Bitumen extraction

Bitumen. There are wide variations both in the bitumen saturation of tar sand (0—18 wt % bitumen), even within a particular deposit, and the viscosity. Of particular note is the variation of density of Athabasca bitumen with temperature, and the maximum density difference between bitumen and water (70—80°C (160—175°F)) hence the choice of the operating temperature of the hot-water bitumen-extraction process. 

These are found in crude petroleum including bitumen in the Athabasca tar sands of Northern Alberta. They contain a complex mixture of saturated polycyclic live- and six-membered cycloalkanes with alkane and alkanoic acid substituents. Attention has been directed to the degradation of both commercially available products, and those that are produced during bitumen extraction. Although the former were degradable (Clemente et al. 2004), the higher molecular mass components of the latter were much more recalcitrant (Scott et al. 2005). 

The analysis of geochemical liquids such as crude oils, hydrothermal bitumens, extracts of coals, and host rocks containing dispersed organic matter or pyrolysates... 

Figure 8.4 Typical total ion count (TIC) of a bitumen extract from the exterior surface of an archaeological shard obtained by GC-MS. IS = internal standard (C34 w-alkane). This is identical to the output of a GC.

Typical total ion count (TIC) of a bitumen extract from... 

A linear correlation is obtained between bitumen extraction with the paddle mill and the adhesion tension against water saturated pyrophyllite. That the degree of water saturation of the pyrophyllite is important in explaining the difference between the 2 extraction processes indicates that it will be necessary to study each process in terms of the relevant adhesion tensions. These results demonstrate that adhesion tension is the most important parameter found to date in determining the degree of separation in the presence of surfactants. Measurements of adhesion tension between surfactant solutions and minerals similar to those found in tar sand may be of considerable value in studies of surfactant utility in both aqueous-surfactant, solvent-aqueous-surfactant and in situ extraction processes. In addition, if appropriate model situations can be developed, measurements of adhesion tension may be useful in upgrading bitumen-water-clay emulsions obtained by a variety of in situ and heavy oil recovery processes. 

Bitumen extracted with alcohol-benzene after treatment with dilute HCI. 

Table I. Selected n Paraffin Analyses of Bitumen Extract...

The LC-Fining process has been applied to desulfurization of bitumen extracted from the Athabasca tar sands (Bishop, 1990). In one reported instance, a low-solids bitumen and a high-solids bitumen were employed as feedstocks whereupon good conversion of the bitumen to lower-sulfur products was noted... 

Starting Materials. Pyrite isolated from the two kerogens constitutes approximately 2 wt % and has S S vaiues Qf +8.7 per mil. These values are enriched by 20-30 per mil compared to pyrite formed from near-surface biogenically reduced sulfate in porewaters of "normal" near-surface marine sediments (5). Bitumens extracted from the two samples contain 8.0 and 8.7 wt % organic sulfur with 5 4 vaiues 0f + 17.3 and +18.5 per mil respectively. Both pyrite free kerogens contained 10.3 wt % organic sulfur with isotope values of +15.9 per mil and +17.0 per mil respectively. 

Two options for the recovery of oil from tar sands are of importance mining of the tar sands, followed by aboveground bitumen extraction and upgrading and in situ extraction, in which the bitumen is released underground by thermal and/or chemical means and then brought to the surface for processing or upgrading. Because the processes of in situ recovery are similar to those employed in the enhanced recovery of crude oil, they are not discussed. 

Bitumen extracted by the fractional distillation of petroleum is used in asphalt roads. 

The field experiment, which has been described elsewhere (9,10, II), produced liquid organic, aqueous, and gaseous materials. This chapter describes the characterization of product oils from the experiment, and these data are compared with data obtained on bitumen extracted from core samples taken at the field site prior to the bum. 

Bitumens extracted from torbanites containing remains of B. braunii fresh to brackish water. 

