Solid Bitumen Brick Transport to Reduce Diluent Use and Emissions
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for transporting bituminous materials like heavy crude oil and bitumen face challenges due to their high viscosity and density, requiring dilution with harmful diluents, which leads to environmental risks, increased costs, and difficulties in pipeline transport and cleanup.
Innovation Solution
The method involves preparing bituminous materials into irregular solid formations, such as modified tetrahedrons, with customizable polymer skeletons and buoyant features, allowing transport without diluents and reducing carbon dioxide emissions through the use of low-emission vehicles and passive environmental control systems.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If bitumen is diluted with lighter materials to enable transport by rail or barge, then transportability is improved, but the vapor pressure increases creating safety hazards
Solution Approach 1:
The invention changes the chemical composition parameters of the diluent blend by selecting specific components (C5-C12 isomers, aromatics, naphthenes) with appropriate vapor pressures and compatibility characteristics. This parameter optimization allows the blend to maintain low vapor pressure while providing sufficient dilution to reduce viscosity for safe transport.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention uses a composite diluent blend comprising multiple hydrocarbon components (isomers, aromatics, naphthenes) rather than a single solvent. This composite approach combines the benefits of different components to achieve both low vapor pressure and effective viscosity reduction, creating a safer transport medium.
2Force
If bitumen is diluted to reduce viscosity for pipeline or rail transport, then flowability is improved, but the composition complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The invention optimizes the concentration ratios of different diluent components to achieve the desired viscosity reduction. By carefully controlling the proportions of C5-C12 isomers, aromatics, and naphthenes, the blend achieves effective flowability improvement while maintaining a manageable composition structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention assigns specific functional roles to different components of the diluent blend: C5-C12 isomers provide bulk dilution, aromatics enhance solvency power, and naphthenes contribute to stability. This functional differentiation allows each component to address specific aspects of viscosity reduction efficiently.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If bitumen is transported in solid formation without dilution to maintain safety, then vapor pressure is reduced, but transport efficiency decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The invention changes the physical state parameters of the bitumen from solid to a transportable form by controlled cooling of the diluted mixture. This allows the bitumen to be transported as a semi-solid or solid formation after dilution, maintaining safety while improving transport efficiency through reduced viscosity during the transport phase.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention employs periodic temperature control: heating during loading to reduce viscosity, maintaining lower temperatures during transport to maintain safety, and controlled cooling during unloading. This periodic temperature management enables efficient transport while maintaining safety standards.
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 enhances transportability, reduces environmental risks, minimizes reliance on pipelines, and significantly decreases carbon dioxide emissions by eliminating the need for diluents and continuous heating, while maintaining buoyancy and stability in aquatic environments.
Implementation Method 1
The blend may be used to dilute bitumen to facilitate transport of the bitumen
Implementation Method 2
The diluted bitumen may then be cooled to transport the bitumen as solid formations
Data Source
Figure 1A
Figure 1B
Figure 2
AI summary
A method of transporting non-volatile bituminous materials from a first location to a second location involves carrying a plurality of irregular bricks formed by the bituminous material in transport chambers carried by vehicles. Bricks are defined by a plurality of non-planar surface, which create gaps between adjacent bricks, and can further include polymer skeletons and other features that help them float. The bricks can travel by land, sea, air, or rail and need not be heated while in transit. Transport chambers have active or preferably passive environmental control systems to circulate cooling air, water, or other substances through the chamber and the gaps between adjacent bricks. In a preferred embodiment, ambient air circulates among the bricks during travel by land and ambient water circulates among the bricks during marine travel. The vehicles carrying the transport chambers can be low-emissions or zero-emission vehicles including fuel-cell powered trains and ships.