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:
Jun. 13, 1978
Filed:
Jan. 04, 1977
Everett J Fuller, Gillette, NJ (US);
Exxon Research & Engineering Co., Linden, NJ (US);
Abstract
A relatively low temperature process for separating and recovering bitumen from natural tar sands wherein granular sulfur and water are mixed with the tar sand, in the presence of air, to form a sulfur-bitumen agglomerate which floats on the water, with relatively bitumen-free sand sinking to the bottom. The agglomerate may be skimmed off the surface of the water and bitumen recovered therefrom by heating the agglomerate to melt the sulfur and then separating the molten sulfur from the hot bitumen. It has unexpectedly been discovered that a yield of over 80% of bitumen can be recovered from the tar sands by the use of sulfur in the process, compared to only about 20% if sulfur is not present.