Chlorinated solvents for tar sands: Fast and efficient

Conference · Tue Nov 01 04:00:00 EST 1983 · Coal Technol. (Houston); (United States)

OSTI ID:5827609

Gimber, G A; Groves, K O; Haschke, E M; Rademacher, G E

Tar sands in the United States represent a significant petroleum resource. Total reserve in the U.S. is estimated at >50 billion bbl with the majority being contained in Utah deposits. Although the surface mining potential for tar sands is only a small fraction of the total resource, it could support in excess of ten 20,000 bbl/day plants for a period of over 40 years. Of the various types of tar sand extraction processes under development, solvent extraction offers significant advantages: e.g., much of the technology already exists, simplicity, yield, capital outlay, etc. Most patents issued in this field focus on the extraction technology. Percolation, stirred tank extractors or unique variations thereof are generally the categories involved. Many of the non-aqueous solvent processes are being designed around hexane or hexane blends because of its history in the vegetable oil industry. Often these solvents are specific to the process and not necessarily interchangeable with alternate extraction technologies or tar sand grades. This paper reviews alternate solvents with specific emphasis on chlorinated solvents. Chlorinated solvents in comparison to hexane and toluene were studied in lab scale soxhlet, miniscale percolation and stirred tank extractors. Chlorinated solvents are efficient in oil recovered and offer faster dissolution. With methylene chloride, up to 100% of the theoretically available oil is recovered in both percolation and stirred extractor designs.

• Research Organization: Dow Chemical, USA
• OSTI ID: 5827609
• Report Number(s): CONF-831112-
• Conference Information: Journal Name: Coal Technol. (Houston); (United States) Journal Volume: 5
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

04 OIL SHALES AND TAR SANDS
040402* -- Oil Shales & Tar Sands-- Surface Methods
ALKANES
ALKYLATED AROMATICS
AROMATICS
BENCH-SCALE EXPERIMENTS
BITUMENS
BITUMINOUS MATERIALS
CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
CHLORINATED ALIPHATIC HYDROCARBONS
CHLORINATED AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS
CHLORINATION
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
ENERGY SOURCES
EVAPORATION
EXTRACTION
FEDERAL REGION IV
FIELD TESTS
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
HALOGENATED ALIPHATIC HYDROCARBONS
HALOGENATED AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS
HALOGENATION
HEATING
HEXANE
HYDROCARBONS
INDUSTRIAL PLANTS
KENTUCKY
MANAGEMENT
MATERIALS
MATERIALS RECOVERY
NORTH AMERICA
OIL SAND PROCESSING PLANTS
OIL SANDS
ORGANIC CHLORINE COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC HALOGEN COMPOUNDS
OTHER ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
PHASE TRANSFORMATIONS
PROCESSING
RECOVERY
ROCKS
SANDSTONES
SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
SEPARATION PROCESSES
SOLVENT EXTRACTION
SOLVENT PROPERTIES
SOLVENTS
TAR
TESTING
TOLUENE
USA
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTE PROCESSING