104).
  • At least one property of the agglomerated slurry, the agglomerates, or the low solids bitumen extract is measured (106).
  • the at least one measured property is compared to a target range. Where the at least one measured property that is measured does not fall within the target range, at least one parameter of the method is adjusted, for controlling the agglomeration (108).
  • bituminous feed refers to a stream derived from oil sands that requires downstream processing in order to realize valuable bitumen products or fractions.
  • the bituminous feed is one that comprises bitumen along with undesirable components.
  • Such a bituminous feed may be derived directly from oil sands, and may be, for example raw oil sands ore. Further, the bituminous feed may be a feed that has already realized some initial processing but nevertheless requires further processing. Also, recycled streams that comprise bitumen in combination with other components for removal as described herein can be included in the bituminous feed.
  • a bituminous feed need not be derived directly from oil sands, but may arise from other processes.
  • bituminous feed may be used as a waste product from other extraction processes which comprises bitumen that would otherwise not have been recovered.
  • bituminous feed may be also derived directly from oil shale oil, bearing diatomite or oil saturated sandstones.
  • FIG. 2 is a schematic of a method of processing a bituminous feed with additional steps including downstream solvent recovery. Feedback control is not illustrated in Figure 2.
  • the extraction liquor (202) is mixed with a bituminous feed (204) from oil sands in a slurry system (206) to form a slurry (208).
  • the extraction liquor comprises a solvent and is used to extract bitumen from the bituminous feed.
  • the slurry is fed into an agglomerator (210).
  • Extraction may begin when the extraction liquor (202) is contacted with the bituminous feed (204) and a portion of the extraction may occur in the agglomerator (210).
  • a bridging liquid (212) is added to the agglomerator to assist agglomeration of the slurry. Agitation of the slurry is also used to assist agglomeration.
  • the low solids bitumen extract is sent to a solvent recovery unit (222) to recover solvent (224) leaving a bitumen product (226).
  • the agglomerates (220) are sent to a tailings solvent recovery unit (228) to recover solvent (230) leaving dry tailings (232).
  • the bituminous feed is dry oil sands, which is contacted with extraction liquor that free of bridging liquid in a slurry system to produce a pumpable slurry.
  • the slurry may be well mixed in order to dissolve the bitumen.
  • the bitumen is first extracted from the bituminous feed prior to agglomeration in order to prevent (or limit) the agglomeration process from hampering the dissolution of bitumen into the extraction liquor.
  • the bridging liquid may be directly mixed with the bituminous feed before or at the same time as the extraction liquor so that bitumen extraction and agglomeration occur simultaneously.
  • the bridging liquid is added before or at the same time as the extraction liquor in order to minimize the dispersion of fines, which may reduce the solids content of the bitumen extract after the agglomeration process.
  • the formed agglomerates are sized on the order of 0.1- 1.0 mm, or on the order of 0.1-0.3 mm. In one embodiment, at least 80 wt.% of the formed agglomerates are 0.1-1.0 mm or 0.1 to 0.3 mm in size.
  • the rate of agglomeration may be controlled by a balance between intensity of agitation within the agglomeration vessel, shear within the vessel which can be adjusted by for example changing the shape or size of the vessel, fines content of the slurry, bridging liquid addition, and residence time of the agglomeration process.
  • the agglomeration of the fines within the slurry plays an important role in the recovery of bitumen from the oil sands. Little or no agglomeration of the fines hampers solid-liquid separation since fine particles interfere with the filtration process and/or increase the solids content of the low solids bitumen extract. However, excess agglomeration of solids results in entrapment of bitumen extract within the large agglomerates. Thus, it is desirable to control the agglomeration process with a view to achieving the desired agglomerates, such as agglomerates of a desired size, density, composition, other parameter, or a combination thereof.
  • the level of agglomeration will be affected by many factors among the most consequential are the composition of the bituminous feed (for instance as a result of ore quality), the amount of bridging liquid added, the method by which the bridging liquid is added, the residence time of the extraction and agglomeration processes, the type and intensity of agitation, the shear environment, the amount of any additional solids that are added, and the surface chemistry of the fines. . [0048] Because the ore quality, a measure of the ore chemistry and physical characteristics, may change on a very frequent basis as different mine shelves are progressed, the recipe for agglomeration may vary resulting in varying agglomeration.
  • bituminous feed and/or at least one of the agglomeration outputs are analyzed as agglomeration proceeds. This information is then used to adjust the process, for instance by increasing or decreasing added solids content, adjusting the amount of bridging liquid added, adjusting the residence time of the extraction and/or agglomeration processes, adjusting intensity of agitation, or adjusting the shear environment to seek more desired output(s). These parameters may be adjusted individually or in combination in order to maximize the effective response of the control system.
  • Figure 3 illustrates one embodiment, where the following steps are performed:
  • the measurement may be performed continuously.
  • 4. Use the measurements in a controls system (310) to adjust a parameter of the process.
  • One option is to adjust the amount of bridging liquid (304) that is added to the slurry.
  • Another option is to adjust the composition of the bridging liquid added to the slurry.
  • Another option is to adjust the methods and locations of the bridging liquid addition in the process.
