Western Canada’s oil sands hold the third-largest hydrocarbon deposits in the world. Bitumen, a very heavy petroleum, is currently recovered by surface mining with warm water or in situ. Recovery processes that use organic solvents are being developed to reduce water usage and tailings production. While solvent-based methods can effectively extract bitumen, removal of residual fine solids from diluted bitumen product (DBP) to meet the pipeline transport requirement of < 0.5 wt% solids and water in DBP remains a major challenge. We propose a novel area of application of polymer flocculants for fine solids removal from DBP. In principle, polymer flocculants can be applied to help remove these residual solids in conjunction with physical separation processes to increase process effectiveness and energy efficiency. Several polymers are selected and screened for flocculation behavior using kaolinite suspended in DBP and toluene, as a model system. Focused beam reflectance measurements and force tensiometer techniques are used to determine flocculation and sedimentation in DBP. The observed flocculation and sedimentation rate enhancements indicate that the polymers tested have only minor effects, providing opportunities for advanced polymer development. These findings exemplify the challenges in identifying polymers that may be effective as flocculants in heavy petroleum media.

中文翻译：

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在非水萃取过程中开发聚合物絮凝剂以改善沥青质量的挑战：一项实验研究

加拿大西部的油砂拥有世界第三大碳氢化合物矿床。沥青是一种非常重的石油，目前可通过使用热水或就地开采来回收。正在开发使用有机溶剂的回收工艺，以减少用水量和尾矿产量。尽管基于溶剂的方法可以有效地提取沥青，但要从稀释的沥青产品（DBP）中去除残留的细固体以满足DBP中固体和水的含量<0.5 wt％的管道运输要求仍然是一个主要挑战。我们提出了高分子絮凝剂从DBP中去除细小固体的新型应用领域。原则上，可以将聚合物絮凝剂与物理分离过程结合起来使用，以帮助去除这些残留固体，从而提高过程效率和能源效率。选择了几种聚合物，并使用悬浮在DBP和甲苯中的高岭石作为模型系统，筛选了絮凝行为。聚焦光束反射率测量和力张力计技术用于确定DBP中的絮凝和沉降。观察到的絮凝和沉降速率提高表明所测试的聚合物仅产生较小的影响，为高级聚合物的开发提供了机会。这些发现例证了鉴定在重石油介质中可用作絮凝剂的聚合物的挑战。观察到的絮凝和沉降速率提高表明所测试的聚合物仅产生较小的影响，为高级聚合物的开发提供了机会。这些发现例证了鉴定在重石油介质中可用作絮凝剂的聚合物的挑战。观察到的絮凝和沉降速率提高表明所测试的聚合物仅产生较小的影响，为高级聚合物的开发提供了机会。这些发现例证了鉴定在重石油介质中可用作絮凝剂的聚合物的挑战。