Process for recovering products from tar sand

A process for recovering products from tar sand comprising the steps of:

• obtaining a tar sand;
• processing the tar sand to produce a bitumen-rich concentrate, said bitumen-rich concentrate comprising from about 25% bitumen and about 75% sand by weight to about 55% bitumen and about 45% sand by weight;
• recovering products from the bitumen-rich concentrate by introducing the bitumen-rich concentrate into a fluidized bed while heating the bitumen-rich concentrate in the fluidized bed;
• removing a coked sand from the fluidized bed, said coked sand comprising sand having a carbonaceous residue thereon;
• burning at least a portion of the carbonaceous residue on the coked sand to produce a hot burnt sand;
• and
• recycling at least a portion of the hot burnt sand to the bitumen-rich concentrate.

A process for recovering products from tar sand comprising the steps of:

• obtaining a tar sand;
• preparing a bitumen-rich concentrate from the tar sand using an alkaline, hot water separation process, said bitumen-rich concentrate comprising from about 35% bitumen and about 65% sand by weight to about 45% bitumen and about 55% sand by weight;
• recovering products from the bitumen-rich concentrate by introducing the bitumen-rich concentrate into a fluidized bed while heating the bitumen-rich concentrate in the fluidized bed;
• removing a coked sand from the fluidized bed, said coked sand comprising sand having a carbonaceous residue thereon;
• recycling at least a portion of the coked sand to the alkaline, hot water separation process;
• burning the carbonaceous residue on at least a portion of the coked sand to produce a hot burnt sand;
• recycling at least a portion of the hot burnt sand to the bitumen-rich concentrate;
• distilling the recovered products;
• isolating a fraction formed during distillation within the temperature range of about 140.degree. C. to about 370.degree. C.;
• and
• recycling the isolated fraction to the alkaline, hot water separation process.