The differences found in the yields and compositions of the benzene- and the benzene-methanol soluble bitumens, as well as in the CPI values of the corresponding n-alkane fractions, suggest that standardization of bitumen extraction procedures is necessary if meaningful comparison of the composition of materials isolated from sediments of different ages and origins is to be made. 

Physiological Activity of Aleksinac Shale Constituents. Quite recently, physiological activity of the polar constituents of Aleksinac shale bitumen, extracted with an azeotropic mixture of chloroform, acetone and methanol, was investigated (28). This preliminary study was based on an assumption that some of the biological... 

Bitumens, were separated by chromatography, urea clathration and 5A molecular sieve occlusion before and after analyses of many of the aliphatic sub-fractions by GC and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Experimental details are noted in a previous publication (16) in which the distribution of cyclic alkanes in two lacustrine deposits of Devonian (N.E. Scotland) and Permian (Autun, France) age, (the D and C series samples) were discussed, Chromatographic separation into aliphatic, aromatic and polar compounds of the bitumens extracted from the shales gave the results shown in Table VI. Carbon Preference Indices and pristane/phytane ratios were measured in this work space limitations precluded... 

The authors have investigated a process to upgrade the bitumen extracted from unconventional extra heavy oils (Oil sands in Canada, Orinoco tar sands in Venezuela, etc.) using nuclear energy. 

Consequently, the vast majority of SCF applications are based on CO2 near the GL critical point, with a possible admixture to support the ability for solvating dipolar components. The extraction of carcinogenic aromatic hydrocarbons and their nitro derivatives from diesel particulates by CO2 + toluene or methanol SCF can serve as an example. CO2 based SCF also helps in cleaning polyethylene from undesired polymer additives. In a similar way one can consider technologies focused on so called h q)er-coal, an extremely pure and environment friendly fuel for turbines in power plants. Recently, the first power plants based on this idea are being constructed in China. The removal of pesticides from meat, decaffeinated coffee and denicotinized cigarettes are the next society-relevant applications. Noteworthy is the h q)er-oxidation with supercritical water and bitumens extraction based on supercritical toluene. The latter system is also used for the liquefaction of coal. ... 

Earnest (128) studied the oxidative profiles of several American and Australian oil shales using TG-DTG. For American and Canadian oil sands. Rosenvold et al. (129) obtained TG and DSC curves of bitumen extracts. The extracts were heated in an inert atmosphere, yielding curves showing that thermal decomposition takes place in two distinct stages. The first stage reaches a maximum at about 350°C, whereas the second shows a rate maximum at 475 C. 

A significant byproduct of bitumen extraction is the tailings stream, which contains water, mineral components, and unrecovered bitumen. The minerals consist of a coarse (>22 pm) sand component and a fines (<22 pm) fraction made up of silts and clays (predominantly kaolinite and illite). 

Implementation of NST mixtures would eliminate fine tailings production from the present Clark hot water process bitumen extraction... 

Fig. 5. Monterey Formation cores (a) bitumen extracted from the source samples versus depth and (b) bitumen profile of d versus r ax from Rock Eval on whole sample. Samples taken from a drilled well of the same location as reported in Table 1 and Baskin and Peters (1992).

Table 1. Analytical results for the bitumen extracted from the unheated and heated rock samples ... 

In the studies reported in this ehapter, the hydrocarbon (continuous) phase of the emulsion was composed of coker feed bitumen, extracted from Athabasca Oil Sand deposit (18). To attain workable viseosities, bitumen is diluted in a 1 1 mixtme, by volume, of n-heptane and toluene (both... 

Both the chemical nature and the concentration of polymeric modifiers in polymer-modified bitumens can be determined by DSC. The aging behavior of bitumen and polymer-modified bitumen in road asphalt or of bitumen extracted from road asphalt, may be analyzed and characterized by thermoanalytical methods. Thermogravimetry in inert gas has shown, for example, that the concentration of evaporable components decreases as a consequence of aging whereas the coke residue (residue at 600 °C or 800 °C oven temperature) increases, and that is connected with an increase in the concentration of asphaltenes. 

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