Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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CANAL7I~N PATENT APPLICATION
RECOVERY AtlL7 UPGRAL7ING OF BITUMEN PROM TAR-8ANDS
This Patent relates to new or improved methods for
recovery of bitumen and heavy oil from tar-sands and to
"rrr~ ng the same into marketable petroleum products
and energy producinq fuels; and to tailings disposal in
a more eDvi~ ~ Rl y sl~rrepl-Rh7~ way.
Bitumen ana Heavy-oil are found in many countries,
but in Northern ana central Alberta they constitute one
of the largest ~ydrcgen-Carbon bodies in the worla. Thesc
hydrogen ca;bons a~e resistant to flow at ambient
temperatures and cannot be recoverea by conventional oil
well arilling.
Some of the aeposlts exist close enough to the grouna
surface to be economlcally recoverea by strip mining.
Two such mines now p]-oduce about 20~ of Canaaa 's oil
re~uirements. Another S-10~ of Canaaa's oil is presently
produced from oil reservoirs stimulated by steam. These
carbon hydrogen bodies are too deep for surface mining.
The ob~ect of this invention is for new or improved
methods for more economical recovery and upgrading of
these abundant carbon hydrogen resources into useful
marketable Petroleum Products and Utility Fuels. The
invention will show that the depleted sand now being
deposited in undesirable tailing ponds, can be Frrnrm1rR~1y
disposed of in dry form and the olay fines can be disposed
of as a covering over the sand making a suitable base
for reforestation. - ~forestation over tailings ponds
to restore the enviror~mcnt is and will be an expensive
operation. The clay f ines are rich in Aluminum bearing
elements which togeth~r with the Coke residue from Bitumen
distillation can be passed through a clorination process
leaaing to a worla class Aluminum Proauction Industry
in Alberta. Thus it wlll be seen that separating the
fines from the sana is important, rather than discharglng
both ln a tailings pond.
- Coke constitues ~-209s of bitumen varying from field
to field. The coke contains l-69~i sulfur which makes it
enviL~ ~R11y unacce1?table as a utility fuel. It will
be an ob~ect of this il1vention, to introduce a method
to llme treat the bltunen in the coking process 50 the
6ulfur in the coke ix chemicalLy changed; when the coke
ls burnt as an energy fuel the chemically changed sulfur
will be dlsposed of With the ash rather than as S02 with
the flue gases; Syncrude stock piles their coke buying
expensive natural gas as their main fuel rather than treat
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the coke for sulphur removal . Thls must be seen as an
unacceptable use of our energy lC_uuL.:es.
Another feature of the invention ia a revised bucket
wheel eYcavator; bucket wheel excavstors as we have known
such for tar-sands mining are being replaced by mega trucks
and shovels for the excavation and transfer of bitumen
from the mine face t o the crusher. A previous patent
and drawings demonstrated also in this patent will show
a revised bucket wheel chain and platform for loading
tar-sand and over-burden trucks and for transfer of
over-burdAn on to trussel conveyers for disposal. The
use of which should reduce again the cost of u~.lbu-
~and tar-sands transfer.
Pluid and Flexi-coking are proven methods for
upgrading bitumen into bitumen distillate, n~nr~nrlr~nR~h1e
gases, and coke. This invention will show a method to
~ ~a~ 11 Rh what these systems do, but in a much slmplier
an~t cheaper way.
A LES~ OF T~ lNV~ WITE~ KlS~ u~' TO T~E
DRAWINGS:
FIG-1 are drawings o~ the over-burden and tar-sands bucket
chain excavator.
FIG-2 is a method for separating bitumen from tar-sands.
FIG-3 is a method to recover volatile condensates,
non-condensable gases, and coke from bitumen and
heavy oil.
FIG-3~ Ls a conventional fractionation tower in
association with the coker gaslfier
FIG-1: of the invention is a bucket excavator
designed to excavate overburden and tar-sands. Conventional
bucket wheel excavators operate on a circular turn table.
They are very heavy machines, the suspension of the powered
excavating wheel causes great strain on the sus~1ension
and balance parts, resulting in high maintenance costs
and down time, especially in winter. They are in the
process of being replaced by shovels and trucks.
FIG-1-~: is an elevation side view of a bucket chain
excavator. It may be used to supplement shovels in
excavating overburden and tar-sznds, loading trucks for
transfer of tar-sands to a crusher and disposal of
overburden .
