油砂及其分离方法的研究进展

油砂是一种重要的非常规油气资源,其分离技术的研究近些年来引起了国内外科研工作人员的重视。介绍了目前世界上主要采取的油砂分离技术,并对各分离技术的原理及影响因素进行了深入讨论,最后针对具体的油砂矿提出了行之有效的分离方法。     

油砂萃取技术研究进展

油砂属非常规能源,其储量较大,与传统石油能源相比其开采成本较高,随着石油资源争夺日益激烈,油砂开采与分离技术越来越受到人们的重视,国内大多数油田对油砂采用溶剂萃取法、热解干馏法、水剂处理等技术进行分离。介绍了近年来国内油砂萃取技术研究现状,包括有机溶剂萃取法,超声波辅助萃取法,油砂分离剂萃取法,汽提萃取法,离子液体萃取法,无机热碱水提取法,水洗分离油砂法,对各种方法进行了评价和比较,并对油砂萃取技术今后研究方向提出了建议。     

水辅助溶剂法提取油砂中的沥青

开发了一种水辅助溶剂法从油砂中提取沥青的技术。该方法通过在油砂固相与有机溶剂间介入水层提取油砂中的沥青。以内蒙古扎赉特旗油砂矿为研究对象,考察了温度、剂砂质量比、提取时间、甲苯在复合溶剂中的含量及溶剂的种类与性质对沥青回收率高低的影响,结果表明：最佳提取条件为提取温度50℃,剂砂质量比1∶1,提取时间25min。沥青回收率与提取溶剂的性质紧密相关,水层介入有效降低了固体微粒组分在有机相中的含量,且便于后续的有机相与泥砂相的分离。通过对各种溶剂提取的沥青进行组分分析,发现各种溶剂对沥青提取能力的差异性源于溶剂的化学组成和结构不同。本文相关研究结果对溶剂法提取油砂中沥青技术及溶剂种类的选择具有指导作用。     

油砂分离技术研究进展

油砂是非常规能源,随着其重要性的提高,油砂分离技术的研究也逐步完善。本文论述了油砂资源的几种常用分离方法,影响因素,缺点,及改进方法,并提出了建议,为促进油砂分离技术发展提供参考。     

油砂分离技术研究进展

油砂是非常规能源,随着其重要性的提高,油砂分离技术的研究也逐步完善。本文论述了油砂资源的几种常用分离方法,影响因素,缺点,及改进方法,并提出了建议,为促进油砂分离技术发展提供参考。     

我国油砂分离技术研究进展

对我国在油砂分离技术方面的室内实验及现场工业试验的研究进展进行了综述。介绍了水洗分离技术、溶剂抽提技术、超声波辅助分离技术、热解干馏技术、生物处理技术和无剂处理技术等室内研究以及水洗处理工艺、热解干馏工艺在现场工业试验的研究情况。并对我国油砂分离技术目前存在的问题及发展趋势提出了一些建议。     

油砂沥青分离技术研究进展

油砂作为一种储量丰富的非常规石油资源,越来越受到世界各国的广泛关注。对于油砂的加工利用,其前提就是油砂沥青的分离,因此对其技术的研究十分必要。本文首先介绍了油砂的组成及分类,然后着重对几种主要油砂分离技术（热水洗法、有机溶剂萃取法、超临界流体萃取法、超声波辅助萃取法、离子液体萃取法和热解干馏法）的优缺点进行了汇总,并详细分析了它们各自的分离流程。其中,热水洗法、有机溶剂萃取法和热解干馏法是目前研究相对成熟的3种方法,而其他方法虽然分离效果相对高,但是对工艺条件和设备的要求较高,导致较高的投资和运行成本,因此还需要对这些油砂沥青分离工艺进行更加深入的研究,以满足工业化应用的要求。最后,对油砂沥青分离技术的发展前景进行了展望。     

国内外油砂分离技术研究

对油砂成矿特性进行分析,并对油砂分离技术进展进行概述。概括了水洗分离技术、溶剂抽提技术、超声波辅助分离技术、热解干馏技术和生物处理技术等室内研究及其分离原理。对各种油砂分离方法的优劣及发展发向进行讨论。     

油砂分离技术研究进展

随着常规能源的日益枯竭,油砂作为一种储量巨大的非常规能源,其重要性逐渐提高。本文介绍了油砂分离技术,主要涉及热碱水水洗分离技术、溶剂萃取技术、热解干馏技术、超声波分离技术以及离子液体辅助分离技术;提出油砂热解干馏的实质是催化裂化;并分析了现有油砂分离技术存在的问题,提出油砂分离的新方向,为油砂的开发利用提供参考。     

加拿大油砂溶剂抽提分离工艺的研究

对加拿大油砂进行了溶剂抽提分离试验,考察了石油醚、石脑油、甲苯、环己烷以及重整汽油对提取效果的影响,确定重整汽油为最佳抽提溶剂.综合考察了提取温度、溶剂与油砂体积比、提取时间以及搅拌速度等工艺操作条件对油砂沥青提取的影响,结果表明,在提取温度500℃,溶剂和油砂的体积比为1∶1,提取时间60 min,搅拌速度为80 r/min的条件下,油砂沥青提取率达到92.57%.     

