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Syncrude Canada Ltd.

Pat Dougan

Barry Bara

Rodney K Ridley

Darcy Daugela

George Cymerman

Mark Polak

Robert William Skwarok

Tom Tran

Jim Lorenz

Corey Mayr

A system for characterizing a slurry in a slurry process includes a flow tube, a camera, and a computer. The system is suitable for use with an oil sands extraction slurry processed or treated by an oil sands extraction slurry process. The slurry is diverted from the slurry process into the flow tube. The camera images the slurry as it flows through a transparent portion of the flow tube to produce a digital image of the slurry. The computer analyzes the digital image to determine a slurry characteristic. Based on the determined slurry characteristic, the computer may predict a performance metric of the slurry process and adjust an operating parameter of the slurry process to optimize the slurry process towards a target performance metric. Multiple systems may be used to continuously monitor slurry characteristics at upstream and downstream steps of the slurry process, and determine correlations between those characteristics.

System and method for image-based analysis of a slurry and control of a slurry process

Diluent-diluted bitumen froth containing bitumen and naphtha diluent, hydrocarbons, water, sand and fines (collectively &ldquo;dilfroth&rdquo;) is fed into a vapor-tight gravity settler ('splitter') and temporarily retained to produce a bottom layer of tails comprising sand and middlings, a rag layer of discrete three-dimensional structures, each comprising hydrocarbons contained in a skin of fines, and a top layer of hydrocarbons containing small droplets of water and fines ('raw dilbit'). The flux in the splitter is less than 6 m /h of dilfroth fed per m of horizontal cross-sectional rag area. The in-coming dilfroth is fed directly into the splitter middlings. Demulsifier is added to the overflow stream of raw dilbit and the mixture is subjected to prolonged settling in a vapor-tight polisher tank, to produce polished dilbit containing less than 1.0 wt. % water and 0.3 wt. % solids. The splitter underflow tails, containing less than 15 wt. % bitumen, is mixed with additional diluent to raise the diluent/bitumen ratio to 4:1 to 10:1 and is gravity settled in a vapor-tight scrubber. Scrubber overflow, mostly diluent containing residual bitumen stripped from the tails, is recycled to the splitter. In concept, the sand is first separated from the bitumen in the stripper. The substantially sand-free bitumen can then feasibly be treated with chemical demulsifier and subjected to prolonged settling in the polisher to reduce water and fines contents to low levels. Bitumen lost with the splitter tails is recovered in the scrubber using a high concentration of diluent. The scrubber overflow of bitumen and diluent is recycled to the stripper to conserve diluent.

Staged settling process for removing water and solids from oils and extraction froth

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Edmonton, Canada

Pat Dougan