Concentration of Utah tar sands by an ambient temperature flotation process |
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| Authors: | JD Miller M Misra |
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| Institution: | Department of Metallurgy and Metallurgical Engineering, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112 U.S.A. |
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| Abstract: | Physical separation of bitumen from low-grade Utah tar sand deposits containing a relatively high viscosity bitumen phase (Sunnyside and Tar Sand Triangle deposits) has been accomplished by traditional size reduction and froth flotation techniques. At appropriate experimental conditions more than 90% of the bitumen can be recovered in a concentrate, containing more than 20 wt. % bitumen, which should be a suitable feed material for subsequent hot water or thermal processing. The efficiency of bitumen recovery depends on the extent of size reduction, as well as promoter and dispersant addition. Rejection of greater than 60% of the sand at ambient temperature and ease of water removal from the concentrate make such a process strategy both energy and cost effective. The energy required to achieve effective separation by the ambient temperature process is significantly less than the energy required for the recently developed hot water process which is being evaluated in a 100-tpd pilot plant this year.The flotation behaviour of the tar sand in this ambient temperature process has been correlated with contact angle measurements and the apparent point-of-zero-charge of the bitumen. The best flotation response at pH 7.8 to 9.0 occurs when the contact angle between the air bubble and bitumen surface is a maximum, corresponding to the apparent point-of-zero-charge of the bitumen as determined by titration. |
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