The detachment of bitumen from sand grains in oil sands processing is known as bitumen liberation. In this study, a quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation (QCM-D) was applied to study the bitumen liberation process under various process conditions. Bitumen was coated on the surface of silica sensors to simulate the oil sands ore. By recording the change of frequency and dissipation of the coated sensor, QCM-D allows for a real-time quantitative analysis of the bitumen detachment process. The effects of solid wettability, solution pH, and operation temperature on bitumen liberation were investigated using QCM-D. The effects of different solution pH values and temperatures on bitumen liberation were conducted with untreated hydrophilic silica sensors. It was found that the degree of bitumen liberation (DBL) was improved from 32 to 98% when the solution pH was increased from 7.8 to 11, indicating the importance of solution pH in the water-based bitumen extraction process. An increasing temperature enhanced not only the degree of bitumen liberation but also the rate of bitumen detachment. The DBL from a hydrophobic silica surface was about 1.2% at pH 11.5 and 22 °C, which is much lower than the hydrophilic silica surface. QCM-D is a powerful tool in studying the bitumen liberation from both hydrophobic and hydrophilic surfaces.

中文翻译：

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用耗散的石英晶体微量天平探测沥青的释放

油砂加工中从砂粒中分离出沥青被称为沥青释放。在这项研究中，使用了具有耗散特性的石英微天平（QCM-D）来研究各种工艺条件下的沥青释放过程。将沥青涂在二氧化硅传感器的表面上，以模拟油砂矿石。通过记录涂层传感器的频率和耗散变化，QCM-D可以对沥青分离过程进行实时定量分析。使用QCM-D研究了固体润湿性，溶液pH值和操作温度对沥青释放的影响。使用未经处理的亲水性二氧化硅传感器进行了不同溶液pH值和温度对沥青释放的影响。发现当溶液的pH值从7.8增加到11时，沥青的释放度（DBL）从32％提高到98％，表明溶液的pH值在水基沥青提取过程中的重要性。温度升高不仅提高了沥青的释放程度，而且提高了沥青的脱离速度。在pH 11.5和22°C下，疏水性二氧化硅表面的DBL约为1.2％，远低于亲水性二氧化硅表面的DBL。QCM-D是研究沥青从疏水和亲水表面释放的有力工具。在pH 11.5和22°C下，疏水性二氧化硅表面的DBL约为1.2％，远低于亲水性二氧化硅表面的DBL。QCM-D是研究沥青从疏水和亲水表面释放的有力工具。在pH 11.5和22°C下，疏水性二氧化硅表面的DBL约为1.2％，远低于亲水性二氧化硅表面的DBL。QCM-D是研究沥青从疏水和亲水表面释放的有力工具。