[Not Applicable]
This disclosure relates to separation of bitumen and kerogen, which are highly viscous varieties of petroleum, from oil sands, tar sands, oil shale, and other sources of petroleum bound to a substrate, sometimes referred to as unconventional petroleum or oil. There are large reserves of such petroleum ore in North America that are underutilized due to the economic and environmental costs of extracting usable petroleum from these deposits. The current surface mining processes recover approximately 91% of the bitumen in the ore. It is desired to improve the bitumen yield and reduce production costs.
One approach to improve the bitumen recovery rate is to heat the process water, reducing the viscosity of the bitumen. The viscosity of bitumen is reduced by a factor of 10 by heating it from 40° C. to 67° C., and is further reduced by a factor of more than 2 by further heating it from 67° C. to 80° C. Froth diluted with naptha will experience similar viscosity decreases with increasing temperatures.
The throughput rate for settling tanks, settling devices, centrifuges, and cyclones is inversely proportional to viscosity. Increasing the bitumen temperature from 40° C. to 80° C. can increase settling rates by a factor of 20, or decrease the size of the smallest particles extracted by a factor of 4.5 for the same processing rates.
Nonetheless, it is not economically feasible to heat the entire process to 80° C., as this requires too much energy per barrel of extracted hydrocarbons. The bitumen is a minor constituent through much of the process, and a large amount of process water is used. Much of the process water leaves the system, either as liquid or as vapor, and much of the heat introduced is lost.
Current technology heats the entire process to a certain extent, and utilizes steam injection to increase the temperature of the slurry at certain process points where a higher temperature may improve process efficiency.
One aspect of the invention is equipment for separating bitumen from oil sand in a process stream. The equipment includes a slurrying vessel, a separation vessel, a deaerator, a particle remover, and a local area radio frequency applicator.
The slurrying vessel forms a slurry of oil sand ore in water. The slurrying vessel has an ore inlet, a water inlet, and a slurry outlet.
The separation vessel separates a bitumen froth from the slurry. The separation vessel has a slurry inlet, a bitumen froth outlet, a sand outlet, and a middlings outlet.
The deaerator removes air from the bitumen froth, forming a bitumen slurry. The deaerator has a bitumen froth inlet and a bitumen slurry outlet.
The particle remover removes foreign particles from the bitumen slurry. The particle remover has a bitumen slurry inlet, a bitumen slurry outlet, and a sludge outlet.
The local area radio frequency applicator has an RF-AC power inlet and a radiating surface configured and positioned to selectively heat the process stream in a local area of the equipment. The local area can be adjacent to: the ore inlet of the slurrying vessel; the slurry outlet of the slurrying vessel; the slurry inlet of the separation vessel; the bitumen froth outlet of the separation vessel; the bitumen froth inlet of the deaerator; the bitumen slurry inlet of the particle remover; the sludge outlet of the particle remover; or any two or more of these locations.
Another aspect of the invention is bitumen froth separation equipment for processing oil sands. The equipment includes a separation vessel and a local area radio frequency applicator.
The separation vessel has a slurry inlet, a bottoms outlet, a middlings outlet above the bottoms outlet, and a bitumen froth outlet above the middlings outlet.
The local area radio frequency applicator is located at or adjacent to the bitumen froth outlet of the separation vessel. The applicator has an RF-AC power inlet and a radiating surface. The radiating surface is configured and positioned to selectively heat bitumen froth, without significantly heating middlings. This condition can be achieved when the vessel contains middlings at and adjacent to the level of the middlings outlet and bitumen froth above the middlings, at and adjacent to the level of the bitumen froth outlet.
Another aspect of the invention is equipment for processing an oil sand—water slurry, including a slurrying vessel, a slurry pipe, and a local area radio frequency applicator.
The slurrying vessel is configured to disperse oil sand ore in water, forming an alkaline oil sand-water slurry. The slurrying vessel has an oil sand ore inlet, a water inlet, and a slurry outlet.
