Demulsification of bitumen emulsions
First Claim
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1. A process for recovering petroleum from oil-in-water bitumen emulsions by demulsifying said emulsions by adding thereto demulsifiers comprising hompolymers or co-polymers of greater than about 2,000 molecular weight of monomers having the general structure ##STR8## where R=H or lower alkyl, X=NH or 0, n>
- 1, R1 and R2 are hydrogen or alkyl wherein the homopolymer and/or co-polymer is in the salt form and monomers of the above structure comprise greater than 50% of the total co-polymer where a co-polymer is used.
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Abstract
A process for recovering bitumen from oil-in-water (O/W) emulsions is disclosed wherein water soluble demulsifiers are used. These demulsifiers are salts of polymers and/or co-polymers of specific cationic monomers. To resolve the bituminous petroleum emulsions, the process is carried out between 25° and 160° C. wherein the demulsifier of the invention is contacted with the bituminous emulsion.
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10 Claims
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1. A process for recovering petroleum from oil-in-water bitumen emulsions by demulsifying said emulsions by adding thereto demulsifiers comprising hompolymers or co-polymers of greater than about 2,000 molecular weight of monomers having the general structure ##STR8## where R=H or lower alkyl, X=NH or 0, n>
- 1, R1 and R2 are hydrogen or alkyl wherein the homopolymer and/or co-polymer is in the salt form and monomers of the above structure comprise greater than 50% of the total co-polymer where a co-polymer is used.
- View Dependent Claims (2, 3)
- 4. A process for recovering petroleum from O/W bitumen emulsions by demulsifying said emulsions by adding thereto demulsifiers comprising homopolymers or co-polymers of greater than about 2,000 molecular weight of monomers having the general structure ##STR9## where R, R1 and R2 are all CH3, X=NH and n=3 wherein the homopolymer and/or co-polymer is in the salt form and monomers of the above structure comprise greater than 50% of the total co-polymer where a copolymer is used.
- 7. A process for recovering petroleum from O/W bitumen emulsions by demulsifying said emulsions by adding thereto demulsifiers comprising homopolymers or co-polymers of greater than about 2,000 molecular weight of monomers having the general structure ##STR10## where R1 and R2 =CH3, X=0, and n=1 wherein the homopolymer and/or co-polymer is in the salt form and monomers of the above structure comprise greater than 50% of the total co-polymer where a co-polymer is used.
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10. A process for recovering bitumen from a tar sand formation comprising
injecting into the tar sand a fluid containing hot water and/or steam in order to emulsify the bitumen in the tar sand, recovering the emulsified bitumen, demulsifying said emulsions by adding thereto demulsifiers comprising homopolymers or co-polymers of greater than about 2,000 molecular weight of monomers having the general structure ##STR11## where R=H or lower alkyl, X=NH or 0, n> - 1, R1 and R2 are hydrogen or alkyl wherein the homopolymer and/or co-polymer is in the salt form and monomers of the above structure comprise greater than 50% of the total co-polymer where a co-polymer is used,
converting the salts of the polymers or co-polymers into inactive polymers or co-polymers by pH adjustment of the aqueous phase of the broken emulsion, and reinjecting the aqueous phase into a bitumen containing formation to recover additional bitumen.
- 1, R1 and R2 are hydrogen or alkyl wherein the homopolymer and/or co-polymer is in the salt form and monomers of the above structure comprise greater than 50% of the total co-polymer where a co-polymer is used,
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