Behavior of tar sand bitumen with paraffinic solvents and its application to separations for Athabasca bitumen
The behavior of tar sand bitumen when contacted with low-molecular-weight paraffins at ambient temperatures is described. An understanding of this phenomenon can lead to new separation and upgrading approaches for Athabasca tar sands. Furthermore, the ideas generated by the study of tar sand bitumen may possibly also be applied to other synthetic fuels such as coal liquids and shale oil. The results show that the tar sand inorganics behave like large particles in a fluid bed if care is taken to maintain them as water-wet and that the asphaltenes behave as relatively small particles. Results suggest a conceptual separation approach. Other results show that for paraffinic solvents there is a range of liquid flowrates which gives carryover of asphaltenes from a fluidized bed type contactor but does not entrain the inorganics. For example, operating at 1.0 cm/s to entrain the asphaltenes would entrain an important fraction of the unagglomerated inorganics. Then, a further separation of bitumen from inorganics would be required. As noted, the results shown only suggest a conceptual approach for bitumen separation from tar sands. Use of this separation approach on a commercial scale requires considerable process development to generate an integrated system including tar sands preparation, solid-liquid contacting equipment, solids handling, and economic solvent recovery from the extracted tar sands.
- Research Organization:
- Exxon Research and Engineering, Linden, NJ
- OSTI ID:
- 6571603
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-780902-P2
- Journal Information:
- Am. Chem. Soc., Div. Fuel Chem., Prepr.; (United States), Journal Name: Am. Chem. Soc., Div. Fuel Chem., Prepr.; (United States) Vol. 23:4; ISSN ACFPA
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
040402* -- Oil Shales & Tar Sands-- Surface Methods
ALKANES
ATHABASCA DEPOSIT
BITUMENS
BITUMINOUS MATERIALS
CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS
ENERGY SOURCES
EXTRACTION
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
HYDROCARBONS
OIL SAND DEPOSITS
OIL SANDS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
OTHER ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
SEPARATION PROCESSES
SOLVENT EXTRACTION
SOLVENT PROPERTIES
TAR