Abstract The process described involves recovery of bitumen from bituminous sand in which the bituminous sand is slurried with a fluid, usually water, the resulting slurry is introduced into a separation zone containing a body of water and bitumen is floated to the top of the body of water and recovered therefrom in the form of a bituminous emulsion. The pH of the system is controlled and processability improved by the addition of calcium carbonate in amounts between about 0.01 and about 1.0 weight percent. The use of calcium carbonate is especially beneficial in situations where bituminous sands are exposed to the atmosphere for a substantial period of time before being treated for recovery of bitumen therefrom. In such instances, calcium carbonate is preferably applied to the bituminous sand immediately following exposure to the atmosphere and serves to prevent undesirable reduction of pH of the sand prior to further treatment.
Inventors
👤 Clement W Bowman
Bibliographic Details
Application Number—
JurisdictionUS
Data Sourcegoogle_patents
Last Synchronized2026-10-27 09:44
CPC Classifications
C; C10; C10G; C10G1/00; C10G1/04; C10G1/047
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 8
Claim 1
Independent Claim
22 words
The process of claim 1 in which the concentration of calcium carbonate is from about 0.02 to about 0.1 percent by weight.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
16 words
The process of claim 1 in which the calcium carbonate is introduced during the fluid slurrying.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
26 words
The process of claim 1 in which the calcium carbonate is added to the bituminous sand at least 1 week before the bituminous sand is slurried.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
12 words
The process of claim 1 in which the slurrying fluid is water.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
112 words
In a process for the recovery of bitumen from bituminous sand in which a bituminous sand deposit originally covered with overburden is exposed to the atmosphere and then at a later date such bituminous sand is slurried with a fluid, the resulting slurry being introduced into a separation zone containing a body of water with bitumen floating to the top of such body of water and being recovered therefrom in the form of a bituminous emulsion, the improvement which comprises adding calcium carbonate to the bituminous sand subsequent to removal of overburden from the bituminous sand but at least 1 week prior to the slurrying of the bituminous sand with the fluid.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
43 words
The process of claim 6 in which calcium carbonate is added to the upper portion of the deposit of bituminous sand in amounts between about 0.01 and about 1.0 pound of calcium carbonate per square foot of surface area of the exposed deposit.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
32 words
The process of claim 7 in which calcium carbonate is distributed on the surface of the bituminous sand within one month from the time the overburden is removed from the bituminous sand.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
29 words
The process of claim 8 in which the calcium carbonate is in the form of particles of limestone of a size between about one-eighth inch and about 1 inch.