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FIG-1-B: is a plan view of the 8teel fabricated
floor 8 mounted on powered tracks 5 at the front and rubber
tired wheels 9 at the rear; the buckets which form chain
3 are mounted on drive wheel 2 and ldler wheel 1 and are
bourn on carriage 12; carrlaqe 12 13 mounted on wheels
and track or channeLs 6 for transfer of the carriage 12
(buckets~ across platform 8. Carrlage 12 will have a
transfer conveyer 7 which will transfer the over-burden
from the buckets 3 ~mto trucks 10 or unto conveyer 11
which will discharge the O.B. unto a mobile overhead
trussel conveyer (not shown) for dLscharge over an
over-burden aisposal field (not shown): trucks 10 will
transfer q'.S. from the bucket excavator to the T.S.
crusher .
FIG-2..of thl6 invention is a method to separate
bltumen from the tar-sands: mined tar-sands from a
tar-sands crusher (not shown) are discharged into bitumen
sand separator FIG-2 A by conveyer 1; A is a circular
drum open at the top, having a pipe drlve shaft 6 driven
by motor 3, hard faced impellers 4 are anchored in spiral
form to shaft 6; the rotating impellers 4 are designed
to mix and separate the bitumen from the sand, and help
with the weight of the incoming tar-sands to move the
~.S. through the separation pipe A: air pump 1~ will re-
circulate air recovered from the bitumen froth 13
con~n~o~cly discharging it at the bottom of the vessel
(5). I'his air will assist in motivating the bitumen upward
as the impellers 4 release the bitumen from the sand.
New air 23 will be added to the circulation air as
required. An appropriate caustic will correct P.H.
A major portion of the bitumen will be recovered
in vessel A, the sanc~ and remaining bitumen will drop
downward through a metering gate 7 into rinse B. Rinse
B has a drive shaft 6 and impellers 4 similar to A;
recovered circulation water 9 from well 21 or return water
from pipe 18 will be in~ected alonq the bottom of B g,
this water will rinse and lift the remaining bitumen and
fines upward through plpes 12 into separatlon A leaving
a clean sand to be discharged at the end of separation
B through squeeze gate 7 into pumps 11 for disposal upward
over tailings field 22: all the water required in
separation A will be supplied from rinse B through pipes
12.
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The bitumen froth 13 collecting along the top of
separation A will be de-frothed 14 by conventional means.
The bitumen 13 pdGsLng over weir 25, for recovery and
transfer by pump 19 and pipeline 20 to the up-grader FIG-3.
The sand and watcr from pumps 11 will be separated 17
by conventional means, the sand discharged over tailinqs
field 22, the water returned by pipe 18 or by filtration
into well 21 for recovery and recirculatlon.
FIG-3...of the invention is up-grading of bltumen
into bitumen distillate, nnnrnn~l~ncible gases, coke and
steam production. BJ tumen from FIG-2 or from steam
stimulated wells may or may not be passed through a decanter
type centrifuge or one of the many other methods to remove
water and fines (sand) from the bitumen if desirable?
the bitumen 58 is pumped (65) with solvent 49 into vessel
B: vessel B is a insulated bitumen holding and settling
tank, and will recover the lighter distillates (49) upward;
the fines (sand) 42 ~which may be floculated by a proper
polymer)and water 41 settle downward in the vessel for
disposal at low temp~rature. The bitumen 58 rising upward
through heat coils 72 will have its temperature raised
to 300-500*F? Naphtl1a ~49) and the lighter distillates
rising from the top of vessel (B) will be condensed ~48)
and recovered. These lig~lt distillates as required will
be recirculated through pump 65 to lower the viscosity
of the incoming bitun~en, the remainder will be directed
to vessel A. A dual ~lectrostatic treater ~ 50 ) may be placed
in vessel B to floculate and remove remaining fine water
from the bitumen. The hot bitumen residue 58 will flow
downward fro rL the top of vessel B for distribution into
vessel C.
Vl:SSE~ C...of the invention is a COKE~-GASIFIBR; it -
recovers coke as an environmentally friendly uql, the
bitumen distillates as liquid petroleum, and the
non-rnn~ncf hle gases as lime treated fuel, or as a feea
stock for hydrogen production: Vessel C is designed on
the well established f1-1iA~7P~1 bed principle; but in a
greatly simplified an~ more economical way, doing in a
single vessel C that for which fluid coking requires 2
vessels and flexi-coking 3 vessels: Vessel C has an outer
steel wall 70, the wall encloses a fluidized bed oxidized
by preheated air 74, 1~umped ~66) through heat chamber 71;
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said hot alr distributed evenly over the fluidized bed
through burner dis~ harge heaas 62; the hot air is designed
to oxidize and burl~ sufficient coke to complete the coker
ga3ifier operation as designed.