The slurry pipe has an upstream portion 38 connected to the slurrying vessel outlet and a downstream portion located downstream of the slurrying vessel outlet.
The local area radio frequency applicator is located outside of the slurry pipe. The applicator has an RF-AC power inlet and a radiating surface configured and positioned to selectively heat the contents of the slurry pipe in a local area adjacent to the slurrying vessel outlet. The applicator heats the local area without significantly heating the contents of the slurrying vessel or of the downstream portion of the slurry pipe.
Yet another aspect of the invention is a process for separating bitumen from oil sand in a process stream, including the steps of forming a slurry of oil sand ore in water; separating a bitumen froth from the slurry; removing air from the bitumen froth, forming a bitumen slurry; removing foreign particles from the bitumen slurry; and applying radio frequency electromagnetic energy to a local area of the process stream.
The slurry of oil sand ore in water is formed in a slurrying vessel having an ore inlet, a water inlet, and a slurry outlet.
The bitumen froth is separated from the slurry in a separation vessel having a slurry inlet, a bitumen froth outlet, a sand outlet, and a middlings outlet.
Air is removed from the bitumen froth in a deaerator having a bitumen froth inlet and a bitumen slurry outlet.
Foreign particles are removed from the bitumen slurry in a particle remover. The particle remover has a bitumen slurry inlet, a bitumen slurry outlet, and a sludge outlet.
The radio frequency electromagnetic energy is applied a local area of the process stream to selectively heat the process stream in a local area. The local area can be adjacent to the slurry outlet of the slurrying vessel, the slurry inlet of the separation vessel, the bitumen froth outlet of the separation vessel, the bitumen froth inlet of the deaerator, the bitumen slurry inlet of the particle remover, or the sludge outlet of the particle remover. Local areas adjacent to any two or more of these locations can also be heated in this way.
Another aspect of the invention concerns [Recast second independent claim in prose].
The present invention will now be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which one or more embodiments of the invention are shown. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are examples of the invention, which has the full scope indicated by the language of the claims. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout.
One aspect of the invention is equipment for separating bitumen from oil sands in a process stream. For convenience, “bitumen” is broadly defined here to include kerogen and other forms of petroleum bound to a substrate.
One example of equipment 20 for separating bitumen from oil sands is shown in
The slurrying vessel 28 has an ore inlet 30, a water inlet 32, and a slurry outlet 34. Hot water is also conveyed to the slurrying vessel 28, where the crushed ore is dispersed in the water to form an oil sand ore slurry. The oil sand—water ore slurry is treated with sodium hydroxide to promote the separation of bitumen, and is conveyed to the slurry pipe 36.
The slurry pipe 36 has an upstream portion 38 connected to the slurrying vessel outlet and a downstream portion 40 located downstream of the slurrying vessel outlet 34.
The downstream portion 40 of the slurry pipe 36 feeds a primary separation vessel 42. The primary separation vessel 42 has a slurry inlet 44, a bottoms outlet 46, a middlings outlet 48 above the bottoms outlet 46, and a bitumen froth outlet 50 above the middlings outlet 48. The separation vessel 42 separates a bitumen froth and sand and other solid tailings from the slurry. The primary separation vessel 42 shown in
In operation, with brief reference to
As ore is processed, agitation of the middlings 52 introduces air that forms a froth. The bitumen particles escaping the sand to which they were originally bound adhere to the froth and rise to the top to form the bitumen froth 50, and the sand falls to the bottom 56, where it is removed through the sand outlet 46.
The middlings 52 removed from the middlings outlet 48 are passed to one or more primary flotation vessels, here a bank of five parallel primary flotation vessels 60, 62, 64, 66, and 68, which again separate bitumen froth above and tailings below the oil sand emulsion middlings 52. The primary flotation tailings drained via the conduit 70 can be combined with the tailings from the primary separation vessel 42 for further processing.
