Supercritical bitumen froth treatment from oil sand

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10544369-B2
Application number	US-201614995106-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 13, 2016
Priority date	Jan 14, 2015
Publication date	Jan 28, 2020
Grant date	Jan 28, 2020

Abstract

A process for treating a bitumen froth comprising bitumen, solids and water to produce a deasphalted oil product is provided comprising optionally diluting the raw bitumen froth with a diluent to form a diluted bitumen froth; separating the raw or diluted bitumen froth into a light bitumen fraction and a heavy bitumen fraction comprising bitumen, fine solids and water; mixing the heavy bitumen fraction with a first solvent to form a solvent/bitumen mixture; and introducing the solvent/bitumen mixture into a first extraction vessel operating at a temperature and a pressure such that the solvent is at or near supercritical conditions to form a heavy phase comprising asphaltenes, solids and water and a light phase comprising deasphalted oil.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A process for treating a bitumen froth comprising bitumen, solids and water to produce a deasphalted oil product, comprising:
mixing the bitumen froth with a first solvent to form a first mixture;
introducing the first mixture to a first extraction vessel operating at a temperature and a pressure such that the first solvent is at or near supercritical conditions to form a light bitumen fraction, first heavy ends stream comprising primarily heavy bitumen and a second heavy ends stream comprising primarily asphaltenes-solids and water;
mixing the first heavy ends stream with a second solvent selected from the group consisting of CO 2 , water, toluene, methanol, naphtha, and combinations thereof to form a second mixture;
introducing the second mixture to a second extraction vessel operating at a temperature and a pressure such that the second solvent is at or near supercritical conditions to separate asphaltenes and fine solids and water from the heavy bitumen to form a first deasphalted oil product and a first dry asphaltenes-solids and water by-products;
mixing the second heavy ends stream with a third solvent to form a third mixture; and
introducing the third mixture to a third extraction vessel operating at a temperature and a pressure so that the third solvent is at or near supercritical conditions to separate asphaltenes and fine solids from residual heavy bitumen to form a second deasphalted oil product and a second dry asphaltenes-solids and water by-products.

2. The process as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the first solvent is selected from the group consisting of CO 2 , water, toluene, methanol, naphtha, C 3 to C 5 alkanes and combinations thereof.

3. The process as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the second solvent consists of CO 2 and either water, toluene, methanol, naphtha, or combinations thereof.

4. The process as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the third solvent is selected from the group consisting of CO 2 , water, toluene, methanol, naphtha, C 3 to C 5 alkanes and combinations thereof.

5. The process as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the first solvent, second solvent and third solvent are the same.

6. The process as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the first extraction vessel, second extraction vessel and third extraction vessel are each operated at a temperature ranging from 32° C. to 250° C. and a pressure ranging from 3 MPa to 24 MPa.

7. The process as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the second solvent comprises CO 2 .

8. The process as claimed in claim 1 , wherein both the first solvent and the second solvent comprises CO 2 .

Assignees

• Syncrude Canada Ltd

Inventors

• Bulbuc Daniel
• Chung Keng
• Childs David

Classifications

• C10G1/045 Primary

  Separation of insoluble materials · CPC title

• C10G1/047

  Hot water or cold water extraction processes · CPC title