Process for solvent extraction of oil sand bitumen
AssigneeSYNCRUDE CANADA LTD. in trust for the owners of the Syncrude Project as such owners exist now and in the future
InventorsXin Alex Wu, Sujit Bhattacharya
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A process for solvent extraction of bitumen from mined oil sand ore is provided, comprising mixing the mined oil sand ore with at least one solvent to produce a solvent/oil sand slurry; adding water to the solvent/oil sand slurry to produce a slurry having a water-to-solids mass ratio of less than about 0.1; mixing the slurry in a mixing tank having a diameter to agglomerate the solids present in the slurry, the mixing tank operating at a power input of between 20 and 50 W/kg of slurry, to produce an agglomerated slurry; and subjecting the agglomerated slurry to solid-liquid separation to produce a first liquids stream containing bitumen and a first solids stream; whereby the slurry height in the mixing tank is 0.1 to 0.3 of the tank diameter.
Claims11
A process for solvent extraction of bitumen from mined oil sand ore, comprising:
- (a) mixing the mined oil sand ore with at least one solvent to produce a solvent/oil sand slurry;
- (b) adding water to the solvent/oil sand slurry to produce a slurry having a water-to-solids mass ratio of less than about 0.1;
- (c) mixing the slurry in a mixing tank having a diameter to agglomerate the solids present in the slurry, the mixing tank operating at a power input of between 20 and 50 W/kg of slurry, to produce an agglomerated slurry;
- and
- (d) subjecting the agglomerated slurry to solid-liquid separation to produce a first liquids stream containing bitumen and a first solids stream;
- whereby the slurry height in the mixing tank is 0.1 to 0.3 of the tank diameter.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.