The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jul. 18, 2023
Filed:
Aug. 04, 2020
Canadian National Railway Company, Montreal, CA;
James Auld, Calgary, CA;
John Bleile, Calmar, CA;
Kasra Nikooyeh, Edmonton, CA;
Amanda Prefontaine, Legal, CA;
Derek Stanger, Vancouver, CA;
Jesse White, Calgary, CA;
Canadian National Railway Company, Montreal, CA;
Abstract
Historically, bitumen from oil sands has been carried over land using trucks, pipelines, or by rail, and over water using tankers. Each mode of transportation faces economic or technical challenges of its own. Here there is provided a method for transporting bitumen, comprising: receiving in a dry bulk shipping container a load of discrete pellets with bitumen entrapped into the pellets, wherein the pellets have non-stick outer surfaces configured to prevent the bitumen from sticking to walls of the container when the pellets are carried in the container; and transporting the dry bulk shipping container containing the pellets over a distance. Alternatively or additionally, the pellets may have non-stick outer surfaces configured to prevent the load from caking when the pellets are carried in the container such that the load of bitumen pellets is substantially free-flowing when the transporting is completed.