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

拟议项目的重点是加拿大油砂工业面临的一个具有挑战性的问题：在环烷泡沫处理过程中，稀释沥青乳液中的水的不稳定性和去除。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。露天开采技术被石油工业广泛用于沥青提取，其中沥青通过使用水通过诸如解离和浮选的几个步骤从油砂矿床中提取。在随后的基于环烷烃溶剂的沥青泡沫处理中，稀释的沥青泡沫仍然含有大量的水（2- 4wt%）和固体（0.5- 1.0wt%），形成油包水乳液。含有溶解的盐（例如，NaCl）是极其稳定的和非常不希望的，对下游设备造成严重的加工问题，例如，热交换器、管道和升级设备中的结垢和腐蚀。 在这项研究中，我们提出了一个自下而上的研究策略，通过对基础界面科学的深入理解，开发有效的解决方案，从石脑油稀释的沥青中去除水，目标是获得<0.5重量%的沥青。水和< 0.3重量%固体我们将（1）对环烷泡沫处理工艺中乳液的性质和稳定机制以及使用先进技术组合导致分离困难的决定因素有更深入的了解，（2）开发有效的解决方案来使石脑油稀释沥青中的水和细固体不稳定并去除，例如通过应用（商业或合成的）化学品和功能化的过滤器/膜，基于对乳液性质、乳液和细固体的稳定化和相互作用机制的深刻理解。该项目的研究成果将有助于加拿大油砂行业消除相关的挑战性问题（例如，结垢和腐蚀）并降低运行成本。

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.