Treatment of poor processing bitumen froth using supercritical fluid extraction

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9296954-B2
Application number	US-201313900390-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 22, 2013
Priority date	May 22, 2013
Publication date	Mar 29, 2016
Grant date	Mar 29, 2016

Abstract

A method for extracting hydrocarbons from a poor processing bitumen froth is provided comprising subjecting a bitumen, solids and water slurry to flotation in a flotation device to produce the poor processing bitumen froth; optionally subjecting the poor processing bitumen froth to centrifugation to remove a portion of the water from the poor processing bitumen froth; and subjecting the poor processing bitumen froth to supercritical extraction in a pressure vessel using a supercritical fluid to produce a hydrocarbon stream suitable for further upgrading.

First claim

We claim:

1. A method for extracting hydrocarbons from a poor processing bitumen froth obtained from a non-traditional bitumen, solids and water slurry including oil sand tailings, fluid fine tailings and middlings, comprising:
subjecting the bitumen, solids and water slurry to flotation in a flotation device to produce the poor processing bitumen froth;
optionally subjecting the poor processing bitumen froth to centrifugation to remove a portion of the water from the poor processing bitumen froth; and
subjecting the poor processing bitumen froth to supercritical extraction in a pressure vessel using a supercritical fluid to produce a hydrocarbon stream suitable for further upgrading.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the supercritical fluid is selected from the group consisting of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), propane, pentane, hexane, and combinations thereof.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the supercritical fluid is pentane.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the pressure vessel is pressurized to about 2000 psi to about 5000 psi and is operated at a temperature of about 120° C. or higher.

5. The method of claim 2 , wherein the supercritical fluid is CO 2 .

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the pressure vessel is pressurized to about 9000 psi and is operated at a temperature of about 100° C. or higher.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the supercritical fluid is a combination of CO 2 and pentane or hexane.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the poor processing bitumen froth comprises about 10-30 wt % bitumen, about 50-70 wt % water and about 20 wt % solids or more.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the bitumen, solids and water slurry is oil sand tailings.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the bitumen, solids and water slurry is fluid fine tailings.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the bitumen, solids and water slurry is fluid fine tailings obtained from a tailings pond.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the bitumen, solids and water slurry is a middlings stream obtained from a primary or secondary separation vessel.

Assignees

• Syncrude Canada Ltd In Trust For The Owners Of The Syncrude Project
• Syncrude Canada Ltd

Inventors

• Yuan Simon
• Hilscher Brent

Classifications

• C10G1/045 Primary

  Separation of insoluble materials · CPC title

• C10G33/06

  with mechanical means, e.g. by filtration · CPC title

• C10G1/047

  Hot water or cold water extraction processes · CPC title