The tailings from the secondary flotation, conveyed by the secondary flotation tailings line 82, can be processed in one or more cyclones or secondary centrifuges 84 which separate a predominantly water overflow 86 and a particle sludge underflow 88. The water overflow can be cleared in a thickening vat 90, which separates further tailings from the water before directing the water to a warm water tank 92. The tailings separated by the thickening vat 90 are processed in a tailings pond 94, which further separates tailings from water before directing the water to a recycle water pond schematically shown as 96.
In the portion of the process shown in
The slurry is then treated, commonly extensively, in particle removers to remove (typically) clay and other smaller particles that do not settle out in the flotation equipment. The particle removers typically have a bitumen slurry inlet, a bitumen slurry outlet, and a sludge outlet. Many different particle removers are suitable, and one or several of the illustrated particle separators can be used.
Referring to
Referring now to
The processed bitumen froth leaves the inclined plate settler 126 via the bitumen froth outlet 128 and is conveyed via the bitumen froth lines 132 and 134 to a disk centrifuge 136 for additional particle removal. The secondary centrifuges for small particle removal operate in the range of 2500 g-5000 g, where g is the Earth's gravitational force at its surface. The disk centrifuge 136 has a bitumen froth inlet 138, a bitumen outlet 140, a diluent outlet 142, and a makeup water inlet 144. In the disk centrifuge 136, the bitumen in naphtha is the lighter fraction. It rises out of the centrifuge 136 to the bitumen outlet 140, and leaves the equipment as refined bitumen. Mineral particles and water drop to the bottom of the disk centrifuge 136 and exit in the nozzle water at the outlet 142. Makeup water is provided at 144 to replace the nozzle water.
The exiting nozzle water taken from the diluent outlet 142 is conveyed to the inlet 146 of a naphtha (diluent) recovery unit 148 that removes the diluent from the tailings to the diluent outlet 150. The tailings then exit through the tailings outlet 152 for disposal.
The underflow or sludge from the inclined plate settler 126, exiting via the sludge outlet 130, is mixed with a diluent stream 160, which can be a non-water solvent such naphtha, and passed through additional particle removal equipment shown in
The diluted sludge, which is a lower-content bitumen slurry, is passed to a scroll centrifuge 162 having a bitumen slurry inlet 164, a bitumen slurry outlet 166, and a tails outlet 168.
Additional bitumen slurry separated in the scroll centrifuge 162 is passed via the outlet 166 through a filter 170 having a bitumen slurry inlet, a bitumen or filtrate outlet, and a sludge outlet 176. The sludge outlet 176 of the filter can be a replaceable or cleanable filter element that is removed and/or cleaned to dispose of the sludge.
The bitumen slurry or filtrate leaving the bitumen outlet 174 of the filter is passed to the bitumen slurry inlet 178 of a disc centrifuge 180 having a bitumen slurry outlet 182 for passing the light phase, which can be bitumen in naphtha for example, and a sludge outlet 184 for passing the heavy phase, which can be tailings in water. The bitumen slurry passed through its outlet 182 is combined with the bitumen slurry leaving the inclined plate settler 126 and passed to the bitumen slurry inlet 138 of the disk centrifuge 136 for further processing as previously described.
The tails of the scroll centrifuge 162, optionally the filter 170, and the disk centrifuge 180 are combined and passed to the naphtha recovery unit 148 as previously described.
The bitumen in the froth or slurry being processed is very viscous, and its high viscosity makes processing less productive than optimal. If processed at a relatively cool temperature, the viscous bitumen does not readily settle or release the sand, and bitumen recovery is low. The inventors have found that this problem can be addressed by heating the slurry at certain process points to lower the viscosity of the bitumen.
The inventors contemplate that the conventional solution of injecting steam at certain process points to heat and thus decrease the viscosity of the bitumen has undesirable side effects. Steam injection, particularly when used to heat froth, tends to cause downstream process problems
First, increasing the bitumen slurry temperature via steam injection adds additional water to the slurry, further diluting the bitumen, which requires more water to be processed in the equipment and ultimately adds to the water requiring removal from the bitumen. Since removal of a large volume of process water is already a problem, adding to the amount of water to be removed makes the process less efficient.
