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

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。在本研究中，我们提出了一种自下而上的研究策略，通过对基础界面科学的扎实理解，开发出从石脑油稀释沥青中去除水的有效解决方案，目标是获得<0.5 wt.%的水和< 0.3 wt.%的固体。我们将(1)结合先进的技术，对环烷泡沫处理过程中乳剂的性质和稳定机理以及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，通过（商业或合成）化学品和功能化过滤器/膜的应用，使环烷泡沫稀释沥青中的水和细固体不稳定并去除。基于对乳剂性质、乳剂与细固体的稳定及相互作用机理的深入了解。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（如结垢和腐蚀），并降低运营成本。

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.