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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

The extraction of bitumen from western tar sands

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/6536106· OSTI ID:6536106

This report represents the work done during the year of May 8, 1987 to June 9, 1988. This year was the first year of a five-year program. The overall objective of the latter is to advance the technologies for recovering bitumen from the tar sands by thermal and water assisted extraction means and upgrading of bitumen to synthetic crude, and conversion of bitumens to specialty products such as asphalt and resins to levels where realistic evaluations of technical and commercial potential can be made. Additionally, it is desired to have the data at a level which is adequate for design of pilot plants of appropriate size deemed necessary for commercial scale-up of the various processes being studied. The main areas for studies covered in this report are modelling and optimization of the hydropyrolysis process for upgrading bitumens, bitumen recovery by pyrolysis of the circle Cliffs tar sands in a fluid bed, pyrolysis of Whiterocks tar sand in a rotary kiln, modelling of the combustor in the coupled fluidized bed with interbed heat transfer using heat pipes, development of superior diluents for use in the water extraction of Utah's tar sands, and fractionation and characterization of the bitumens from Asphalt Ridge and Sunnyside tar sands. 169 refs., 60 figs., 31 tars.

Research Organization:
Utah Univ., Salt Lake City, UT (USA)
Sponsoring Organization:
DOE/MET
DOE Contract Number:
FG21-88MC25046
OSTI ID:
6536106
Report Number(s):
DOE/MC/25046-2875; ON: DE90015334
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English