Second, the steam flow volume and pressure associated with steam injection are relatively high. Steam injection thus tends to result in high shear in the mixture, which in turn promotes the formation of more stable (i.e. hard to separate) oil-water emulsions in the process slurry or froth.
Third, the high shear contributed by steam injection tends to break up the particles of sand, clay, and the like in the slurry. These smaller particles are more difficult and time-consuming to remove. The throughput rate for settling tanks, settling devices, centrifuges, and cyclones decreases as the particle size decreases (for small particles). If the heating process creates more small particles or decreases mean particle sizes, as is likely to occur with the high shear of steam injection, the gains achieved by decreasing the bitumen viscosity are eroded or lost due to the greater difficulty of removing particles.
Fourth, since a froth is filled with small cells of air and thus conducts heat poorly, it is difficult to inject the steam in a way that uniformly heats the mass of froth.
Finally, the ore contains water as mined, which reduces the temperature of the heated ore slurry for a given energy input. The slurry mix temperatures achievable even by adding only 100° C., 1 atm water to the process tend to be limited for ores with high clay and water content.
Other heating solutions that do not add water, such as heat exchange from a hot water or steam conduit, are also not contemplated by the inventors to be useful because the bitumen slurry contains abrasive minerals and alkali, and so is very corrosive to process equipment. Materials that exchange heat efficiently, for example copper tubing, are unsuitable for exposure to this extreme environment.
The inventors contemplate that instead of injecting steam at certain process points for local heating, one or more of the process points or local areas can be heated by an applicator fed with radio-frequency (RF) energy. “Radio frequency” is most broadly defined here to include any portion of the electromagnetic spectrum having a longer wavelength than visible light, comprehending the range of from 3 Hz to 300 GHz, and includes the following sub ranges of frequencies:
Referring to
The local area radio frequency pipeline applicator 210 is located outside of the slurry pipe 36. The applicator 210 has an RF-AC power inlet 212 and a radiating surface configured and positioned to selectively heat the contents of the slurry pipe 36 in a local area adjacent to the slurrying vessel outlet. The applicator 210 heats the local area without significantly heating the contents of the slurrying vessel 28 or of the downstream portion 40 of the slurry pipe 36.
The local area radio frequency applicator of
The antenna 210 can include a radiating member 214. The radiating member 214 can be made from an electrically conductive material, for example copper, brass, aluminum, steel, conductive plating, and/or any other suitable material. In the present instance, a sheet or cast metal radiating member 214 is contemplated, for high power handling capability. Further, the radiating member 214 can be substantially tubular so as to provide a cavity 216 at least partially bounded by the conductive material. As defined herein, the term tubular describes a shape of a hollow structure having any cross sectional profile. In the present example, the radiating member 214 has a circular cross sectional profile, however, the present invention is not so limited. Importantly, the radiating member 214 can have any shape which can define a cavity 216 therein. Additionally, the radiating member 214 may be either evanescent or resonant.
The radiating member 214 can include a non-conductive tuning slot 218. The slot 218 can extend from a first portion of the radiating member 214 to a second interior portion of the radiating member 214. The radiating member 214 and/or the slot 218 can be dimensioned to radiate RF signals. The strength of signals propagated by the radiating member 214 can be increased by maximizing the cross sectional area of the cavity 216, in the dimensions normal to the axis of the radiating member 214. Further, the strength of signals propagated by the slot 218 can be increased by increasing the length of the slot 218. Accordingly, the area of the cavity cross section and the length of the slot can be selected to achieve a desired radiation pattern.
