Process and apparatus for extracting bituminous oil from tar sands

Patent · Tue Aug 29 00:00:00 EDT 1978

OSTI ID:5873437

Hicks, M C; Peterson, G R; Schwartz, P W

Tar sands are put into finely divided form by pressing them into sheets and flaking the sheets. The flakes are mixed with a solvent for a time sufficient to extract the oils. The resulting slurry is introduced beneath the surface of a body of water, and the solids are allowed to settle while the solvent containing the oil rises to the top to form a liquid phase above the surface of the water. The wet solids and the oil-containing solvent are separately removed. After the oil is recovered from the solvent, as by fractional distillation, the solvent is recycled in the process, which is preferably carried on as a continuous operation. 15 claims.

• Assignee: Intermountain Oil Research Inc.
• Patent Number(s): US 4110194
• OSTI ID: 5873437
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

04 OIL SHALES AND TAR SANDS
040402* -- Oil Shales & Tar Sands-- Surface Methods
BITUMENS
BITUMINOUS MATERIALS
CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS
DENSITY
DESIGN
DISTILLATION
ENERGY SOURCES
EXTRACTION
EXTRACTION APPARATUSES
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
MATERIALS
OIL SANDS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
OTHER ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
SEPARATION EQUIPMENT
SEPARATION PROCESSES
SOLVENT EXTRACTION
TAR