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:
Jan. 24, 2017
Filed:
Oct. 24, 2012
Eni S.p.a., Rome, IT;
Maria Andrei, Mediglia, IT;
Lucilla Del Gaudio, San Donato Milanese, IT;
Giulia Luisa Eleonora Bozzano, Milan, IT;
Andrea Sliepcevich, Milan, IT;
ENI S.p.A., Rome, IT;
Abstract
The present invention relates to a process for the recovery of bitumen from an oil sand comprising the following phases in succession: (a) mixing an oil sand with a diluent capable of reducing the viscosity and density of the bitumen contained in said oil sand, obtaining a first mixture (slurry) comprising diluted bitumen; (b) mixing said slurry with a basic aqueous solution (BAS) possibly containing salts to increase its ionic strength, capable of removing said diluted bitumen from said oil sand containing it, obtaining a second mixture (BAS-slurry) which can be separated into (i) a liquid phase comprising said diluted bitumen, a fraction of oil sand free of the bitumen removed and water; (ii) a sediment comprising the remaining fraction of said oil sand free of the bitumen removed, water and residual hydrocarbons which can be eliminated by subsequent washings; (c) separating a liquid phase comprising said diluted bitumen removed, from said BAS-slurry mixture; (d) recovering, from said liquid phase separated in phase (c), the removed diluted bitumen contained therein.