Bitumen production with solvent recovery system heat exchange techniques for bitumen froth treatment operations

A process for producing a bitumen product stream from a solvent-diluted heavy hydrocarbon stream, the process comprising:

• pre-heating the solvent-diluted heavy hydrocarbon stream with a heating stream in an indirect heat exchanger to produce a preheated solvent-diluted heavy hydrocarbon stream;
• separating the preheated solvent-diluted heavy hydrocarbon stream in a solvent-heavy hydrocarbon separation unit to produce a recovered solvent stream and a heated liquid component stream;
• reusing at least a portion of the heated liquid component stream as the heating medium for the pre-heating step to produce a cooled liquid component stream;
• providing the heated liquid component stream at a higher pressure relative to a pressure of the solvent-diluted hydrocarbon stream in the indirect heat exchanger to prevent the solvent-diluted heavy hydrocarbon stream from flowing into the heated liquid stream via a leak;
• and
• deriving the bitumen product stream from the cooled liquid component stream.

A process for separating a solvent-diluted hydrocarbon stream to produce recovered solvent vapour and liquid hydrocarbon product, the process comprising:

• feeding the solvent-diluted hydrocarbon stream into a solvent-hydrocarbon separation unit to produce a solvent vapour stream and a liquid component stream;
• pre-heating the solvent-diluted hydrocarbon stream in an indirect heat exchanger located upstream of the solvent-hydrocarbon separation unit using the liquid component stream and producing a cooled liquid component stream;
• providing a supplementary solvent-hydrocarbon separation unit downstream of the indirect heat exchanger to receive the cooled liquid component stream and produce a liquid hydrocarbon product stream;
• and
• monitoring operation of the supplementary solvent-hydrocarbon separation unit to detect a potential leak from the solvent-diluted hydrocarbon stream into the liquid component stream in the indirect heat exchanger.

A process for producing a bitumen product stream from a solvent-diluted bitumen stream resulting from solvent-assisted separation of a bitumen froth, the process comprising:

• pre-heating a solvent bitumen stream to produce a heated diluted bitumen stream, wherein the pre-heating comprises using at least a portion of the bitumen component stream as a heating stream in an indirect heat exchanger and wherein the pre-heating further comprises heating the heated diluted bitumen stream in a direct-fired heater to produce a pre-heated solvent-diluted bitumen stream;
• separating the pre-heated solvent-diluted bitumen stream in a first stage flash vessel to produce a first stage flash vessel bottoms stream and a first stage recovered solvent stream;
• separating at least a portion of the first stage flash vessel bottoms stream in a second stage separation column to produce a bitumen component stream and a second stage recovered solvent stream;
• and separating the bitumen component stream in a third stage Hash vessel to produce a bitumen product stream and a third stage recovered solvent stream.

A process for producing a bitumen product stream from a solvent-diluted bitumen stream resulting from solvent-assisted separation of a bitumen froth, the process comprising:

• separating the solvent-diluted bitumen stream in a first stage flash vessel to produce a first stage flash vessel bottoms stream and a first stage recovered solvent stream;
• separating at least a portion of the first stage flash vessel bottoms stream in a second stage separation column to produce a bitumen component stream and a second stage recovered solvent stream;
• and
• separating the bitumen component stream in a third stage flash vessel at a vacuum pressure less than atmospheric pressure to produce a bitumen product stream and a third stage recovered solvent stream.

A process for producing a bitumen product stream from a solvent-diluted bitumen stream resulting from solvent-assisted separation of a bitumen froth, the process comprising:

• separating the solvent-diluted bitumen stream in a first stage flash vessel to produce a first stage flash vessel bottoms stream and a first stage recovered solvent stream;
• separating at least a portion of the first stage flash vessel bottoms stream in a second stage separation column to produce a bitumen component stream and a second stage recovered solvent stream;
• separating the bitumen component stream in a third stage flash vessel to produce a bitumen product stream and a third stage recovered solvent stream;
• and
• monitoring a third stage pressure in the third stage flash vessel for a pressure increase due to vaporization of an increased amount of solvent in the bitumen component stream, and preventing the bitumen product stream from being sent to downstream storage facilities, pipeline or processing facilities if the increase of pressure is monitored within the third stage flash vessel.