  • Another option is to adjust the solid content of the slurry.
  • Another option is to adjust the intensity of agitation of the slurry.
  • Another option is to adjust the residence time of the extraction process.
  • Another option is to adjust the residence time of the agglomeration process.
  • Yet another option is to adjust the shear environment of the agglomeration by changing for example the size or shape of the vessel.
  • Measurable properties of a bituminous feed which could be used include but are not limited to: (i) fines content, (ii) moisture content, (iii) level of insoluble organics, (iv) quantity of bitumen present, (v) clays content, (vi) clay chemistry, (vii) particle size distribution, (viii) density, (ix) electrical properties such as conductivity. Standard tests are available for all of these measurements; for example methylene blue testing is a well known method that can be used to quantify the quantity of clays in the oil sands ore.
  • Measurable properties of the outputs of the solvent extraction with solids agglomeration process include but are not limited to: (i) particle size distribution of output solids, (ii) filtration rate of slurry, (iii) fines content of the low solids bitumen extract, (iv) bitumen content of low solids bitumen extract, and (v) viscosity (rheology) of the slurry.
  • the values of these properties are strongly impacted by the solvent extraction process and thus can be used in the control system described herein.
  • measurable properties include: (vi) hydrocarbon content of the output solids, (vii) moisture content of agglomerates, (viii) attrition and/or strength of the agglomerated solids, (ix) electrical properties, and (x) yield strength of the slurry.
  • the particle size distribution of the output solids can be measured by integrating an on-line particle size measurement device such as a Retsch Technology Camizer. A slip stream can be taken from the slurry, filtered to remove liquid, and then measured to analyze particle size distribution.
  • the particle size distribution of output agglomerates may have a measured D50 of between 100 microns and 300 microns, or the agglomerates might have a measured D50 of between 300 and 1000 microns, or the agglomerates might have a measured D50 of between 1000 and 2000 microns. It is preferable that the measured D50 be between 100 and 300 microns because such a particle size distribution would insure good solid-liquid separation rate while reducing the entrapment of bitumen extract within the pores of the agglomerates.
  • the filtration rate of the slurry can be measured by integrating an on-line filtration device with the pipeline. A slip stream can be taken from the slurry and the rate of filtration can be measured, or alternatively the filtration rate may be directly measured if a filtration process is included in the processing of the slurry in the solid- liquid separator.
  • the filter medium should be similar in material and pore size to that which is used in the solid-liquid separator.
  • Exemplary filtration device include, but are not limited to, lab scale chamber presses and diaphragm filter presses.
  • the filtration rate of the slurry is preferably in the range of 0.2 to 1 ml_/cm 2 sec. Higher filtration rates may be suitable; however, care should be taken to ensure that such filtration rates are not due to excessive channeling.
  • Fines Content Property The fines content of the low solids bitumen extract may be measured using several methods that are well known in the art. However, a method that quickly measures the solid content is preferable. Such a method may involve taking a slip stream of the slurry and filtering it to produce a low solids bitumen extract or directly sampling the low solids bitumen extract from the solid-liquid separator. The density of the bitumen extract and a micro-filtered bitumen extract is then measured. The bitumen extract can be filtered through a micro-filter with a nominal pore size of 0.45 microns. Suitable density measuring devices include vibration type liquid density meters. The difference in density of the bitumen extract and micro-filtered bitumen extract can be correlated with solid content, S by using following equation :
  • the solid content of the low solids bitumen extract is preferably less than 2 wt%, or preferably less than 1 wt%, or even more preferably less than 0.5 wt%.
  • Still another method of measuring the fines content may be an optical method, such as to dilute a low solids bitumen extract stream with excess solvent and then measure the turbidity of bitumen extract and micro-filtered bitumen extract. The difference in turbidity may be calibrated with fines content of the low solids bitumen extract.
  • bitumen Content Property During the extraction process as bitumen from the oil sands dissolves into the extraction liquor, the density of the low solids bitumen extract increases.
  • the bitumen content of the low solids bitumen extract can be estimated by measuring the density of the low solids bitumen extract.
  • a slip stream can be taken from the slurry and filtered to produce the low solids bitumen extract or the low solids bitumen extract can be sampled from the output of the solid-liquid separator.
  • the low solids bitumen extract can be filtered through a micro-filter with a nominal pore size of 0.45 microns to obtain a solid-free bitumen extract.
  • the density of the solid-free bitumen extract can be measured using an on-line density meter.
  • Figure 7 is a calibration curve relating bitumen content of a bitumen extract comprised of bitumen and solvent to the measured density of the bitumen extract. The measurement can also be used to determine the degree of bitumen extraction from the oil sands at different points along the extraction and agglomeration processes.
  • Viscosity Property The particle size distribution of the oil sands slurry has a strong impact on the viscosity of the slurry. Slurries with a high fines content is expected to have a high viscosity. The slurry viscosity is expected to decrease as the average particle size of the slurry increases. Additionally, since a hydrocarbon phase is the continuous fluid in the slurry, water chemistry will have much less of an impact on the viscosity/rheology behavior of the slurry compared to the impact water chemistry has on the viscosity/rheology of water-based extraction slurries.
