| The extraction of bitumen (heavy oil) from the oil sands is predominantly achieved through a water-based technology. This involves a slurrying process, typically called conditioning, which is categorized into three equally important steps: bitumen-sand liberation, bitumen coalescence, and air-bitumen attachment. Previous studies found that bitumen recovery was dependent upon process variables such as energy dissipation rate, temperature and caustic addition. Correlations between bitumen droplet size and recovery have also been established; however no investigations linking the aforementioned process variables to the resultant bitumen droplet size had been performed. This work investigates the development of a Batch Extraction Unit built specifically for this investigation as well as a study of the bitumen droplet size as a function of the rate of mechanical energy input. |
