Method for producing pipeline specification bitumen from oil sands mining and extraction facilities using non-miscible solvents and centrifuge processing
a technology of oil sands mining and extraction facilities, applied in the direction of petroleum industry, liquid hydrocarbon mixture production, etc., can solve the problems of increasing energy intensity, and increasing capital and operating costs, and achieves the effect of lowering the specific gravity (sg) of diluted bitumen
Inactive Publication Date: 2019-06-27
USO UTAH LLC
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Benefits of technology
The present invention is a two-stage process for producing pipeline quality solvent-diluted bitumen. The first stage aims to dehydrate and collapse residual tight water / oil emulsions present within the bitumen. The second stage involves using a non-miscible solvent and optionally a miscible solvent to lower the specific gravity of the bitumen. The process allows for the production of bitumen with an low bitumen solids and water content, which reduces the risk of solid particle formation and corrosion in pipelines. The invention also includes a bitumen extraction system and method with steps to achieve a bitumen stream with a low bitumen solids and water content.
Problems solved by technology
As steam is often used in dearation, this additional process step adds to the energy intensity required, which translates to higher capital and operating costs.
Likewise, the reliance on hydrotransport retention time to achieve optimal conditioning further adds to capital and operating costs due to extensive pipeline wear.
Also, it is commonly believed that the substantial mechanical energy added during standard ore processing and hydrotransport may be partly responsible for the limited ability to achieve rapid fines consolidation within mineral retention times in primary and secondary extraction stages.
Additionally, diluted bitumen (DB) from NFT extraction expose overhead systems in upgraders to acid gas corrosion caused by hydrochloric acids generated by dissolved chlorides that hydrolyze residual process water and by reacting with native organic acids in the DB feed.
The risk of fires in upgraders, caused by overhead corrosion, is increasing as water usage has been decreasing and with improvements in fine tails dewatering that collectively cause chloride salts in process water, released from ore connate water, to increase in concentration at an accelerated rate.
The limit to which NFT extraction can separate process water and sediment is not sufficient to produce diluted bitumen with BS&W below 0.5 vol.
Furthermore, it is widely believed that these residual solids and interfacially adsorbed asphaltenes in NFT DB cause upset conditions in downstream desalter units when attempts have been made to by-pass the midstream and directly feed into a refinery.
However, this methodology results in the formation of azeotropic mixtures of the process water and the alcohol.
Method used
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[0024]As used herein, certain terms have the meanings defined below. All other terms and phrases used in this specification have their ordinary meanings as one of skilled in the art would understand.
[0025]The present invention relates to an improvement to a process of extracting bitumen from oil sands ore.
[0026]Oil sands ore is typically mined and crushed to break down large chunks. The creation of a water-based oil sands ore slurry is known as wet ore processing. Elements of oil sands extraction methods are described in co-owned U.S. Pat. No. 8,758,601, co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14 / 959,910—Oilsands Processing Using Inline Agitation and an Inclined Plate Separator, filed Dec. 4, 2015, or U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15 / 453,318 entitled Process Water Chemistry in Bitumen Extraction from Oil Sands filed March 8, 2017, or U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15 / 467,583, entitled Solvent Addition in Water Based Oil Sands Ore Digestion and Primary Extraction, filed Mar....
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Abstract
A method of producing pipeline quality bitumen, includes the steps of: receiving bitumen diluted with a diluent solvent from a secondary froth treatment process; thermally dehydrating the diluted bitumen at a temperature above about 100° C. and below the boiling point of the diluent solvent; mixing a high-density, non-miscible solvent (HD-NMS) and optionally, a low density, miscible solvent (LD-MS) to the diluted bitumen; and separating any remaining fine solids and precipitates by gravitational separation at a temperature above about 100° C. and below the boiling point of the diluent solvent.
Description
FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0001]The invention relates to the treatment of solvent-diluted bitumen produced in an oil sands bitumen extraction facility prior to solvent recovery, and particularly a method which produces pipeline specification bitumen without resorting to upgrading or carbon rejection at any time.BACKGROUND[0002]Oil sands ore, known as bituminous sands, comprises a naturally occurring mixture of water, bitumen and a mineral phase comprising sand and clay. Oil sands ore may vary in quality and character from region to region, or deposit to deposit. Generally, Athabasca oil sands in Canada comprises water-wet sand grains, while Utah oil sands in the United States comprises oil-wet sand grains.[0003]Oil sand mining and extraction processes are used to liberate and separate bitumen from the water and mineral phases such that the bitumen can be further processed to produce market specification grade crude oil. Numerous oil sands mining and bitumen extraction processes have bee...
Claims
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IPC IPC(8): C10G1/06C10G1/04
CPCC10G1/065C10G1/045
Inventor FOURNIER, JOSEPHLAVALLEY, TYLER LAYNE
Owner USO UTAH LLC