Understanding Water‐Based Bitumen Extraction from Athabasca Oil Sands

The current state of knowledge on the fundamentals of bitumen recovery from Athabasca oil sands using water‐based extraction methods is reviewed. Instead of investigating bitumen extraction as a black box, the bitumen extraction process has been discussed and analyzed as individual steps: Oil sand lump size reduction, bitumen liberation, aeration, flotation and interactions among the different components that make up an oil sand slurry. With the development and adoption of advanced analytical instrumentations, our understanding of bitumen extraction at each individual step has been extended from the macroscopic scale down to the molecular level. How to improve bitumen recovery and bitumen froth quality from poor processing ores is still a future challenge in oil sands processing.     

Understanding weathering of oil sands ores by atomic force microscopy

Effect of weathering on colloidal interactions between bitumen and oil sands solids was studied by atomic force microscopy (AFM). The change in bitumen chemistry due to weathering was found to have a negligible effect on the interactions of bitumen with solid particles. However, the increase in solid surface hydrophobicity due to ore weathering reversed the long‐range interaction forces between bitumen and solids from repulsive to attractive with a corresponding increase in adhesion force. The measured force profiles between bitumen and various solids can be well fitted with the extended DLVO theory by considering an additional attractive force. The attractive long‐range force and increased adhesion force make the separation of bitumen from solids more difficult and the attachment of fine solids on liberated bitumen easier, thereby leading to poor bitumen liberation and lower aeration efficiency. Such changes account for the observed poor processability of the weathered ores. © 2009 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2009     

Application of microbial enhanced oil recovery technology in water‐based bitumen extraction from weathered oil sands

When using the water‐based extraction processes (WBEPs) to recover bitumen from the weathered oil sands, very low bitumen recovery arisen from the poor liberation of bitumen from sand grains is always obtained. Application of microbial enhanced oil recovery (MEOR) technology in WBEPs to solve the poor processability of the weathered ore was proposed. It was found that processability of the microbial‐treated weathered ore was greatly improved. The improved processability was attributed to the biosurfactants production in the culture solution, alteration of the solids wettability, degradation of the asphaltene component, and the decrease of the bitumen viscosity, which collectively contributed to the bitumen liberation from the surface of sand grains. Although it still has many issues to be solved for an industrial application of the MEOR technology in oil sands separation, it is believed that the findings in this work promote the solution to the poor processability of the weathered ore. © 2014 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 60: 2985–2993, 2014     

Bitumen Recovery with Oily Air Bubbles

Air‐kerosene bubbles were used in a novel laboratory scale pipeline loop to assess the extraction performance of poor processing oil sand ores. The addition of kerosene to air, whereby producing oily bubbles, substantially enhanced bitumen recovery from poor processing oil sand ores. The oily bubbles were added in a pipeline loop during bitumen liberation from the sand grains. The bitumen recovery from poor processing ores with the addition of the oily bubbles to the conditioning slurry becomes comparable to that of good processing ores. The present findings can be of substantial benefit to the oil sands industry.     

Wettability alteration of solid surface to enhance the bitumen liberation and the water-based processability of weathered oil sands

Weathering often induces bituminous materials adsorbing on the sand grains and leads to poor processability of the oil sands. Chemical and microbial pre-treatment of the prepared weathered ore model and a weathered oil sand ore were carried out to improve the solids surface wettability so as to facilitate the bitumen liberation and recovery. It was found that although all the cetyl trimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), sodium dodecylbenzene sulphonate (SDBS), and microbial culture medium could greatly decrease the surface tension of the solution, the CTAB treatment failed to improve the bitumen liberation, while the SDBS and microbial treatment significantly accelerated the bitumen liberation from the silicon substrates. The wettability analysis showed that the improved bitumen liberation could be attributed to the alteration of the solids surface wettability from hydrophobic to hydrophilic by the SDBS and microbial treatment. Inconsistent with the findings of the bitumen liberation, floatation tests of a weathered ore showed that the CTAB pre-treatment only gave a low bitumen recovery of 33%, while the SDBS and microbial pre-treatment improved the processability of the ore. In particular, the microbial treatment was more effective at removing the adsorbed organics from the solids and improved the surface hydrophilicity, resulting in a much better bitumen recovery of 95%. This work provides a way to improve the processability of the weathered ore by altering the solids surface wettability.     