The antenna 210 also can include an impedance matching device 220 disposed to match the impedance of the radiating member 214 with the impedance of the load. According to one aspect of the invention, the impedance matching device 220 can be a transverse electromagnetic (TEM) feed coupler. Advantageously, a TEM feed coupler can compensate for resistance changes caused by changes in operational frequency and provide constant driving point impedance, regardless of the frequency of operation. A capacitor or other suitable impedance matching device can be used to match the parallel impedances of the radiating member 214 to the source and/or load.
If the impedance matching device 220 is a TEM feed coupler, the impedance matching performance of the TEM coupler is determined by the electric (E) field and magnetic (H) field coupling between the TEM coupler and the radiating member 214. The E and H field coupling, in turn, is a function of the respective dimensions of the TEM coupler and the radiating member 214, and the relative spacing between the two structures.
The impedance matching device 220 can be operatively connected to a source via a first conductor 222. For example, the first conductor 222 can be a conductor of a suitable cable, for instance a center conductor of a coaxial cable. A second conductor 224 can be electrically connected to the radiating member 214 proximate to the gap 226 between the radiating member 214 and the impedance matching device 220. The positions of the electrical connections of the second conductor 224 and first conductor 222 to the respective portions of the antenna can be selected to achieve a desired load/source impedance of the antenna.
Current flowing between the first conductor 222 and the second conductor 224 can generate the H field for coupling the impedance matching device 220 and the radiating member 214. Further, an electric potential difference between the impedance matching device 220 and the radiating member 214 can generate the E field coupling. The amount of E field and H field coupling decreases as the spacing between the impedance matching device 220 and the radiating member 214 is increased. Accordingly, the gap 226 can be adjusted to achieve the proper levels of E field and H field coupling. The size of the gap 226 can be determined empirically or using a computer program incorporating finite element analysis for electromagnetic parameters.
The local area radio frequency applicator of
The antenna of
When choosing a Litz wire 234 for a given application, there are a number of important specifications to consider which will affect the performance of the wire. These specifications include the number of wire strands incorporated into the Litz wire 234, the frequency range of the wire, the size of the strands (generally expressed in AWG—American Wire Gauge), the resistance of the wire, its weight, and its shape (generally, either round, rectangular or braided).
Various Litz wire constructions are useful. For instance, the bundles may be braided and the cable twisted. In other instances, braiding or twisting may be used throughout.
Litz wire 234 can be served or unserved. Served simply means that the entire Litz construction is wrapped with a nylon textile, polyurethane, or yarn for added strength and protection. Unserved wires have no wrapping or insulation. In either case, additional tapes or insulations may be used to help secure the Litz wire 234 and protect against electrical interference. Polyurethane is the film most often used for insulating individual strands because of its low electrical losses and its solderability. Other insulations can also be used.
As shown in
The loop 234 can be tuned by breaking and connecting selected wires of the plurality of wires in the Litz wire. For example, the operating frequency of a given Litz wire loop construction is first determined by measuring the lowest resonant frequency at the coupled feed loop 238. The operating frequency of the Litz wire loop 234 may then be finely adjusted upwards by randomly breaking strands throughout the Litz wire loop 234. The operating frequency of the Litz wire loop 234 is monitored at the coupled feed loop 238 to determine when the desired operating frequency is reached. The operating frequency may be adjusted downwards by reconnecting the broken strands.
The Litz wire loop 234 may be formed in many ways. In one manual technique, multiple long splices are made of individual wire bundles, as is common in the art of making continuous rope slings. One bundle is unraveled from the cable, and then another bundle laid into the void left by the previous bundle. The end locations of the multiple wire bundles are staggered around the circumference of the Litz wire loop 234. A core, such as the pipe of
In operation, the magnetically coupled feed loop 238 acts as a transformer primary to the Litz wire loop 234, which acts as a resonant secondary, by mutual inductance of the radial magnetic near fields passing through the loop planes. The nature of this coupling is broadband.
