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Characterization of organic‐coated solids isolated from different oil sands
Author(s) -
Adegoroye Adebukola,
Wang Louxiang,
Omotoso Oladipo,
Xu Zhenghe,
Masliyah Jacob
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
the canadian journal of chemical engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.404
H-Index - 67
eISSN - 1939-019X
pISSN - 0008-4034
DOI - 10.1002/cjce.20294
Subject(s) - oil sands , tailings , asphalt , siderite , organic matter , asphaltene , total dissolved solids , pyrite , mineralogy , chemistry , metallurgy , materials science , environmental science , organic chemistry , environmental engineering , composite material
Solids isolated from weathered oil sands ores and those having low‐ and high‐fine solids content were studied. The organic matter (OM) adsorbed on the solids was found insoluble in most common solvents, contributing significantly to the change of solid surface properties. The surface properties of these solids were found to affect the entire process cycle of obtaining synthetic crude oil from surface‐mined oil sands using a water‐based extraction process, and managing the existing tailings ponds. In this study, the low‐fine solids ore possessed the lowest amount of organic‐coated solids and highest bitumen recovery. Siderite and pyrite, which tend to concentrate in the hydrocarbon phase were observed in the isolated solids from the weathered and high‐fine ores but were absent in the low‐fine ores. In all the ores studied, the solids from the bitumen froth possess less quartz, and more carbonates compared with solids from the tailings. Elemental analysis by energy dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy (EDX) and elemental analyser revealed the presence of more transition metals (iron and titanium), and carbon in the solids obtained from the bitumen froth when compared with those from the tailings. Infrared (IR) spectroscopy study substantiated the results obtained by X‐ray diffraction and elemental analysis. IR spectra showed a likely association between OM and carbonates in the organic‐coated solids isolated from bitumen froth. More organic‐coated solids were found in weathered oil sands than in other types of ores and observed to reduce bitumen recovery from oil sands.