  • measurement of the viscosity of the slurry can be used to estimate the amount of fines in the oil sands slurry and therefore used to control, for example, the amount of bridging added to the slurry.
  • This measurement can be obtained in a simple viscometer or in a rheometer.
  • Other related tests can also be used, such as a flow rate test.
  • measurement of the rheology of the slurry can be used to determine the progression of the agglomeration process. For example, after the bridging liquid is added to the slurry and agitated, a rapid increase in the viscosity of the slurry may indicate excessive agglomerate growth that has led to the trapping of a significant amount of bitumen extract within the agglomerates. Conditions that lead to such behavior should be limited or avoided since they can lead to poor bitumen recovery.
  • the control system described herein can be used to change process parameters, such as the amount of bridging liquid addition, when the viscosity of the slurry is measured to rapidly increase.
  • the viscosity or rheometer measurement can be used to track the growth of agglomerates.
  • the growth of agglomerates may be accompanied by a gradual reduction in slurry viscosity or dynamic shear strength.
  • the change in slurry viscosity may correlate well with agglomerate growth.
  • the viscosity of the oil sand slurry may be measured with any suitable instrument that is well known in the art.
  • an automatic on-line viscometer which takes a slip stream from the slurry and measures the viscosity
  • An in- line viscometer such as a vibrating-type viscometer, can be used to provide instant viscosity measurements within the process slurry.
  • the torque is measured in the agitation process, and rheological measurements could be determined in-situ. That is, if a mixing vessel is used for the agglomerator, the torque applied to the vessel can be measured as an indicator of rheological properties such as viscosity.
  • Various other properties of the bituminous feed, or the outputs could be alternatively or additionally be measured.
  • Drill ore cores in advance of mining trucks to determine the quality of the ore.
  • As shovels proceed through a seam obtain further data to characterize the ore.
  • the extraction liquor comprises a solvent used to dissolve bitumen.
  • the bridging liquid is used to assist agglomeration.
  • the bridging liquid may be water or a sludge from a water-based extraction process. Suitable sludge steams include, but are not limited to, water-based extraction streams such as middling from primary separation, secondary and tertiary separation tailings, froth treatment tailings, mature fine tailings from tailings ponds, or a new stream resulting from passing any of these streams through a thickener, hydrocyclone, or other processes.
  • middlings passed through a cyclone might generate an overflow stream and an underflow stream. Either stream could be used in this process as bridging liquid.
  • the amount of bridging liquid that is added will affect the extent of agglomeration. Agitation is also used to assist agglomeration. 4. Adjust one or more process parameters based on one or more output properties.
  • One process parameter is the amount of bridging liquid that is added to the slurry.
  • Another process parameter is the solid content of the bridging liquid added to the slurry.
  • Another process parameter is the methods and locations of the bridging liquid addition in the process.
  • Another process parameter is the solid content of the slurry.
  • Another process parameter is the intensity of agitation of the slurry.
  • Another process parameter is the shear environment of the agglomerator.
  • Another process parameter is the residence time of the extraction process.
  • Yet another option process parameter is the residence time of the agglomeration process.
  • Potential output properties include particle size distribution of the produced agglomerates, filtration rate of the slurry, solids content of the low solids bitumen extract, bitumen content of low solids bitumen extract, and the viscosity of the slurry.
  • the adjustments to the process parameters may be made based on the real time measurements of physical properties of the output(s) of the agglomeration process, which result in a feedback.
  • the feedback loop is a negative feedback, since the desired outputs of the agglomeration process may be set to one or more given target ranges and the input parameters may be adjusted to maintain the output parameters in the target range(s) regardless of type of ore feed and process upsets.
  • target range as used herein may include a range such as between X and Y, but also may include a range such as at least Z, or a range such as less than W.
  • the characterization of fines content comprises a methylene blue test. In another embodiment, the characterization of fines comprises a particle size distribution analysis. In another embodiment, the characterization of fines comprises viscosity/rheology tests of oil sands slurry.
  • the ore (or bituminous feed) is characterized by bitumen content rather than, or in addition to, fines content. In another embodiment, the ore (or bituminous feed) is characterized by spectroscopy, photoluminescence, fluorescence, or other photoactive technology. In another embodiment, the ore (or bituminous feed) is characterized by water chemistry and/or quantity.
  • the output solids are characterized by particle size distribution using sieves, laser diffraction, optical analysis, or other size quantification technique.
  • the hydrocarbon content of the output stream is measured by a bomb calorimeter, gas chromatography, photo activity such as phosphorescence or other photon technique, particle sniffer, or other technology.
  • the moisture content is measured by any type of technique suitable to measure water content, including but not limited to a bomb calorimeter, Karl Fischer Titration, Deen Stark analysis, electrical conductivity, relative humidity, or any other technique.
  • the analysis is performed in conjunction with batch analysis at intervals.
  • a slip stream is sampled for analysis.
  • on-line analysis provides continuous information.
  • the bridging liquid is adjusted based on a measured property. The following steps may be performed, with reference to Figure 4:
  • the first bridging liquid comprises water and the second bridging liquid comprises sludge produced from the aqueous extraction of bitumen from oil sands.
