Receiver with Radiant Heating Lid for Solid Bitumen Brick Melting
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for transporting bituminous materials like heavy crude oil and bitumen involve the use of diluents, which lead to increased costs, carbon emissions, pipeline risks, and environmental hazards such as spills and air pollution, making it difficult to transport and handle these materials safely and efficiently.
Innovation Solution
The method involves preparing bituminous materials into irregular solid formations with customizable polymer skeletons and buoyant features, allowing them to be transported in a non-volatile state without diluents, using low-emission vehicles and passive environmental control systems to maintain their solid form during transport, and facilitating easy cleanup in aquatic environments.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If bitumen is diluted with conventional light crude or natural gas liquids to enable pipeline transport, then transportability through pipelines is improved, but carbon footprint and production costs increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the physical state parameter of bitumen from liquid to solid form by freezing it at temperatures below its freezing point. This phase change eliminates the need for diluents while maintaining transportability, as the solid frozen bitumen can be moved via conveyor belts or other solid material handling systems without requiring hydrocarbon diluents, thereby reducing carbon footprint.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts and removes the diluent component from the bitumen transport system entirely. By freezing bitumen into a solid state, the process eliminates the need for conventional light crude or natural gas liquids that would otherwise be mixed with bitumen to enable pipeline flow, thus removing the source of increased carbon emissions and production costs.
2Ease of operation
If diluents are added to bitumen to reduce viscosity for pumping, then pumpability is improved, but production costs and handling complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the temperature parameter to freeze bitumen into a solid state, which fundamentally alters its handling characteristics. Instead of requiring pumping systems designed for viscous liquid-diluent mixtures, the frozen solid bitumen can be transported using conventional solid material handling equipment such as conveyor belts, simplifying the overall handling system and reducing complexity.
3Ease of operation
If bitumen is transported as diluted bitumen (dilbit), then flowability through pipelines is improved, but environmental risks from spills and ruptures increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the physical state of bitumen from liquid to solid through freezing. This eliminates the need for diluents that create environmental hazards upon spillage. Frozen solid bitumen, if spilled, would not create the same floating, evaporating, and water-contaminating problems as diluted bitumen, thereby reducing environmental risks while maintaining transportability through solid material handling systems.
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 approach reduces carbon emissions, minimizes environmental risks, and enhances transport efficiency by eliminating the need for diluents, while ensuring buoyancy and ease of handling in case of spills, thus providing a safer and more cost-effective solution.
Implementation Method 1
the bituminous material is first prepared for casting by heating it to a predetermined casting temperature
Implementation Method 2
the bricks are formed by cooling to solidify the bituminous material
Implementation Method 3
customizable polymer skeletons and buoyant features, allowing them to be transported in a non-volatile state
Data Source
Figure 1A
Figure 1B
Figure 2
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.