Process and apparatus to produce crude oil from tar sands. Final report

Technical Report · Sun Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 1984

OSTI ID:6191964

Seader, J D; Smart, L M

A two-staged fluidized-bed reactor for the energy-efficient, thermal recovery of bitumen from Utah tar sands has been constructed. This reactor is a scaled-up version of an earlier system investigated at the University of Utah, and involves the use of three liquid-potassium heat pipes which thermally couple an upper pyrolysis bed with a lower combustion bed. The reactor has been studied to determine the effect of multiple heat pipes, increased feed rate, and longer duration run times. The process consists essentially of three steps. In the first step, mined and suitably sized tar sand, being fed into the reactor at a constant rate, is pyrolyzed at temperatures of 440/sup 0/C to above 500/sup 0/C in an inert atmosphere to volatilize and partially crack most of the contained bitumen. The vaporized products of the pyrolysis section are condensed and coalesced to give a synthetic crude oil. In the second step, coked sand, formed as a by-product in the pyrolysis reactor, is combusted with air at temperatures between 550 and 600/sup 0/C. In the third step, heat is recovered from the hot spent sand leaving the combustion bed by a fluidized-bed heat exchanger using vertical copper cooling tubes. Over 30 runs, with tar sand from the Sunnyside, PR Springs, and Whiterocks deposits, have been made to study controllability of the process, heat requirements, and liquid product yield with respect to process variables such as pyrolysis-bed temperature and average solids-residence times. The highest liquid yield obtained was 71 weight percent of the original tar sand bitumen. Typically, coke yield is from 15 to 20 weight percent, with gas yield making up the difference. As a result of the study, recommendations have been developed for a design procedure suitable for scale-up to a 15,000 barrel/day production unit. Included are typical operating conditions and product properties. 31 references, 35 figures, 12 tables.

• Research Organization: Utah Univ., Salt Lake City (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: FG01-82CE15136
• OSTI ID: 6191964
• Report Number(s): DOE/CE/15136-T1; ON: DE84016029
• Resource Relation: Other Information: Portions are illegible in microfiche products. Original copy available until stock is exhausted
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

04 OIL SHALES AND TAR SANDS
BITUMENS
PRODUCTION
CHEMICAL REACTORS
DESIGN
OIL SANDS
PYROLYSIS
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
FLUIDIZED BED
HIGH TEMPERATURE
THERMAL RECOVERY
BITUMINOUS MATERIALS
CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
DATA
DECOMPOSITION
ENERGY SOURCES
ENHANCED RECOVERY
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
INFORMATION
MATERIALS
NUMERICAL DATA
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
OTHER ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
RECOVERY
TAR
THERMOCHEMICAL PROCESSES
040402* - Oil Shales & Tar Sands- Surface Methods