In a pipeline applicator installation as illustrated in
Referring to
Additional applicators as shown in
Referring to
The local area radio frequency applicators 244, 248, 250, and 252 are each located at or adjacent to the bitumen froth outlet 50 of a primary separation vessel 42. In the illustrated embodiments, the bitumen froth outlet comprises one or more of a weir 260 or 262 of the separation vessel (a well is broadly defined here as any edge, at or below the top of a container, over which the froth spills out when it rises above the level of the weir, such as a straight edge, the lip of a pipe, etc.), a launder such as 264 or 266 configured for collecting bitumen froth spilled from the weir, and a drain such as 268 in the launder such as 266 for draining the bitumen froth to downstream equipment for further processing.
For example, the embodiment of
The applicator 252 of the embodiment of
As another example, a pipeline heater, such as any embodiment shown in
The launder-mounted antenna 248 of
The ring-and-grid antenna or applicator 250 as shown in
The ring or center conductor 274 of
The grid 276 is a mechanical exclusion grid, and has openings such as 282 that are small relative to the wavelength of the RF energy applied, to contain the RF field, but large enough to allow the bitumen froth to enter and leave the launder and the space enclosed by the grid easily. As an alternative, a flat grid such as just the top portion 284 can be provided above the ring, although preferably spanning the entire width of the launder 266 to prevent RF leakage. The grid 276 can be grounded to, or in common with, the launder trough.
RF energy can be introduced to the center conductor or ring 274 and the bitumen froth, as by the power leads 286 and 288 and the RF-AC source to power the applicator 250 of
An example of a suitable RF ring antenna is the modified ring antenna shown in
Referring to
The electrically conductive circular ring 294 includes a capacitive element 296 or tuning feature as part of its ring structure and preferably located diametrically opposite to where the antenna is fed, for forcing/tuning the electrically conductive circular ring 294 to resonance. Such a capacitive element 296 may be a discrete device, such as a trimmer capacitor, or a gap, in the electrically conductive circular ring 294, with capacitive coupling. Such a gap would be small to impart the desired capacitance and establish the desired resonance. The electrically conductive circular ring 294 also includes a driving or feed point 298 which is also defined by a gap in the electrically conductive circular ring 294.
The antenna 292 includes a magnetically coupled feed ring 300 provided within the electrically conductive ring 294. The magnetically coupled feed ring 300 has a gap therein, to define feed points 298 therefor, and diametrically opposite the capacitive element 296 or gap in the electrically conductive circular ring 294. In this embodiment, the inner magnetically coupled feed ring 300 acts as a broadband coupler and is non-resonant. The outer electrically conductive ring 294′ is resonant and radiates.
Also, an outer shield ring 302 may surround the electrically conductive ring 294 and be spaced therefrom. The shield ring 302 has a third gap 304 therein. The outer shield ring 302 and the electrically conductive ring 294 both radiate and act as differential-type loading capacitors to each other. The distributed capacitance between the outer shield ring 302 and the electrically conductive ring 294 stabilizes tuning by shielding electromagnetic fields from adjacent dielectrics, people, structures, etc. Furthermore, additional shield rings 302 could be added to increase the frequency bands and bandwidth. Feed conductors 306 and 308 are provided to feed RF power to the applicator.
A method aspect of the embodiment of
The applicators of
In each case, the applicator has an RF-AC power inlet and a radiating surface. The radiating surface is configured and positioned to selectively heat bitumen froth, without significantly heating middlings. This condition can be achieved when the vessel contains middlings adjacent to the level of the middlings outlet and bitumen froth above the middlings, adjacent to the level of the bitumen froth outlet.
Referring to
Yet another aspect disclosed, for example, in
The radio frequency electromagnetic energy is applied a local area of the process stream to selectively heat the process stream in a local area. The local area can be, for example, any of those previously illustrated. Local areas adjacent to any two or more of these locations can also be heated in this way.
This use of RF heating provides a process-compatible, easily controlled method of heating that does not add any water, and it eliminates or alleviates at least some of the problems associated with steam transport and injection.