  • first and second bridging liquids are mixed before they are introduced into the agglomerator.
  • the slurry comprised of bituminous feed and extraction liquor (together 502) is added to an agglomerator (504).
  • the first bridging liquid (506) and second bridging liquid (508) are mixed to form a mixed bridging liquid (514) and added to the agglomerator (504)) to form an agglomerated slurry (510).
  • the low solids bitumen extract or the agglomerates) or both one or both of the flow rates of bridging liquids (506 and 508) are adjusted (using a control point (512)).
  • the first and second bridging liquids are mixed in the agglomerator.
  • the properties of the agglomeration process are adjusted through the recycling of agglomerator output upstream of the agglomeration process.
  • the agglomerated slurry could be recycled through the process to affect the residence time of the agglomeration process.
  • the agglomerated solids could also be recycled through the process to increase the solids content of the feed slurry.
  • the agglomerated solids could be recycled through the process to provide seed particles within the bridging liquid for the agglomeration process.
  • properties of the bituminous feed and extraction liquor 602 are measured (A).
  • the bituminous feed may be measured prior to contact with the extraction liquor.
  • the bridging liquid (604) is added to the agglomerator (606) to produce outputs (608) (i.e. the agglomerates and the low solids bitumen extract) of the agglomeration process.
  • outputs (608) i.e. the agglomerates and the low solids bitumen extract
  • One or more properties of the outputs are measured (B).
  • the measurements may be performed continuously.
  • the measurements (A and B) are used in a control system (610) to adjust a parameter of the process, for instance the amount and/or composition of an input. For instance, a portion of the agglomerated solids (611 ) could be recycled back into the process to adjust effective residence time and/or increase solids content.
  • the at least one property further comprises at least one property of the slurry prior to agglomeration.
  • Agitation is assisted by some form of agitation.
  • the form of agitation may be mixing, shaking, rolling, or another known suitable method.
  • the agitation of the feed need only be severe enough and of sufficient duration to intimately contact the emulsion with the solids in the feed.
  • Exemplary rolling type vessels include rod mills and tumblers.
  • Exemplary mixing type vessels include mixing tanks, blenders, and attrition scrubbers. In the case of mixing type vessels, a sufficient amount of agitation is needed to keep the formed agglomerates in suspension.
  • the solids content of the feed is, in one embodiment, greater than 40 wt.% so that compaction forces assist agglomerate formation.
  • the agitation of the slurry has an impact on the growth of the agglomerates.
  • the mixing power can be increased in order to limit the growth of agglomerates by attrition of said agglomerates.
  • the fill volume and rotation rate of the vessel can be adjusted in order to increase the compaction forces used in the comminution of agglomerates.
  • Extraction Liquor The extraction liquor comprises a solvent used to extract bitumen from the bituminous feed.
  • solvent used to extract bitumen from the bituminous feed.
  • solvent should be understood to mean either a single solvent, or a combination of solvents.
  • the extraction liquor comprises a hydrocarbon solvent capable of dissolving the bitumen.
  • the extraction liquor may be a solution of a hydrocarbon solvent(s) and bitumen, where the bitumen content of the extraction liquor may range between 10 to 50 wt%. It may be desirable to have dissolved bitumen within the extraction liquor in order to increase the volume of the extraction liquor without an increase in the required inventory of hydrocarbon solvent(s). In cases where non-aromatic hydrocarbon solvents are used, the dissolved bitumen within the extraction liquor also increases the solubility of the extraction liquor towards dissolving additional bitumen.
  • the extraction liquor may be mixed with the bituminous feed to form a slurry where most or all of the bitumen from the oil sands is dissolved into the extraction liquor.
  • the solids content of the slurry is in the range of 10 wt% to 75 wt%, or 50 to 65 wt%.
  • a slurry with a higher solids content may be more suitable for agglomeration in a rolling type vessel, where the compressive forces aid in the formation of compact agglomerates.
  • turbulent flow type vessels such as an attrition scrubber, a slurry with a lower solids content may be more suitable.
  • the solvent used in the process may include low boiling point solvents such as low boiling point cycloalkanes, or a mixture of such cycloalkanes, which substantially dissolve asphaltenes.
  • the solvent may comprise a paraffinic solvent in which the solvent to bitumen ratio is maintained at a level to avoid or limit precipitation of asphaltenes.
  • a low boiling point solvent While it is not necessary to use a low boiling point solvent, when it is used, there is the extra advantage that solvent recovery through an evaporative process proceeds at lower temperatures, and requires a lower energy consumption.
  • a low boiling point solvent is selected, it may be one having a boiling point of less than 100 °C.
  • the solvent selected according to certain embodiments may comprise an organic solvent or a mixture of organic solvents.
  • the solvent may comprise a paraffinic solvent, an open chain aliphatic hydrocarbon, a cyclic aliphatic hydrocarbon, or a mixture thereof.
  • a paraffinic solvent it may comprise an alkane, a natural gas condensate, a distillate from a fractionation unit (or diluent cut), or a combination of these containing more than 40% small chain paraffins of 5 to 10 carbon atoms. These embodiments would be considered primarily a small chain (or short chain) paraffin mixture.