The hot bitumen residue 58 from vessel B will be
distributed evenly into the top of the fll7ifl1~P~ bed; high
pressure super steam 67 released into pipe~ Sg will drive
the coke through the pipes, circulating and fluidizing
the coke bed; the super-steam may be used in any other
~esirable way to fluidize the bed: the hot coke will act
as a nuclei around which new coke is formed and recovered
from the incoming bltument: CO gas being formed from
oxidization (burninq) of the coke will rise upward assisting
in fluidizing and elevatlng the bed temperature. The
bitumen volatiles rising out of the fll ~i7P~ bed will
pass through cyclones 52 to remove coke and any other
solidfi; vacuum pump 45 will create a vacuum over the
fluidized be~. A subatantial part of the bitumen volatiles
las required3 will be drawn through coils 72 heating the
bitumen in vessel B to the desired temperature to recover
the lighter bitumen volatiles 49. The temperature of the
bitumen volatiles will be reduced as their heat is being
transferred to the bitumen of vessel B: coils 72 will direct
ths bitumen volatiles into condenser 44; condenser 44 will
finalize recovery of the noncondensible gases upward through
vacuum pump 45, and the recovery of bitumen distillates
downward for discharqe by pump 43 into vessel A.
Vessel A will be an insulated storage and settling
vessel where any solids 42 and water 41 can be removed,
the vessel will be maintained at a desired temperature
below 200 F. The bitumen distillate 40 will be recovered
from the top of this vessel. The nrnr-nlq~n~1hlP gases
CO, CB4, B2 N2, and C02 will be recovered through vacuum
pump 45 and sent to storage 46. The gases will be used
as fuel, as a feed stock for hydrogen production or in
any other desirable ~ay. Bitumen volatiles also rising
from the fluid bed are directed to heat exchanger 44A and
44B where the bitumen volatiles exchange their heat to
the clrculating water tubes. The water being heated to
~ust below the dew point before being pumped 77 into C0
boilers 78 which produce steam or super steam of pressure,
temperature and guali~y as requlred for T.S. well
stimulation or super stea~ ~or the production of
electricity, or for steam as required for any other use;
the C0 boilers 78 may be remote or close to the up-grader.
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The bitumen volatll~as passing through heat exchangers 44A
and 44B yield their heat to the boiler water coils, the
bitumen distillate 10 i5 pumped 43 to storage tank A; the
non-conden6ible gases are discharged by vacuum pump ~5
into storage 46.
Bitumen obtalned from Alberta T.S. contains +-209~
coke, the coke contains ~-6~ sulfur; as a result most of
the coke is stock piled as an environmentaly undesirable
fuel for energy production: a prime feature of this
invention is a method to lime treat the bitumen in the
coking process, the lime ~-h~m~o:l11y changing the sulfur
so when the coke is used for fuel the sulfur will be
disposed of as ash rather than as S02 with the flue gas.
55 is a lime hopper from which lime is distributed
evenly into the fluidized bed, the lime in communicatlon
with the coke in the fluid bed chemically changes the
sulfur, the sulfur will be disposed of as ash from the
fluidi~ed bed; the un-burned coke will be recovered as
- =an environmentally acceptable fuel; the lime may be
introduced into the fluid be'las a powder or with water
in slurry form or in a variety of other ways. If desirable
~-90~6 of the coke can be gasified. It will be shown that
by gasifying the coke large amounts of heat is produced
and recovered for up-grading and steam production; the
C0 gas will be used as fuel in the C0 boilers to top off
the quality steam required; a substantial amount of the
heat required for steam production will have been recovered
from heat exchangers 44A, 44B.
The coker gasifier will play an important role in
bitumen production f~^om steam stimulated wells 83, boilers
now use expensive natural gas for steam production and
require a solvent to make the bitumen pir~7 in~hlr . The
coke and n~al r~nA~n~ible gases of this invention should
lower significantly the fuel cost of steam productlon'
the bitumen distlllate from FIG-3-~ wlll be transferrable
by plpeline without the addltlon of solvent.
Number 82 of fig-3 indicates steam being directed
into a steam electric generator for the production of
electricity. It will be shown from a study of Fig-3 that
lime treated coke is the prime fuel source, from whlch
heat is produced for up-grading bitumen, for the production
of steam, for the production of C0 gas, and the production
of electricity.
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PIG 3A- iB a conventlonal petroleum fractLonation tower
82 (flq-3A-E:) ~sed to upgrade bitumen volatiles
from the coker gasifier; it is an alternative to shipping
the bitumen distillates from the coker gasifier directly
to a refinery. The hea~y distillates B3 from the lower
tower, the lighter distillates higher 84,BS and the non-
coll~en~lble g~e~ f rs,~ the top of tbe tower.
L,c~
