Oil recovery from tar sands
First Claim
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1. A process for the extraction and recovery of oil from oil wet tar sands comprising:
- (a) introducing an oil wet tar sand, a surfactant, said surfactant being an inorganic polymeric complex having the general structural formula--[M'"'"'M"(NH--H)x M")]n wherein M'"'"' represents an alkali metal, M" represents one or more non-alkaline metals of Group I-VIII of the Periodic Table, x represents the total valence of M'"'"' and M" and n represents the numbers of repeating units in the inorganic polymeric complex, and a fluid selected from the group consisting of at least one of water, steam, air or mixtures thereof into a fluidization zone;
(b) introducing at least one of air, steam or a combination thereof into said fluidization zone so as to establish vigorous fluidization conditions in said fluidization zone thereby forming a multiphase mixture therein comprising a solid phase consisting essentially of sand particles, at least one liquid phase which is one of oil or water, and an oil containing froth phase;
(c) withdrawing said multiphase mixture from said fluidization zone;
(d) introducing said multiphase mixture into a separation zone wherein said multiphase mixture is separated into a sand phase and an oil containing liquid phase;
(e) separating said oil containing liquid phase into an oil phase and an aqueous phase; and
(f) recovering said oil phase as a product of the process.
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Abstract
A process for recovering oil from oil wet and particularly from oil-wet, acidic tar sands is described in which these sands are subjected to vigorous fluidization in the presence of water, air and a surfactant but in the absence of an extraneous hydrocarbon solvent. This step produces a multiphase mixture including an oil containing froth enabling gravity separation, e.g. in hydrocyclone.
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4 Claims
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1. A process for the extraction and recovery of oil from oil wet tar sands comprising:
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(a) introducing an oil wet tar sand, a surfactant, said surfactant being an inorganic polymeric complex having the general structural formula--[M'"'"'M"(NH--H)x M")]n wherein M'"'"' represents an alkali metal, M" represents one or more non-alkaline metals of Group I-VIII of the Periodic Table, x represents the total valence of M'"'"' and M" and n represents the numbers of repeating units in the inorganic polymeric complex, and a fluid selected from the group consisting of at least one of water, steam, air or mixtures thereof into a fluidization zone; (b) introducing at least one of air, steam or a combination thereof into said fluidization zone so as to establish vigorous fluidization conditions in said fluidization zone thereby forming a multiphase mixture therein comprising a solid phase consisting essentially of sand particles, at least one liquid phase which is one of oil or water, and an oil containing froth phase; (c) withdrawing said multiphase mixture from said fluidization zone; (d) introducing said multiphase mixture into a separation zone wherein said multiphase mixture is separated into a sand phase and an oil containing liquid phase; (e) separating said oil containing liquid phase into an oil phase and an aqueous phase; and (f) recovering said oil phase as a product of the process. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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Specification