Heated Receiver for Solid Bitumen Bricks to Reduce Pipeline Reliance
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Solution Overview
Problem
The transportation of heavy crude oil and bitumen poses environmental risks due to their high viscosity and density, requiring diluents that increase costs and carbon footprints, and result in pipeline ruptures and oil spills, harming marine life and air quality.
Innovation Solution
Converting bituminous materials into irregular solid formations with customizable polymer skeletons and buoyant features, allowing for transportation without diluents, reducing environmental impact and enhancing buoyancy for easier cleanup in case of spills.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If bituminous materials are transported as liquids through pipelines, then transportation efficiency is improved, but environmental harm increases due to pipeline ruptures and oil spills
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the physical state parameter of bituminous materials from liquid to solid form. By converting bitumen into solid bricks, the material can be transported without pipelines, eliminating the risk of pipeline ruptures and oil spills while maintaining transportation efficiency through standardized solid forms that can be moved by various means including trucks, trains, and ships.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent divides bituminous materials into discrete solid brick units with standardized dimensions. This segmentation allows the material to be transported in modular forms, improving handling efficiency and enabling multiple transportation methods while eliminating the continuous liquid flow that causes environmental harm in pipeline systems.
2Ease of operation
If diluents are added to bitumen to reduce viscosity, then pumpability is improved, but carbon emissions and transportation costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the temperature parameter during transportation - maintaining bitumen in solid form at ambient temperatures rather than heating it to liquid state. This eliminates the need for diluents that would be required to reduce viscosity at lower temperatures, thereby reducing carbon emissions and transportation costs while the solid brick form provides adequate handling characteristics.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts and removes diluents from the bitumen transportation system entirely. By converting bitumen to solid bricks, the system no longer requires diluents to achieve pumpability, eliminating the associated carbon emissions and costs while maintaining operational capability through alternative solid-state handling methods.
3Ease of operation
If continuous heating is applied to maintain bitumen in liquid state, then flowability is improved, but energy consumption and carbon footprint increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the temperature parameter from continuous heating to ambient temperature storage and transport. By converting bitumen to solid bricks, the material maintains adequate flowability for handling at ambient temperatures, eliminating the continuous energy input required for heating while preserving operational effectiveness through the solid form factor.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies heating periodically rather than continuously - only during the brief periods when bitumen needs to be melted for processing or application at the destination. The solid bricks are transported at ambient temperature without heating, and heating is applied only when needed, dramatically reducing energy consumption compared to continuous heating during transport.
4Reliability
If bitumen is transported in solid brick form, then environmental safety is improved, but handling difficulty increases due to viscosity and density
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments bituminous material into standardized brick units with defined dimensions and weights. This segmentation makes the heavy, viscous material easier to handle by providing manageable discrete units that can be easily loaded, unloaded, and transported without requiring specialized handling equipment for bulk viscous materials.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates composite brick structures combining bituminous material with other materials to optimize handling properties. The solid brick form may incorporate supporting structures or composite materials that reduce the effective density and improve ease of handling while maintaining the environmental safety benefits of solid-form transportation.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This method reduces reliance on pipelines, decreases carbon emissions, and minimizes environmental harm by eliminating the need for diluents and continuous heating, while ensuring the bituminous materials remain buoyant and easier to handle during transport and storage.
Implementation Method 1
the bituminous material is first prepared for casting by heating it to a predetermined casting temperature
Implementation Method 2
Over 95% of the heavy crude oil and bitumen produced in Canada and Venezuela, for example, is transported through pipelines from the field to the refinery. The blend ratio of dilbit may consist of 25%-55% diluent by volume, depending on characteristics of the bitumen and diluent, pipeline specifications, operating conditions, and refinery requirements.
Data Source
AI summary
A receiver for irregularly shaped bricks cast from non-volatile bituminous material includes a receiver with a specialized storage chamber that can receive viscous bituminous material and a concave lid preferably modified with a radiant heating system that can accept and melt or soften arriving bricks. The lid includes multiple openings or other delivery routes that funnel the melted bituminous material to the chamber below. The radiant heating system can be electrical where cables or grids are embedded in the lid or where conductive materials coat or are distributed throughout the lid. Alternatively, the radiant heating system can be hydronic where channels or conduits are embedded in the lid to circulate heated liquid such as water or water mixed with propylene glycol. The receiver can also include blenders, skimmers, and additional heaters to further skim, blend, or process the bituminous material collected in the chamber.