Low-temperature alternative to carbonization in the synthesis of carbon materials from oil sands process streams

在油砂开采作业中，沥青与水和固体的分离是通过石蜡泡沫处理实现的。废弃的溪流含有75%的水、20%的矿物和5%的碳质物质，并被处置在尾矿池中。从环境和经济的角度来看，将这一流动转化为增值产品将是有益的，也是拟议研究项目的目标。潜在的市场价值VAP是炭黑、石墨炭和其他基于固体碳的产品。高温(&gt；430oC)方法在碳化和石墨化方面是众所周知的，但由于高能耗和高温室气体排放而不受欢迎。拟议项目的主要目标是开发一种低温工艺，将废弃尾矿的组分转化为富碳的VAP。对加拿大的好处包括，我们的经济多样化，使用“燃料以外”的油砂衍生产品，以及减少尾矿库的排泄量和改善尾矿库的质量。该项目可以归类为加拿大为环境和经济利益而进行的废物价值转化努力之一。

In oil sand mining operations, bitumen separation from water and solids is achieved via paraffinic froth treatment. The rejected stream contains 75% water, 20% minerals, and 5% carbonaceous material and is disposed of in tailing ponds. Conversion of this stream into value-added products (VAP) would be beneficial both from the environmental and economic perspectives and constitutes the objective of the proposed research project. Potential VAPs of market value are carbon black, graphitic carbon, and other solid carbon-based products. The high-temperature (> 430 oC) approach is well known for carbonization and graphitization but is undesirable because of high energy consumption and thus high GHG emissions. The main objective of the proposed project is to develop a low-temperature process to convert components of the rejected tailings into carbon-rich VAPs. The benefits to Canada include diversification of our economy with "Beyond-Fuel" oil sands-derived products, as well as volume reduction and improvement of quality of rejected streams contributing to tailing ponds. The project can be classified as one of the Waste-to-Value efforts pursued in Canada for environmental and economic benefits.