Referring now to
In this embodiment, the applicator 350 comprises a generally ring-shaped antenna 352 positioned above but adjacent to the bitumen froth surface 338 adjacent to the edges of the primary separation vessel 42. The antenna 352 is housed in an enclosure including an RF-transparent illuminating window 354 and a Faraday shield 356. This enclosure protects the antenna 352 and contains RF fields for safety. Heating at the top surface 338 of the bitumen froth 54 heats the froth to ease the separation of particles downstream of the primary separation vessel 42, and also makes the froth flow more freely to the collection trough.
Depending on the particulars of the system the system is applied to, the antenna 350 can be an array of a wide variety of antenna types including discrete dipoles, a planar array of radiating elements, an array of resonant cavities, Harris slot antennas, or a linear parabolic reflecting antenna with the linear parabolic reflector formed into a ring as shown. The antenna design, selection of operating frequency, and knowledge of the real and imaginary components of dielectric permittivity vs. frequency can be used to adapt the antenna 350 to provide a controlled heating depth and result in heating primarily the froth 54, or primarily an upper portion of the froth 54, such as the region 358 above the depth 358 within the froth 54.
To develop an appropriate antenna 350 and RF source 362 for this use, the characteristics of the froth 54 as a load can be pre-characterized to provide the data required to select an appropriate operating frequency, design the antenna for proper illumination, and perform the automatic impedance bridging function required to operate a working system.
This type of antenna 350 can also be applied to heat the top surface of bitumen froth in the launder 266, or can be applied in linear fashion to any form of transporting trough.
This equipment 368 can include a feed chute 372 receiving material from a conveyor such as 26, an RF transparent pipe segment or sleeve 374, an antenna 376, an RF transmitter 378, and an output chute 380 for sending heated ore 370 to further process equipment such as the cyclofeeder 30. The sleeve 374 can be made of a suitable material that is durable and RF transparent, for example ceramic. The antenna 376 can be provided in various suitable forms including a Harris Litz antenna, a slotted array antenna, a circular resonant cavity array, or other configurations. The transmitter 378 includes an output power stage 382, and antenna coupling unit 384, an antenna interface 386, and a transmission line 388. In certain situations, the function of a transmission line 388 might be served by a wave guide, although it is contemplated that in the usual case a transmission line 388 will be used.
Thus, a system, apparatus, and process has been described that can provide one or more of the following optional advantages in certain embodiments.
The temperature of the process can be raised in selected areas of the equipment, providing better bitumen recovery, without adding additional water. This saves the energy that would otherwise be used to remove the additional water, and reduces the amount of energy expended by heating additional process water.
The temperature of the process also can be raised without introducing high shear flows or creating undesirable stable emulsions, as occur when steam injection is used.
Process pipelines optionally can be heated either with or without contact between the heating apparatus and the process slurry or froth.
A mechanically open TEM cavity can be used as the applicator, allowing substantially uniform heating throughout the bulk of the material, in situations where uniform heating is contemplated.
As an alternative, RF heating allows the selective application of heat to a surface layer of froth floating at the top of a primary separation vessel, without the need to heat the whole vessel and its contents of middlings and sand.
A Litz wire antenna has been provided for eddy current heating of bitumen and bitumen froth in pipes.
A slotted antenna has been provided for induction heating and dielectric loss heating of bitumen slurry in pipes.
Other features and advantages of the presently disclosed apparatus, systems and methods will be apparent to a person of skill in the art, upon review of this specification.
This specification is related to McAndrews, Held & Malloy attorney docket numbers: Atty. Dkt. No.Serial No.20476US0112/396,24720478US0112/395,99520480US0112/395,94520481US0112/396,19220483US0112/396,02120484US0112/396,28420485US0112/396,05720486US0112/395,953 filed on or about the same date as this specification, each of which is incorporated by reference herein.
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 12395918 | Mar 2009 | US |
Child | 13332946 | US |