Non-aqueous extraction of Alberta
oil sands is of great interest to developing an alternative to the
current hot-water extraction process to eliminate the tailing ponds.
Investigations have been conducted to evaluate the performance of
solvent mixtures to extract bitumen from a high-grade oil sands ore.
Solvent mixtures of cycloalkane and n-alkanes were
studied on the basis of their Hildebrand solubility parameters, which
affect bitumen recovery and fine solids migration during the extraction
process, and the results were compared to single solvents. Cyclohexane,
cyclopentane, and methylcyclopentane were selected as the cycloalkane
solvents, and they were studied in combination with n-alkane solvents, such as n-heptane, n-hexane, or n-pentane, to make up a final solubility
parameter between 16.65 and 16.45 MPa1/2 for the final
solvent mixture. It was observed that the solubility parameter of
the solvent mixture has more impact on the migration of fine solids
in bitumen than the recovery of bitumen. The amount of fine solids
migrating into the bitumen product followed the order of cycloalkane/n-heptane > cycloalkane/n-hexane >
cycloalkane/n-pentane.
O gerenciamento da água produzida (AP) de petróleo se constitui em um enorme desafio para as empresas petrolíferas. As alternativas usualmente adotadas para o seu destino são o descarte, injeção e o reúso. Em todos os casos é necessário tratamento da AP, a fim de evitar danos ao meio ambiente e às instalações de produção ou a fim de permitir o seu reúso sem causar prejuízos aos processos nos quais a AP será utilizada. Os processos de separação por membranas (PSM) têm se mostrado capazes de tratar efluentes que apresentam elevados teores de óleo em emulsão e de partículas com tamanhos médios e pequenos, competindo, assim, com tecnologias de tratamento mais complexas, tais como flotação. O objetivo deste artigo foi apresentar uma revisão sobre o tratamento de AP utilizando os PSM discutindo os principais aspectos da AP e os aspectos conceituais dos PSM, com ênfase para sua aplicação para remoção de óleo da AP.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.