  • the alkane may comprise a normal alkane, an iso-alkane, or a combination thereof.
  • the alkane may specifically comprise heptane, iso- heptane, hexane, iso-hexane, pentane, iso-pentane, or a combination thereof.
  • a cyclic aliphatic hydrocarbon be selected as the solvent, it may comprise a cycloalkane of 4 to 9 carbon atoms. A mixture of C 4 -C 9 cyclic and/or open chain aliphatic solvents would be appropriate.
  • Exemplary cycloalkanes include cyclohexane, cyclopentane, or a mixture thereof.
  • the solvent is selected as the distillate from a fractionation unit, it may for example be one having a final boiling point of less than 180 °C.
  • An exemplary upper limit of the final boiling point of the distillate may be less than 100 °C.
  • a mixture of C 4 -Ci 0 cyclic and/or open chain aliphatic solvents would also be appropriate.
  • it can be a mixture of C 4 -C 9 cyclic aliphatic hydrocarbons and paraffinic solvents where the percentage of the cyclic aliphatic hydrocarbons in the mixture is greater than 50%.
  • Extraction liquor may be recycled from a downstream step.
  • solvent recovered in a solvent recovery unit may be used to wash agglomerates, and the resulting stream may be used as extraction liquor.
  • the extraction liquor may comprise residual bitumen and residual solid fines.
  • the residual bitumen increases the volume of the extraction liquor and it may increase the solubility of the extraction liquor for additional bitumen dissolution.
  • the solvent may also include additives. These additives may or may not be considered a solvent per se. Possible additives may be components such as de-emulsifying agents or solids aggregating agents. Having an agglomerating agent additive present in the bridging liquid and dispersed in the first solvent may be helpful in the subsequent agglomeration step.
  • Exemplary agglomerating agent additives include cements, fly ash, gypsum, lime, brine, water softening wastes (e.g. magnesium oxide and calcium carbonate), solids conditioning and anti-erosion aids such as polyvinyl acetate emulsion, commercial fertilizer, humic substances (e.g. fulvic acid), polyacrylamide based flocculants and others. Additives may also be added prior to gravity separation with the second solvent to enhance removal of suspended solids and prevent emulsification of the two solvents.
  • Exemplary additives include methanoic acid, ethylcellulose and polyoxyalkylate block polymers.
  • a bridging liquid is a liquid with affinity for the solids particles in the bituminous feed, and which is immiscible in the solvent.
  • Exemplary aqueous liquids may be recycled water from other aspects or steps of oil sands processing.
  • the aqueous liquid need not be pure water, and may indeed be water containing one or more salt, a waste product from conventional aqueous oil sand extraction processes which may include additives, aqueous solutions with a range of pH, or any other acceptable aqueous solution capable of adhering to solid particles within an agglomerator in such a way that permits fines to adhere to each other.
  • An exemplary bridging liquid is water.
  • the total amount of bridging liquid added to the slurry may be controlled in order to optimize bitumen recovery and the rate of solid-liquid separation. The value will depend on the measured properties described herein.
  • the total amount of bridging liquid added to the slurry may be such that a ratio of bridging liquid plus connate water from the bituminous feed to solids within the agglomerated slurry is in the range of 0.02 to 0.25, or in the range of 0.05 to 0.1 1 .
  • the bridging liquid to solids ratio may be obtained by feedback control.
  • the bridging liquid may contain fine particles (sized less than 44 ⁇ ) suspended therein. These fine particles may serve as seed particles for the agglomeration process. In one embodiment, the bridging liquid has a solids content of less than 40 wt.%.
  • the bridging liquid and fines particles slurry is also referred to herein as sludge from a water-based extraction process.
  • Suitable sludge steams include, but are not limited to, water-based extraction streams such as middling from primary separation, secondary and tertiary separation tailings, froth treatment tailings, mature fine tailings from tailings ponds, or a new stream resulting from passing any of these streams through a thickener, hydrocyclone, or other processes.
  • middlings passed through a cyclone might generate an overflow stream and an underflow stream. Either stream could be used in this process as bridging liquid.
  • Sludge may also be produced within the solvent extraction with solids agglomeration process by mixing bridging liquid with agglomerated tailings. In this way, a portion of the agglomerated solids are recycled through the process.
  • bridging liquid with a significant solid content may allow for greater control of the agglomeration process.
  • the bridging liquid may be added after the production of the oil sands slurry or before the production of the oil sands slurry.
  • the bitumen is first extracted from the bituminous feed prior to agglomeration in order to prevent (or limit) the agglomeration process from hampering the dissolution of bitumen into the extraction liquor, which may increase bitumen recovery.
  • the bridging liquid may be directly mixed with the bituminous feed before or at the same time as the extraction liquor in order to minimize the dispersion of fines, which may reduce the solids content of the bitumen extract after the agglomeration process.
  • the control system described herein can be used to control where in the solvent extraction with solids agglomeration process the bridging liquid is added based on the output of the process.
  • the bridging liquid may comprise less than 40 wt% solids fines.
