Separation of tailings that include asphaltenes
AssigneeMarathon Oil Canada Corporation
InventorWillem P.C. Duyvesteyn
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Various systems and methods are described that can be used as part of a process to separate bitumen from oil sands. The process may include adding a hydrocarbon solvent to a bitumen containing extract. The tailings from this process may contain a significant amount of solvent. The solvent may be recovered from the tailings with a tailings solvent recovery unit that utilizes negative pressure to significantly reduce the cost of the process in comparison to a conventional steam stripping unit. In one embodiment, the tailings may also separated prior to entering the tailings solvent recovery unit with a gravity separation apparatus or a cyclonic separation apparatus, such as a hydrocyclone.
Claims27
A method comprising:
- separating tailings resulting from a process for recovering bitumen from oil sands into a first light component and a first heavy component with a cyclonic separation apparatus or a gravity separation apparatus, the first light component including, a majority of free hydrocarbon solvent in the tailings and a majority of precipitated asphaltenes in the tailings and the first heavy component including mineral solids;
- and
- separating the first light component into a second light component and a second heavy component with a cyclonic separation apparatus or a gravity separation apparatus, the second light component including a majority of the free hydrocarbon solvent in the first light component and the second heavy component including a majority of the precipitated asphaltenes in the first light component.
A method comprising:
- separating a slurry that is part of a process for recovering bitumen from oil sands with a hydrocyclone, the slurry including free hydrocarbon solvent and asphaltenes;
- wherein a majority of the asphaltenes in the slurry have precipitated.
A method comprising:
- separating bitumen from oil sands and thereby forming tailings which include free hydrocarbon solvent and precipitated asphaltenes;
- separating the tailings into a light component and a heavy component with a hydrocyclone.
A method comprising:
- separating bitumen from oil sands and thereby forming tailings which include free hydrocarbon solvent and precipitated asphaltenes;
- separating the tailings into a light component that includes a majority of the free hydrocarbon solvent and a heavy component;
- separating the free hydrocarbon solvent from the light component with a negative pressure separation apparatus.
A separation system comprising:
- one or more separation apparatuses configured to receive and separate bitumen from oil sands and thereby produce tailings that include free hydrocarbon solvent and precipitated asphaltenes;
- and
- a hydrocyclone positioned to receive the tailings and separate the tailings into a light component and a heavy component.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.