Apparatus for recovery of hydrocarbons from tar-sands
OwnerNeil L. Carpenterinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Apparatus for releasing bitumen components of an earth aggregate by establishing a current flow within an electrolyte contained in a volume of the aggregate which has been isolated from the surrounding earth. The current flow electrochemically acts on the molecular bonds between the bitumen and the aggregate, thus releasing the bitumen. In addition, gases are released and absorbed by the bitumen which, along with the heat produced by passage of the current through the electrolyte, acts to reduce the viscosity of the bitumen. As the viscosity is reduced to the stage where the bitumen is liquid, gravitational action allows the bitumen to separate from the aggregate into a stratum which permits easy removal thereof.
Claims26
Apparatus for recovering the bitumen component of a mined earth aggregate including
- a naturally occurring electrolyte dispersed therein,
- retaining means for receiving and retaining a preselected volume of the mined earth aggregate containing the bitumen and an electrolyte dispersed therein, said retaining means further providing electrical insulation for the mined earth aggregate from substantially all other earth (formation) materials adjacent thereto,
- a plurality of electrodes inserted into said mined earth aggregate and in electrical contact with said electrolyte dispersed therein,
- an AC electrical current source interconnected to each of said electrodes for establishing an AC current flow through said electrolyte for electrochemically breaking the molecular bond of the bitumen and electrolyte from the earth aggregate and releasing the bitumen and electrolyte therefrom in a liquid form,
- recovering means cooperating with the upper levels of said retaining means for recovering said released bitumen in a liquid form from said retaining means,
- means for removing said released electrolyte from said retaining means, and
- means for removing the remaining earth aggregate material from said retaining means from the bottom of said retaining means.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.