Suncor Energy Inc.

Trevor Bugg

Ana Sanchez

Adrian Revington

Ana Cristina Sanchez

Marvin Weiss

Thomas C Hann

Patrick Sean Wells

Jamie Eastwood

Oladipo Omotoso

Stephen Joseph Young

Hugues Robert O'Neill

Naveen Prathap

Bryan Adams

Marvin Harvey Weiss

Adrian Peter Revington

Benito Moyls

Marc Goranson

Enbo Feng

Ramesh Kadali

John Diep

Kushagra Mittal

Christoph Franz-Peter Wels

Jack Arthur Caldwell

Lawrence Edward Charlebois

James Patrick Macaulay

Michel Smith

Hugues Robert O'neill

Sundeep Srinivasa

Petr Nademlejnsky

Horacio Barajas

Noel Belland

Thomas Charles Hann

Kerry Komo

Lawrence Edward William Charlebois

Hughes Robert O'neill

Various techniques are provided in relation to flocculation and/or dewatering of thick fine tailings, with shear conditioning of flocculated tailings material in accordance with a pre-determined shearing parameter, such as the Camp Number. One example method of treating thick fine tailings including dispersing a flocculant into the thick fine tailings to form a flocculating mixture; shearing the flocculating mixture to increase yield stress and produce a flocculated mixture; shear conditioning the flocculated mixture to decrease the yield stress and break down flocs, the shear conditioning being performed in accordance with the pre-determined shearing parameter to produce conditioned flocculated material within a water release zone where release water separates from the conditioned flocculated material. The conditioned flocculated material can then be subjected to dewatering, for example by depositing, thickening or filtering. The design, construction and/or operation of a flocculation pipeline assembly can be facilitated.

Achieving water release zone for dewatering thick fine tailings based on shearing parameter such as camp number

Techniques for dewatering thick fine tailings may include one or more pre-treatment steps, such as pre-shearing to reduce the yield stress prior to flocculation, hydrocarbon removal below a threshold to improve flocculation and dewatering, flocculant dosing on a clay basis, and providing certain properties of the thick fine tailings related to coarse and fine particle sizes and/or chemistry such as divalent cation content. Various advantages may result from pre-treatments based on thick fine tailings properties, such as reduced flocculant dosage requirements, improved dispersion of flocculant into the thick fine tailings and/or enhanced dewatering, for example. One or more of the pre-treatments may be performed.

Enhanced techniques for dewatering thick fine tailings

A process for dewatering oil sand fine tailings is provided and comprises a dispersion and floc build-up stage comprising in-line addition of a flocculent solution comprising an effective amount of flocculation reagent into a flow of the oil sand fine tailings; a gel stage wherein flocculated oil sand fine tailings is transported in-line and subjected to shear conditioning; a floc breakdown and water release stage wherein the flocculated oil sand fine tailings releases water and decreases in yield shear stress, while avoiding an oversheared zone; depositing the flocculated oil sand fine tailings onto a deposition area to form a deposit and to enable the release water to flow away from the deposit, preferably done in a pipeline reactor and managing shear according to yield stress and CST information and achieves enhanced dewatering.

Process for flocculating and dewatering oil sand mature fine tailings

Techniques are described that relate to enhancing flocculation and dewatering of thick fine tailings, for example by reducing process oscillations. One example method includes dispersing a flocculant into thick fine tailings having a turbulent flow regime to produce turbulent flocculating tailings; subjecting the turbulent flocculating tailings to shear to build up flocs and increase yield stress, to produce a flocculated material having a non-turbulent flow regime; and shear conditioning the flocculated material to decrease the yield stress and produce conditioned flocculated tailings within a water release zone; and dewatering the conditioned flocculated tailings, for example by employing sub-aerial deposition. The thick fine tailings may have a Bingham Reynolds Number of at least 40,000 upon flocculant addition. Inhibiting process oscillations may include providing turbulent tailings feed, configuring a downstream pipeline assembly to reduce backpressure fluctuations and/or reducing air content in the flocculant solution, for example.

Dispersion and conditioning techniques for thick fine tailings dewatering operations

Methods for drying oil sand fine tailings treated to comprise flocculated fine tailings, by deposition and farming techniques, are provided. A deposition cell is provided with a sloped bottom surface and the flocculated fine tailings are deposited to undergo channelless advancement in the cell while allowing drainage of release water. When the deposit is uneven, the deposit may be plowed while wet for spreading and ensuring water release conditioning is imparted thereto, while avoiding over-shearing, and maintaining sufficient shear strength to allow standing. Once a dried upper crust forms, the deposit may be harrowed to break up the crust, expose wet regions there-beneath and create furrows in the standing deposit. The methods improve the dewatering and drying of mature fine tailings in oil sands.

Depositing and farming methods for drying oil sand mature fine tailings

Growing community of inventors

Fort McMurray, Canada

Trevor Bugg