  • the agglomerated slurry may have a solids content of 20 to 70 wt%.
  • Ratio of Solvent to Bitumen for Agglomeration The process may be adjusted to render the ratio of the solvent to bitumen in the agglomerator at a level that avoids precipitation of asphaltenes during agglomeration. Some amount of asphaltene precipitation is unavoidable, but by adjusting the amount of solvent flowing into the system, with respect to the expected amount of bitumen in the bituminous feed, when taken together with the amount of bitumen that may be entrained in the extraction liquor used, can permit the control of a ratio of solvent to bitumen in the agglomerator.
  • An exemplary ratio of solvent to bitumen to be selected as a target ratio during agglomeration is less than 2:1. A ratio of 1.5:1 or less, and a ratio of 1 :1 or less, for example, a ratio of 0.75:1 , would also be considered acceptable target ratios for agglomeration.
  • ratios may be expressed herein using a colon between two values, such as “2:1 ", or may equally be expressed as a single number, such as "2", which carries the assumption that the denominator of the ratio is 1 and is expressed on a weight to weight basis.
  • Measurement of the solvent and bitumen content of the extraction liquor and/or bitumen extract could occur directly or by proxy.
  • Direct measurement of solvent and bitumen content could involve evaporating off the solvent and measuring the mass of both liquids, or use of a gas chromatograph, mass balance, spectrometer, or titration.
  • Indirect measurement of solvent and bitumen content could include measuring density, the index of refraction, opacity, or other properties.
  • the slurry system may optionally be a mix box, a pump, or a combination of these.
  • the bitumen entrained within the feed is given an opportunity to become extracted into the solvent phase prior to agglomeration within the agglomerator.
  • the resulting slurry from the slurry system may have a solid content in the range of 20 to 65 wt%. In another embodiment, the slurry may have a solid content in the range of 20 to 50 wt%. In another embodiment, the slurry may have a solid content in the range of 40 to 65 wt%.
  • a lower solid content may be preferred since that will assist in the proper mixing of the bridging liquid and reduce the mixing energy needed to keep the slurry well mixed.
  • a higher solid content may be preferred since that will increase the compaction forces used in the comminution of agglomerates. Additionally, the increased compaction forces may reduce the amount of hydrocarbons that remain in the agglomerates and produce stronger agglomerates.
  • the preferred temperature of the slurry is in the range of 20-60 °C.
  • An elevated slurry temperature is desired in order to increase the bitumen dissolution rate and reduce the viscosity of the slurry to promote more effective sand digestion and agglomerate formation. Temperatures above 60 °C are generally avoided due to the complications resulting from high vapor pressures.
  • the recycle loops, (1020) and (1022) can be used in the control system described herein to adjust the effective residence time within the slurry system (1005) and agglomerator (1006).
  • properties of the bituminous feed and extraction liquor (1002) are measured (A).
  • the bituminous feed may be measured prior to contact with the extraction liquor.
  • the bridging liquid (1004) is added to the slurry system (1005) and the slurry is passed to the agglomerator (1006) to produce outputs (1008) (i.e. the agglomerates and the low solids bitumen extract) of the agglomeration process.
  • One or more properties of the outputs (1008) are measured (B).
  • the measurements may be performed continuously.
  • the measurements (A and B) are used in a control system (1010) to adjust a parameter of the process, for instance the amount and/or composition of an input. For instance, a portion of the agglomerated solids (1022) or a portion of the slurry prior to agglomeration (1020) could be recycled back into the process to adjust effective residence time and/or increase solids content.
  • the results plotted in Figure 8 and Figure 9 also suggest that it is preferable for the residence time of the extraction process be greater or much greater than the residence time of the agglomeration process.
  • the extraction process may occur in the slurry system and the agglomeration process may occur in the agglomerator.
  • the residence time of the extraction process may be greater than 5 minutes, or may be greater than 10 minutes, or may be greater than 15 minutes, or may greater than 30 minutes.
  • the residence time of the agglomeration process may be in the range of 15 seconds to 10 minutes.
  • the residence time of the agglomeration process may be in the range of 1 to 5 minutes.
  • Solid-Liquid Separator As described above, the agglomerated slurry may be separated into a low solids bitumen extract and agglomerates in a solid-liquid separator.
  • the solid-liquid separator may comprise any type of unit capable of separating solids from liquids, so as to remove agglomerates. Exemplary types of units include a gravity separator, a clarifier, a cyclone, a screen, a belt filter or a combination thereof.
  • the system may contain a solid-liquid separator but may alternatively contain more than one.
  • a solid-liquid separator When more than one solid-liquid separation step is employed at this stage of the process, it may be said that both steps are conducted within one solid-liquid separator, or if such steps are dissimilar, or not proximal to each other, it may be said that a primary solid-liquid separator is employed together with a secondary solid-liquid separator.
  • a primary and secondary unit are both employed, generally, the primary unit separates agglomerates, while the secondary unit involves washing agglomerates.
  • Non-limiting methods of solid-liquid separation of an agglomerated slurry are described in Canadian Patent Application Serial No. 2,724,806 (Adeyinka et al.), filed December 10, 2010.
