Bitumen extraction using reduced shear conditions
Abstract:
A process for extracting bitumen from mined oil sand is provided, comprising: preparing an oil sand slurry comprising oil sand and water; conditioning the oil sand slurry by pumping the oil sand slurry through a hydrotransport pipeline under shear conditions that reduce the formation of water-in-bitumen emulsions in the conditioned oil sand slurry and increase the size of bitumen-air aggregates; and subjecting the conditioned oil sand slurry to gravity separation to produce a bitumen froth having enhanced bitumen recovery and reduced water-in-bitumen emulsions, a middlings layer and sand tailings.
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