Performance of Solvent Mixtures for Non-aqueous Extraction of Alberta Oil Sands

Pal, Krupal; Branco, Lucas da Paz Nogueira; Heintz, Annabell; Choi, Phillip; Liu, Qingxia; Seidl, Peter Rudolf; Gray, Murray R.

doi:10.1021/ef502882c

Cited by 47 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 15 publications

(39 reference statements)

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“…In other words, oil sands composition does not noticeably affect (or only has a minor effect) on bitumen quality and/or recovery; however, the oil sands composition significantly influences water based extraction. This idea is consistent with published papers that showed that NAE led to higher bitumen recovery even from low grade ores compared with water based extraction . On the other hand, bitumen recovery from the water‐based extraction process is significantly related to various parameters such as oil sands compositions, water salinity, presence of ions in water, water temperature, pH, bitumen viscosity, and additives.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Influence of Oil Sands Composition on Bitumen Quality During Non‐Aqueous Bitumen Extraction from the Athabasca Deposit

et al. 2018

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The aim of the present work is to identify the most important species affecting a non‐aqueous bitumen extraction process and bitumen quality. This investigation was carried out on four petrologic end member samples from Syncrude's North Mine collected in 2012 (NM12), i.e., marine claystone (MC), marine sand (MS), estuarine claystone (EC), and estuarine sand (ES). Each end member was separately mixed with cyclohexane at a ratio of 40:60 (cyclohexane:end member), and the bitumen‐cyclohexane solutions were collected at different settling times (1–30 min). These solutions were analyzed to determine the amount, particle size distribution, and mineralogical composition of suspended fine solids (SFS), water content, as well as the bitumen content using a focused beam reflectance measurement (FBRM) particle size analyzer, Karl Fischer (KF) titration, x‐ray diffraction (XRD), quantitative XRD (QXRD), and elemental analysis. The SFS was composed of mainly illite and kaolinite after cyclohexane extraction from MC, MS, EC, and ES. Although mixed layer expandable clay minerals (i.e., illite‐smectite and kaolinite‐smectite) were identified in the original clay, end members (EC and MC), illite‐smectite, and kaolinite‐smectite were not observed in the SFS of the bitumen‐cyclohexane solutions obtained from the four petrologic end members. The SFS content and bitumen quality of the bitumen product were affected slightly but significantly by the end member composition and settling time, respectively. Illite and kaolinite were identified as the main minerals in the SFS of the bitumen products after relatively long settling times.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Influence of Oil Sands Composition on Bitumen Quality During Non‐Aqueous Bitumen Extraction from the Athabasca Deposit

et al. 2018

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“…When selecting solvents for the extraction of bitumen, Pal et al (2015) and Nikakhtari et al (2013) have come to close agreement on what solubility parameter would be ideal for solvent-bitumen mixtures. Pal et al (2015) determined that the solvent solubility parameter should fall between 16.45 MPa 1/2 and 16.65 MPa 1/2 to minimize fines in bitumen, and Nikakhtari et al (2013) determined that solubility parameters above 16.5 MPa 1/2 are best to reduce fines migration into bitumen. A polymer selected in this range may also be soluble in diluted bitumen.…”

Section: Polymer Flocculant Selectionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Challenges in developing polymer flocculants to improve bitumen quality in non-aqueous extraction processes: an experimental study

Dixon

Stoyanov

et al. 2020

Pet. Sci.

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Western Canada's oil sands hold the third-largest hydrocarbon deposits in the world. Bitumen, a very heavy petroleum, is currently recovered by surface mining with warm water or in situ. Recovery processes that use organic solvents are being developed to reduce water usage and tailings production. While solvent-based methods can effectively extract bitumen, removal of residual fine solids from diluted bitumen product (DBP) to meet the pipeline transport requirement of < 0.5 wt% solids and water in DBP remains a major challenge. We propose a novel area of application of polymer flocculants for fine solids removal from DBP. In principle, polymer flocculants can be applied to help remove these residual solids in conjunction with physical separation processes to increase process effectiveness and energy efficiency. Several polymers are selected and screened for flocculation behavior using kaolinite suspended in DBP and toluene, as a model system. Focused beam reflectance measurements and force tensiometer techniques are used to determine flocculation and sedimentation in DBP. The observed flocculation and sedimentation rate enhancements indicate that the polymers tested have only minor effects, providing opportunities for advanced polymer development. These findings exemplify the challenges in identifying polymers that may be effective as flocculants in heavy petroleum media.Keywords Non-aqueous extraction · Diluted bitumen · Oil-soluble polymer flocculants · Sedimentation in dark and opaque media · Focused beam reflectance measurements

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“…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 [18]. However, the effect of the mixture on the chemical nature of the SARA component had never been reported in any open literature.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Extraction of Chemical Constituents of Bitumen Using a Mixed Solvent System

Odebunmi¹,

Olaremu²

2015

OJAppS

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Several solvents had been used to extract the SARA (Saturate, Aromatic, Resin and Asphaltene) constituents of bitumen. The quantification of such extracts also abounds in open literature but in this work an attempt was made to determine the quality of extraction as a feed stock for processing bitumen using a mixed solvent system. A mixture of heptane and toluene was used to compare with the standard method using heptane. The components were analysed for functional groups of compound types presented in them using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrophotometry technique (FTIR). The quality of bitumen component extract was not significantly affected by the method of extraction as recommended by the ASTM. The components are mixture of different class of hydrocarbons such as saturated and unsaturated hydrocarbons which conformed to what had earlier been reported by other researchers.

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Performance of Solvent Mixtures for Non-aqueous Extraction of Alberta Oil Sands

Cited by 47 publications

References 15 publications

Influence of Oil Sands Composition on Bitumen Quality During Non‐Aqueous Bitumen Extraction from the Athabasca Deposit

Influence of Oil Sands Composition on Bitumen Quality During Non‐Aqueous Bitumen Extraction from the Athabasca Deposit

Challenges in developing polymer flocculants to improve bitumen quality in non-aqueous extraction processes: an experimental study

Extraction of Chemical Constituents of Bitumen Using a Mixed Solvent System

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