  • a secondary stage of separation may be introduced for countercurrently washing the agglomerates separated from the agglomerated slurry.
  • the initial separation of agglomerates may be said to occur in a primary solid-liquid separator, while the secondary stage may occur within the primary unit, or may be conducted completely separately in a secondary solid-liquid separator.
  • countercurrently washing it is meant that a progressively cleaner solvent is used to wash bitumen from the agglomerates.
  • Solvent involved in the final wash of agglomerates may be re-used for one or more upstream washes of agglomerates, so that the more bitumen entrained on the agglomerates, the less clean will be the solvent used to wash agglomerates at that stage. The result being that the cleanest wash of agglomerates is conducted using the cleanest solvent.
  • a secondary solid-liquid separator for countercurrently washing agglomerates may be included in the system or may be included as a component of a system described herein.
  • the secondary solid-liquid separator may be separate or incorporated within the primary solid-liquid separator.
  • the secondary solid-liquid separator may optionally be a gravity separator, a cyclone, a screen or belt filter.
  • a secondary solvent recovery unit for recovering solvent arising from the solid-liquid separator can be included.
  • the secondary solvent recovery unit may be a conventional fractionation tower or a distillation unit.
  • the secondary stage for countercurrently washing the agglomerates may comprise a gravity separator, a cyclone, a screen, a belt filter, or a combination thereof.
  • the solvent used for washing the agglomerates may be solvent recovered from the low solids bitumen extract, as described with reference to Figures 2 to 4.
  • a second solvent may alternatively or additionally be used as described in Canadian Patent Application Serial No. 2,724,806 (Adeyinka et al.) for additional bitumen extraction downstream of the agglomerator.
  • Recycle and Recovery of Solvent The process may involve removal and recovery of solvent used in the process.
  • an exemplary solvent:bitumen ratio in the agglomerator may be 2:1 or lower, it is acceptable to use recycled solvent containing bitumen to achieve this ratio.
  • the amount of make-up solvent required for the process may depend solely on solvent losses, as there is no requirement to store and/or not re-use solvent that has been used in a previous extraction step. When solvent is said to be "removed”, or “recovered”, this does not require removal or recovery of all solvent, as it is understood that some solvent will be retained with the bitumen even when the majority of the solvent is removed.
  • the system may contain a single solvent recovery unit for recovering the solvent(s) arising from the gravity separator.
  • the system may alternatively contain more than one solvent recovery unit.
  • Solvent may be recovered by conventional means.
  • typical solvent recovery units may comprise a fractionation tower or a distillation unit.
  • the solvent recovered in this fashion will not contain bitumen entrained therein.
  • This clean solvent is preferably used in the last wash stage of the agglomerate washing process in order that the cleanest wash of the agglomerates is conducted using the cleanest solvent.
  • the solvent recovered in the process may comprise entrained bitumen therein, and can thus be re-used as the extraction liquor for combining with the bituminous feed.
  • Other optional steps of the process may incorporate the solvent having bitumen entrained therein, for example in countercurrent washing of agglomerates, or for adjusting the solvent and bitumen content prior to agglomeration to achieve the selected ratio within the agglomerator that avoids precipitation of asphaltenes.
  • Solvent may be added to the agglomerated slurry for dilution of the slurry before discharge into the primary solid-liquid separator, which may be for example a deep cone settler. This dilution can be carried out in a staged manner to pre-condition the primary solid-liquid separator feed to promote higher solids settling rates and lower solids content in the solid-liquid separator's overflow.
  • the solvent with which the slurry is diluted may be derived from recycled liquids from the liquid-solid separation stage or from other sources within the process.
  • the solvent to bitumen ratio of the feed into the agglomerator is set to obtain from about 10 to about 90 wt% bitumen in the discharge, and a workable viscosity at a given temperature. In certain cases, these viscosities may not be optimal for the solid-liquid separation (or settling) step. In such an instance, a dilution solvent of equal or lower viscosity may be added to enhance the separation of the agglomerated solids in the clarifier, while improving the quality of the clarifier overflow by reducing viscosity to permit more solids to settle.
  • dilution of agglomerator discharge may involve adding the solvent, or a separate dilution solvent, which may, for example, comprise an alkane.
  • Embodiments of the disclosure can be represented as a computer program product stored in a machine-readable medium (also referred to as a computer-readable medium, a processor-readable medium, or a computer usable medium having a computer-readable program code embodied therein).
  • the machine-readable medium can be any suitable tangible, non-transitory medium, including magnetic, optical, or electrical storage medium including a diskette, compact disk read only memory (CD-ROM), memory device (volatile or non-volatile), or similar storage mechanism.
  • the machine- readable medium can contain various sets of instructions, code sequences, configuration information, or other data, which, when executed, cause a processor to perform steps in a method according to an embodiment of the disclosure.
  • This composition translated to a solids content of 50 wt% and a water to solids ratio of 0.11 for the agglomerated slurry.
