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Fungible bitumen from paraffinic centrifugation

a technology of paraffinic centrifugation and fungible bitumen, which is applied in the direction of liquid hydrocarbon mixture production, hydrocarbon oil treatment, combustible gas production, etc., can solve the problems of high asphaltenic hydrocarbon losses (about 8%) to froth treatment tailings, and the diluted bitumen is not suitable for direct pipelining to conventional refineries, so as to reduce the size of the plot space, reduce the capital cost, and reduce the loading of the tail

Inactive Publication Date: 2016-12-01
SYNCRUDE CANADA LTD
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  • Summary
  • Abstract
  • Description
  • Claims
  • Application Information

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The present invention is a process for treating paraffinic bitumen froth using a decanter centrifuge. This process leads to a more valuable bitumen product that can be further upgraded. Compared to traditional methods, the decanter centrifuge reduces space and cost requirements. Additionally, the process allows for the recovery and recycling of paraffinic solvent, reducing expenditures for fresh solvent and minimizing the loss of flammable, carcinogenic solvent in a tailings pond. Recovery of asphaltenic hydrocarbon also reduces diluent losses.

Problems solved by technology

Due to the level of contamination, which pose fouling, corrosion and erosion problems, the diluted bitumen is not suitable for direct pipelining to conventional refineries, cannot be sold to the open market, and must be upgraded using processes such as a coker or hydroprocessing.
However, paraffinic type diluents precipitate a major proportion of asphaltenes from the bitumen froth, resulting in not only the trapping of water and solids by the asphaltenes, but also high asphaltenic hydrocarbon losses (about 8%) to froth treatment tailings.
However, treatment processes using a naphthenic type diluent may still result in bitumen often containing undesirable amounts of solids and water.
Product solids lead to increased wear of downstream equipment, higher maintenance costs, and unplanned capacity losses and outages.
In addition, hydrocarbon may also be lost to tailings due to inefficient separation.
Solvent and precipitated asphaltenes may also be lost to the tailings.
Since the rejected asphaltenes (7-8 wt % of the original bitumen in froth) can be used as fuel or feedstock for various applications, the disposal of asphaltenes in the tailings pond is wasteful.

Method used

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  • Fungible bitumen from paraffinic centrifugation
  • Fungible bitumen from paraffinic centrifugation
  • Fungible bitumen from paraffinic centrifugation

Examples

Experimental program
Comparison scheme
Effect test

example 1

[0054]Experiments were conducted to investigate the ability of a three-phase decanter centrifuge to separate a light phase product having a water content below about 2.0 wt % from naphthenic diluted froth. To mimic separation in a decanter centrifuge, a benchtop Hotspin™ centrifuge was run at particular speeds and spin times. Samples of naphthenic diluted froth contained bitumen (44 wt %), naphtha (26 wt %), water (22 wt %), and solids (8 wt %), with the N:B ratio being about 0.6. The samples were maintained at 80° C. and spun at 1500 rpm for 1, 2, 4, and 8 mins. Two samples were prepared for each spin time. The reported values are the average values between the two samples at each spin time.

[0055]Three distinguishable interfaces between light phase, heavy phase and solids were achieved in each sample after each centrifugation interval. The separated heavy phase became less turbid when spun longer, while the overall combined volume of heavy phase and solids remained relatively const...

example 2

[0059]An experiment was conducted to assess the feasibility of a three-phase decanter centrifuge to convey separated solids in a paraffinic diluted froth treatment process. Pentane (C5H12) and undiluted froth were mixed in diluent to bitumen (D / B) ratios of about 1.8, 2.8, 3.5, and 4.5 by weight. These samples were poured into 8 oz jars and cold spun (room temperature) for 20 minutes at about 2,000 RPM. After spinning in the centrifuge, the liquid phase was poured out leaving only the solids. FIGS. 5A-D show these solids at the various D / B ratios before and after kneading with a lab spoon to simulate conveyance in a decanter centrifuge. For comparison, kneaded naphthenic cake is shown in FIG. 6. For each solid, the relative cohesive property, adhesion to the beaker and lab spoon, and shear strength were inspected.

[0060]It was expected that separating paraffinic solids trapped in viscous medium might be challenging in a decanter centrifuge. However, it was observed that the paraffini...

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Abstract

A process for cleaning bitumen froth produced from an oil sands extraction process involves mixing a sufficient amount of paraffinic solvent with the bitumen froth; subjecting the resulting mixture to centrifugal separation in a centrifuge to yield a diluted bitumen product, a water byproduct stream, and a solids byproduct stream; and processing the diluted bitumen product to yield dry fungible bitumen product having a total water / solids content less than about 0.5 wt %, and a recyclable paraffinic diluent stream.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0001]The present invention relates generally to a paraffinic bitumen froth treatment process using centrifugation to produce a fungible bitumen product.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]Oil sand generally comprises water-wet sand grains held together by a matrix of viscous heavy oil or bitumen. Bitumen is a complex and viscous mixture of large or heavy hydrocarbon molecules which contain a significant amount of sulfur, nitrogen and oxygen. Oil sands processing involves extraction and froth treatment to produce diluted bitumen which is further processed to produce synthetic crude oil and other valuable commodities. Extraction is typically conducted by mixing the oil sand in hot water and aerating the resultant slurry to promote the attachment of bitumen to air bubbles, creating a lower-density bitumen froth which floats and can be recovered in a separator such as a gravity separator or cyclonic separator. Bitumen froth may contain about 60 wt % bitumen, about 30...

Claims

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Application Information

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IPC IPC(8): C10G1/04C10J3/46C10G1/00
CPCC10G1/045C10G1/002C10J2300/0946C10J2300/0909C10J3/466C10G1/047C10G33/06C10G2300/206C10G2300/208C10G2300/308
Inventor BULBUC DANIEL JOHNMcKNIGHT CRAIGKIZIOR THADDEUS EUGENECHILDS DAVID HAROLD
Owner SYNCRUDE CANADA LTD