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Zone settling aid and method for producing dry diluted bitumen with reduced losses of asphaltenes

a technology of asphaltene and zone settling, which is applied in the production of liquid hydrocarbon mixtures, petroleum industry, etc., can solve the problems of increasing the operational risk of fire, environmental hazard, financial liability, and underflow

Inactive Publication Date: 2006-09-07
SYNCRUDE CANADA LTD +1
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  • Summary
  • Abstract
  • Description
  • Claims
  • Application Information

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The present invention provides methods for processing bitumen by diluting it with a hydrocarbon diluent, contacting it with a zone settling aid, and separating the water and fine solids from the diluted bitumen. The resulting dry, clean diluted bitumen has a low water and fine solids content. The methods may involve using a polyoxyalkylate polymer as the zone settling aid. The bitumen source may be bitumen froth from a hot water extraction process. The invention also provides a method of producing a bitumen-based solvent by diluting bitumen with a hydrocarbon diluent and contacting it with a polyoxyalkylate polymer. The resulting solvent has a low water and fine solids content.

Problems solved by technology

However, the precipitated asphaltenes trap the light diluent in the underflow stream such that the underflow poses an environmental hazard and financial liability.
While the use of a low boiling solvent makes the recovery easier, it also increases the operational risk of fire that can cause substantial damage.

Method used

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  • Zone settling aid and method for producing dry diluted bitumen with reduced losses of asphaltenes
  • Zone settling aid and method for producing dry diluted bitumen with reduced losses of asphaltenes

Examples

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example 1

[0045] A bitumen froth containing approximately 60% bitumen, 30% water and 10% solids was mixed with a hydrocarbon diluent consisting of 30% toluene and 70% heptane to simulate naphtha. The diluent to bitumen ratio (D:B) of the diluted bitumen was 0.75 and the temperature of the mixture was 50° C.

[0046] A first zone settling aid (AST-3) was prepared from a polyethylene amine acceptor having on average nine active hydrogen atoms, a first propylene oxide block of about 1451 daltons per branch, and a second ethylene oxide block of about 435 daltons per branch. The resulting polyoxyalkylate has a molecular weight of about 17,000 daltons. The first zone settling aid was mixed with diluted bitumen at 50 ppm and 100 ppm concentrations, separately.

[0047] A second zone settling aid (AST-2) was prepared from a triol acceptor having three active hydrogen atoms that were used to prepare a sequential polymer having three branches. Each branch had a first propylene oxide block of about 3000 dal...

example 2

[0050] A zone settling aid according to the invention was prepared with a sorbitol acceptor having six active hydrogen atoms, a first PO block of about 1000 daltons for each of the six branches, and a second EO block of about 300 daltons per branch. The total molecular weight of the zone settling aid was about 7,800 daltons.

[0051] A 404 gram sample of bitumen froth was 60% bitumen (246 grams bitumen), 30% water and 10% solids. The froth was heated to 85° C. and stirred for three minute to homogenize the sample. To achieve a diluent:bitumen ratio of 0.65, about 160 grams of naphtha was heated to 85° C. and added to the froth with stirring for two minutes at 1000 RPM with a paint stirrer. Then, 0.57 ml of a 10% solution of the zone settling aid was added to the diluted bitumen with three minutes of stirring. Upon settling, about 300 grams of dry, diluted bitumen was removed from the top of the settler for a recovery of about 182 grams of bitumen. The diluted bitumen had a water conte...

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Abstract

A method includes diluting a bitumen source, such a bitumen froth from a hot water extraction process, with a hydrocarbon diluent such as naphtha, contacting the bitumen with a zone settling aid such as a polyoxyalkylate block polymer, flocculating water and fine solids in the diluted bitumen, separating the flocculated water and fine solids from the solvent-diluted bitumen, and producing dry, clean diluted bitumen. Preferably, the diluted bitumen will have less than 1.0 wt % water, but most preferably less than 0.7 wt % water. The method may further comprise maintaining the diluted bitumen under conditions that avoid the precipitation of asphaltenes from the bitumen, preferably such that the dry, clean diluted bitumen comprises essentially all, such as greater than 96%, of the asphaltene content from the bitumen source. Counter-current flow may be performed in a series of zone settling stages, such as with gravity settling.

Description

[0001] This application claims priority of U.S. provisional patent application 60 / 657,758 filed on Mar. 2, 2005.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] 1. Field of the Invention [0003] The present invention relates to compositions and processes for the treatment of bitumen to remove water and solids. [0004] 2. Description of the Related Art [0005] The Athasbasca Oil Sands Deposit is, by itself, the largest petroleum resource in the world. These oil sands or tar sands are located in northwestern Canada and represent the equivalent of roughly 1.6 to 2.7 trillion barrels of oil. Presently, truck and shovel operations first mine the oil sand and deliver it to a crusher. In one process, bitumen separation and recovery from the oil sand is accomplished by following what is known as the Clark hot water extraction process. In the front end of this process, the crushed oil sand is mixed with hot water and caustic in a rotating tumbler or conditioned in a pipeline to produce an aqueous slurry. The...

Claims

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Application Information

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Patent Type & Authority Applications(United States)
IPC IPC(8): C10G1/00
CPCC10G1/045C10G1/047
Inventor BEETGE, JAN HENDRIKVENTER, PETRUS JOHANNESSANYI, WANGYANG, XIAOLILONG, YICHENGXU, YUMINGDABROS, TADEUSZHAMZA, HASSAN
Owner SYNCRUDE CANADA LTD
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