  • a Parr reactor (series 5100) (Parr Instrument Company, Moline, IL, USA) was used as the extractor and agglomerator. The reactor vessel was made of glass that permits direct observation of the mixing process. A turbine type impeller powered by an explosion proof motor of 0.25 hp was used. The mixing and agglomeration speed of the impeller were set to 1500 rpm. This rotation speed allowed the slurry to remain fluidized at all conditions of the experiments. The agglomeration experiments were conducted at room temperature (22 °C).
  • Soxhlet extractor combined with Dean-Stark azeotropic distillation, to determine the material contents of the agglomerated slurry.
  • Toluene was used as the extraction solvent.
  • the oil sand solids were dried overnight in an oven (100 °C) and then weighed to determine the solids content of the agglomerated slurry.
  • the water content was determined by measuring the volume of the collected water within the side arm of the Dean-Stark apparatus.
  • the bitumen content of the agglomerated slurry was determined by evaporating the toluene and residual cyclohexane from an aliquot of the hydrocarbon extract from the Soxhlet extractor.
  • the initial liquid drainage rate was calculated by measuring the time needed to drain 50 ml_ of bitumen extract above the bed of agglomerated solids.
  • Figure 8 plots the bitumen recovery and the initial liquid filtration rate as a function of the extraction residence time. The figure shows that the bitumen recovery and the initial liquid filtration rate increases as the extraction time increases for batch experiments conducted with the agglomeration time kept constant at 2 minutes.
  • Figure 9 plots the bitumen recovery and the initial liquid filtration rate as a function of the agglomeration residence time. The figure shows that the bitumen recovery reaches a maximum and then decreases as the agglomeration time increases for batch experiments conducted with the extraction time kept constant at 5 minutes. The decrease in recovery beyond the maximum recovery is most likely due to excessive agglomerate growth that lead to entrapment of the bitumen extract within the agglomerates. However, this growth of agglomerates does result in a continuous increase in the initial filtration rate as the agglomeration time increases.

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  • Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
  • Wood Science & Technology (AREA)
  • Production Of Liquid Hydrocarbon Mixture For Refining Petroleum (AREA)
  • Extraction Or Liquid Replacement (AREA)
  • Treatment Of Sludge (AREA)

Abstract

L'invention concerne un procédé de traitement d'une alimentation bitumineuse. L'alimentation bitumineuse est mise en contact avec une liqueur d'extraction pour former une bouillie. Un liquide pontant est ajouté à la bouillie, et, les matières solides sont soumises à une agitation à l'intérieur de la bouillie pour former une bouillie agglomérée comprenant des agglomérats et un extrait de bitume à faible teneur en matières solides. Afin de réguler l'agglomération, la bouillie est analysée et le procédé de traitement est ajusté en conséquence.
PCT/US2012/028573 2011-05-27 2012-03-09 Procédé de traitement d'une alimentation bitumineuse doté d'un commande par rétroaction Ceased WO2012166229A2 (fr)

Priority Applications (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US14/113,207 US20140076784A1 (en) 2011-05-27 2012-03-09 Method of processing a bituminous feed with feedback control

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
CA2741280A CA2741280C (fr) 2011-05-27 2011-05-27 Procede de traitement de charge d'alimentation de bitume
CA2741280 2011-05-27

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
WO2012166229A2 true WO2012166229A2 (fr) 2012-12-06
WO2012166229A3 WO2012166229A3 (fr) 2014-05-01

Family

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Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
PCT/US2012/028573 Ceased WO2012166229A2 (fr) 2011-05-27 2012-03-09 Procédé de traitement d'une alimentation bitumineuse doté d'un commande par rétroaction

Country Status (3)

Country Link
US (1) US20140076784A1 (fr)
CA (1) CA2741280C (fr)
WO (1) WO2012166229A2 (fr)

Families Citing this family (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
CA3016908A1 (fr) 2018-09-07 2020-03-07 Suncor Energy Inc. Extraction non aqueuse du bitume des sables bitumineux
CA3051955A1 (fr) 2019-08-14 2021-02-14 Suncor Energy Inc. Extraction et separation non aqueuses de bitume a partir de minerai de sables bitumineux a l'aide d'un solvant paraffinique et de bitume desasphaltee
US20230235232A1 (en) * 2020-05-15 2023-07-27 Gary L. Stevenson Multistage oil reclamation system
CN119177129B (zh) * 2024-11-26 2025-03-14 宝迈圣本测控技术(天津)有限公司 一种多相流体混输油水气分离装置

Family Cites Families (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4036732A (en) * 1975-02-06 1977-07-19 Exxon Research And Engineering Company Tar sands extraction process
US4057486A (en) * 1975-07-14 1977-11-08 Canadian Patents And Development Limited Separating organic material from tar sands or oil shale
CA1249976A (fr) * 1985-06-28 1989-02-14 Bryan D. Sparks Procede d'extraction et de separation par solvant des hydrocarbures contenues dans les sables bitumineux
US7416671B2 (en) * 2004-07-21 2008-08-26 Rj Oil Sands Inc. Separation and recovery of bitumen oil from tar sands

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
CA2741280A1 (fr) 2012-11-27
US20140076784A1 (en) 2014-03-20
WO2012166229A3 (fr) 2014-05-01
CA2741280C (fr) 2014-08-19

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