Process for treating a waste material resulting from an oil recovery from tar sands process
US5846314A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Oct 29, 1996 |
| Grant date | Dec 8, 1998 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Oct 29, 2016 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
- CPC primaryY10S106/01
- WIPO fieldChemical engineering
- WIPO sectorChemistry
Abstract
A method of treating a dilute aqueous suspension of solid particulate material comprising waste material from a process for recovering petroleum from oil sand includes diluting the suspension with at least 75% of its own volume of water thereby to increase the settling rate of the particulate material and allowing the particulate material to settle to form a concentrated solid sediment. The treated suspension may have been obtained from a process in which an alkaline solution is used to treat the oil sand. The water from which the concentrated solid sediment is separated may be returned to the process for recovering petroleum from oil sand. The solid sediment may be transferred to a separation vessel in which it is fractionated into a coarse particle fraction and a fine particle fraction. The fine particle fraction may comprise essentially particles having an equivalent spherical diameter not greater than 3 .mu.m. The concentrated solid material recovered may be calcined to form a pozzolanic material.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.