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Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy of oil sands

  • US 9,719,933 B1
  • Filed: 11/23/2016
  • Issued: 08/01/2017
  • Est. Priority Date: 04/25/2016
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. A method of determining at least one property of interest of a test oil sands ore sample, comprising the steps of:

  • (a) applying a plurality of pulsed laser shots focused on a surface of the test oil sand ore sample to ablate the test oil sands ore sample and create a plurality of short-lived plasmas;

    (b) acquiring the emission spectra from at least some or all of the plasmas;

    (c) repeating steps (a) and (b) on one or more ablation sites until a predetermined minimum ablation depth and total ablation volume have been achieved;

    (d) averaging the acquired emission spectra together for the test oil sands ore sample to form a test emission spectrum;

    (e) optionally, preprocessing the test emission spectrum; and

    (f) applying at least one calibration loading to determine the at least one property of interest, wherein the at least one calibration loading is obtained from a chemometric model relating an emission spectrum, or a portion of an emission spectrum, obtained from a known oil sands ore sample to a reference value obtained from a physicochemical analysis method for determining the at least one property of interest of the known oil sands ore sample;

    provided that the test or known oil sands ore sample is not an aqueous oil sands slurry; and

    provided that the at least one property of interest measured chemometrically from acquired LIBS spectra comprises one or more of the following,(a) properties related to oil sand bitumen extraction characteristic(s), comprising one or more of;

    1. Primary bitumen recovery2. Combined primary and secondary bitumen recovery3. Primary froth bitumen content4. Combined primary and secondary froth bitumen content5. Primary froth water content6. Combined primary and secondary froth water content7. Primary froth solids content8. Combined primary and secondary froth solids content9. Optimal process aid dosage (including but not limited to caustic);

    or(b) properties conventionally measured in a laboratory comprising either or both;

    10. Solids particle size information;

    or11. Solids methylene blue index;

    and not % bitumen content in the original oil sands ore or elemental concentrations.

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