Removing water from diluted bitumen in naphthenic froth treatment of oil sands production and the underlying interfacial science

油砂生产环烷泡沫处理中稀释沥青中的水去除及其基础界面科学

• 批准号: 543409-2019
• 负责人: Zeng, Hongbo
• 金额: $ 37.15万
• 依托单位: University of Alberta
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Collaborative Research and Development Grants
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2020-01-01 至 2021-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=699219
• 关键词: Removing; water; diluted; bitumen; naphthenic

The proposed project focuses on a challenging issue confronting the Canadian oil sands industry: destabilization and removal of water-in-diluted bitumen emulsions in naphthenic froth treatment process. Canada has the third largest oil reserves in the world, after Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. Surface mining technique is widely used by oil industry for bitumen extraction, where bitumen is extracted from the oil sands deposits by using water through several steps such as liberation and flotation. In subsequent bitumen froth treatment based on naphthenic solvent, the diluted bitumen froth still contains considerable amount of water (2-4 wt%) and solids (0.5-1.0 wt%), forming water-in-oil emulsion. The emulsified water, containing dissolved salts (e.g., NaCl), are extremely stable and highly undesired, causing serious processing problems to downstream equipment, e.g., fouling and corrosion in heat exchangers, pipelines and upgrading equipment. In this research, we propose a bottom-up research strategy, through a solid understanding of underpinning fundamental interface science, to develop effective solutions to remove water from the naphtha-diluted bitumen, with the goal of obtaining <0.5 wt.% water and < 0.3 wt.% solid. We will (1) develop a strong and improved understanding on the properties and stabilization mechanism of the emulsions in naphthenic froth treatment process as well as the determining factors which cause the separation difficulty using a combination of advanced techniques, and (2) develop effective solutions to destabilize and remove water and fine solids in the naphtha-diluted bitumen, such as by the applications of (commercial or synthesized) chemicals, and functionalized filters/membranes, based on the strong understanding of the properties of emulsions, stabilization and interaction mechanisms of the emulsions and fine solids. The research outcomes of this project will facilitate the Canadian oil sands industry to eliminate the associated challenging problems (e.g., fouling and corrosion) and lower the operating cost.

拟议的项目重点关注加拿大油砂行业面临的一个具有挑战性的问题：环烷基泡沫处理过程中稀释沥青乳液的不稳定和去除。加拿大拥有世界第三大石油储量，仅次于沙特阿拉伯和委内瑞拉。露天矿开采技术在石油工业中广泛应用于沥青开采。露天矿开采技术是利用水从油砂矿床中经过解放和浮选等几个步骤提取沥青。在后续以环烷溶剂为基础的沥青泡沫处理中，稀释后的沥青泡沫仍含有大量的水（2-4 wt%）和固体（0.5-1.0 wt%），形成油包水乳液。乳化水含有溶解盐（如NaCl），非常稳定，非常不受欢迎，对下游设备造成严重的加工问题，如换热器、管道和升级设备的结垢和腐蚀。