Methods of tar sand bitumen recovery
First Claim
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1. A method of recovery of bitumen from tar sands comprising the steps of:
- mixing tar sands, an organic solvent effective in solubilizing bitumen including asphaltenes from the mineral of said tar sand and a displacing amount of no more than about one void volume of an aqueous medium effective in displacing bitumen-rich solvent from said ground tar sands and in avoiding substantially spontaneous emulsion formation to form a first mixture, said mixing being at tar sands mixing conditions including mixing intensity and duration to suspend said tar sand and provide sufficient mass transfer between phases of said first mixture without significant emulsion formation, said first mixture being readily separable to a bitumen solution and a sand-water mixture upon cessation of said mixing;
separating a bitumen-rich solvent phase from said first mixture leaving an aqueous mineral phase containing a residual amount of said solvent; and
recovering bitumen from the bitumen-rich solvent phase.
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Abstract
Methods for the recovery of bitumen from tar sands comprising the steps of mixing tar sand, solvent and a displacing amount of aqueous medium to form a mixture, followed by separating a bitumen-rich solvent phase from the mixture and recovering bitumen from the bitumen-rich solvent phase are disclosed.
145 Citations
35 Claims
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1. A method of recovery of bitumen from tar sands comprising the steps of:
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mixing tar sands, an organic solvent effective in solubilizing bitumen including asphaltenes from the mineral of said tar sand and a displacing amount of no more than about one void volume of an aqueous medium effective in displacing bitumen-rich solvent from said ground tar sands and in avoiding substantially spontaneous emulsion formation to form a first mixture, said mixing being at tar sands mixing conditions including mixing intensity and duration to suspend said tar sand and provide sufficient mass transfer between phases of said first mixture without significant emulsion formation, said first mixture being readily separable to a bitumen solution and a sand-water mixture upon cessation of said mixing; separating a bitumen-rich solvent phase from said first mixture leaving an aqueous mineral phase containing a residual amount of said solvent; and recovering bitumen from the bitumen-rich solvent phase. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A method of recovery of bitumen from tar sand, said tar sand being at least partially consolidated, said method comprising the steps of:
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solvent/water wet grinding said tar sands; mixing the ground tar sands, an organic solvent effective in solubilizing bitumen including asphaltenes from the mineral of said tar sands and a displacing amount of no more than about one void volume of an aqueous medium effective in displacing bitumen-rich solvent from said ground tar sands and in avoiding substantially spontaneous emulsion formation to form a first mixture, said mixing being at tar sands mixing conditions including mixing intensity and duration to suspend said tar sands and provide sufficient mass transfer between phases of said first mixture without significant emulsion formation, said first mixture being readily separable to a bitumen solution and a sand-water mixture upon cessation of said mixing; separating a bitumen-rich solvent phase from said first mixture leaving an aqueous mineral phase containing a residual amount of said solvent; stripping residual solvent from said aqueous mineral phase; recovering water from said solvent stripped aqueous mineral phase; removing fines from said bitumen-rich solvent phase; and recovering bitumen from said bitumen-rich solvent phase. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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29. A method of recovery of bitumen from tar sand, said tar sand being at least partially consolidated oil wet tar sand from the Sunnyside deposit in Carbon County, Utah, said method comprising the steps of:
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wet grinding said tar sands to a particle size of no larger than about one-half inch; mixing said ground tar sands, an organic solvent effective in solubilizing bitumen including asphaltenes from the mineral of said tar sands and a displacing amount of no more than about one void volume of an aqueous medium effective in displacing bitumen-rich solvent from said ground tar sands and in avoiding substantially spontaneous emulsion formation to form a first mixture, said displacing amount of said aqueous medium comprising about 0.22-0.27 pounds of water per pound of mineral, said mixing being at tar sand mixing conditions including a mixing intensity of at least about one horsepower per thousand gallons of said mixture and a mixing duration of at least one minute to suspend said tar sands and provide sufficient mass transfer between phases of the mixture without significant emulsion formation, said first mixture being readily separable to a bitumen solution and a sand-water mixture upon cessation of said mixing; separating a bitumen-rich solvent phase from said first mixture leaving an aqueous mineral phase containing a residual amount of said solvent; stripping residual solvent from said aqueous mineral phase; recovering water from said solvent stripped aqueous mineral phase; reducing the fines contents of the bitumen-rich solvent phase; and recovering bitumen from said bitumen-rich solvent phase. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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Specification