Factors affecting the aeration of small bitumen droplets

Small bitumen droplets, roughly 10 to 40 μm in diameter, constitute a significant fraction of the total hydrocarbon in an oil sands flotation process. In this study, the aeration of such droplets is examined—both from a surface energetic perspective as well as from direct observations. The spreading coefficient associated with bitumen aeration is evaluated based on in situ measurements of interracial and surface tensions. In addition, micropipette techniques are employed to monitor the aeration process and to quantify the probability of aeration. Our results suggest that a positive spreading coefficient does not always guarantee the aeration of bitumen droplets, and that such a process may best be described from a statistical stand point.     

Processibility of Athabasca Oil Sand Using a Laboratory Hyd ro t ransport Extraction System (LHES)

A novel laboratory scale apparatus has been developed and used to assess the extraction performance of oil sands under conditions analogous to current industrial processes. The apparatus can be used to investigate independently, the liberation of bitumen from the sand as well as air‐bitumen attachment and bitumen recovery. Experiments show that lower operating temperatures have a detrimental effect on bitumen recovery and controlled air addition is beneficial for recovery. The liberation of bitumen from sand grains has been found to proceed faster than air attachment and bitumen recovery, making the flotation the ratelimiting step in the extraction process. The potential benefit of staged air injection into hydrotransport pipelines as a possible process aid is discussed.     

Bitumen—sand interaction in oil sand processing

Bitumen—sand interaction was studied as a function of pH, particle size, temperature and solvent addition to bitumen. Sand particles can be easily detached from the bitumen surface at pH> 6. At pH < 6, strong attachment between bitumen and sand is observed. The bitumen—sand interaction is also particle-size dependent: the finer the particles, the stronger the attachment. The detachment of coarse particles from bitumen can be achieved by increasing the alkalinity of the solution, but not for fine particles, indicating that the particle size is one of the critical factors affecting liberation of bitumen from sand. Increasing temperature has two effects: it is not only reduces the viscosity to facilitate bitumen liberation, but also increases the electrostatic repulsion between sand and bitumen. This is confirmed by the DLVO theory and is in agreement with the batch extraction results on real oil sands.     

油砂沥青质对油砂沥青中甲苯残留的影响

利用热重质谱联用仪（TG-MS）分析了三种油砂沥青（印尼油砂沥青、伊朗油砂沥青、加拿大油砂沥青）中的甲苯残留以及油砂沥青质含量对油砂沥青中甲苯残留的影响,并在此基础上,进一步研究了油砂沥青质中的甲苯残留。结果发现,不同油砂沥青中甲苯残留量存在一定差异,其中印尼油砂沥青中的甲苯残留量最多。进一步对沥青质质量分数分别为10%、19%、30%的油砂沥青样品进行热重质谱实验,发现随着油砂沥青中沥青质含量的增加,甲苯的残留量会成倍增加。以加拿大油砂沥青质为例,研究了油砂沥青质对溶剂残留的影响,发现油砂沥青质具有对甲苯分子的夹带能力,导致甲苯分子在超过自身沸点40℃以上才能从沥青质中分离出来。油砂沥青中其他组分的存在也会加剧沥青质对甲苯的夹带作用。此外,研究还发现,在350~650℃时,油砂沥青质可以热解产生甲苯,而且油砂沥青中的沥青质含量越高,热解生成的甲苯越多。     

Effect of Operating Temperature on Water‐Based Oil Sands Processing

Operating temperature is one of the most important controlling parameters in oil sands processing. Considering the massive energy consumption and green house gas emission, lowering the processing temperature is highly desirable. To achieve such an ambitious goal requires a comprehensive understanding on the role of temperature in oil sands processing. This paper provides an overview of major findings from existing studies related to oil sands processing temperature. The relation between temperature and bitumen recovery is discussed. The effect of temperature on the physiochemical properties of oil sand components, such as bitumen viscosity, bitumen surface tension and surface potentials of bitumen and solids, is analyzed. The interactions between bitumen and solids and between bitumen and gas bubbles as a function of temperature are recounted. Also discussed is the role of chemical additives in oil sand processing. It has been found that temperature affects nearly all properties of oil sands among which bitumen viscosity and bitumen‐solids adhesion impose a prominent impact on bitumen recovery. The use of selected chemical additives can reduce bitumen viscosity and/or the bitumen‐solids adhesion, and thus provide a possible way to process oil sands at a low temperature while maintaining a high bitumen recovery.