Role of fine clays in bitumen extraction from oil sands

Li, Jianjun; Xu, Zhenghe; Masliyah, Jacob H.

doi:10.1002/aic.10174

Cited by 127 publications

(110 citation statements)

References 25 publications

(33 reference statements)

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“…Using a Zetaphoremeter (CAD Instrumentation, Z3110), the electrophoretic mobility or zeta potential distributions of individual and mixed (binary) systems can be measured to identify the attachment conditions between two components. The technique has been applied to study many different colloidal or multicomponent systems, including bitumen liberation and flotation (slime coating) in oil sands processing, [26] deinking in paper recycling, [27] uptake of copper and collector by sphalerite in gypsum saturated solutions (minerals flotation), [28,29] and heterocoagulation in formulation of chemical-mechanical polishing (CMP) slurries. [30] A brief summary of the systems considered and the main findings are provided in Table 1.…”

Section: Measuring Interaction Potential By Electrophoretic Mobility mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…[26] Desired dispersions and/or suspensions were pumped from the BHIA cell (or glass beaker, see Protocol I below) into the measurement cell which is a rectangular quartz micro-electrophoresis cell with a pair of palladium-coated electrodes being incorporated. After pumping the test sample into the measurement cell, the two valves at either end of the measurement cell were closed to prevent any unnecessary fluid disturbances that may interfere with accurate measurement of electrophoretic mobility.…”

Section: Zetaphoremetermentioning

confidence: 99%

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Studying bubble–particle interactions by zeta potential distribution analysis

Wang

Harbottle

et al. 2015

Journal of Colloid and Interface Science

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Over the last decade, Xu and Masliyah have pioneered an approach to characterize the interactions between particles in dynamic environments of multicomponent systems by measuring zeta potential distributions of individual components and their mixtures. Using a Zetaphoremeter, the measured zeta potential distributions of individual components and their mixtures were used to determine the conditions of preferential attachment in multicomponent particle suspensions. The technique has been applied to study the attachment of nano-sized silica and alumina particles to sub-micron size bubbles in solutions with and without the addition of surface active agents (SDS, DAH and DF250). The degree of attachment between gas bubbles and particles is shown to be a function of the interaction energy governed by the dispersion, electrostatic double layer and hydrophobic forces. Under certain chemical conditions, the attachment of nano-particles to sub-micron size bubbles is shown to be enhanced by in-situ gas nucleation induced by hydrodynamic cavitation for the weakly interacting systems, where mixing of the two individual components results in negligible attachment. Preferential interaction in complex tertiary particle systems demonstrated strong attachment between micron-sized alumina and gas bubbles, with little attachment between micron-sized alumina and silica, possibly due to instability of the aggregates in the shear flow environment.

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Section: Measuring Interaction Potential By Electrophoretic Mobility mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Zetaphoremetermentioning

confidence: 99%

Studying bubble–particle interactions by zeta potential distribution analysis

Wang

Harbottle

et al. 2015

Journal of Colloid and Interface Science

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“…The contrasting behavior for clays of equivalent zeta potentials (kaolinite and montmorillonite at pH's > 8) showed that the clay type and its interaction with calcium play an important role in the slime coating. 18 As proposed by Masliyah et al, 18,21 calcium ions can act to bridge bitumen and clays, with the level of slime coating being related to the calcium ion -clay binding strength.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…[14][15][16] The mechanism for bitumen slime coating has recently been studied in detail by Masliyah et al using atomic force microscopy (AFM) and zeta potential distribution measurement. 12,[17][18][19][20][21][22][23] While oil sands ores are a complex mixture of clays including kaolinite, illite, chlorite, montmorillonite, not all the clays cause slime coating. By systematically studying model clays, researchers have shown the detrimental impact of montmorillonite and illite, although to a less extent, on bitumen recovery by slime coating.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…By systematically studying model clays, researchers have shown the detrimental impact of montmorillonite and illite, although to a less extent, on bitumen recovery by slime coating. 18,21 While the electrical double layer force between the two interacting species (bitumen and clay particles) is important, it is often the case that both surfaces are negatively charged, leading to a repulsive electrostatic interaction.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Role of Caustic Addition in Bitumen–Clay Interactions

et al. 2015

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Coating of bitumen by clays, known as slime coating is detrimental to bitumen recovery from oil sands using the warm slurry extraction process. Sodium hydroxide (caustic) is added to the extraction process to balance many competing processing challenges which include undesirable slime coating. The current research aims at understanding the role of caustic addition in controlling interactions of bitumen with various types of model clays. The interaction potential was studied by quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (QCM-D). After confirming the slime coating potential of montmorillonite clays on bitumen in the presence of calcium ions, interaction of kaolinite and illite with bitumen was studied. To make our study more closely related to industrial applications, tailings water from bitumen extraction tests using Denver flotation cell at different caustic additions was used. At caustic dosage up to 0.5 wt.% of oil sands ore, a negligible coating of kaolinite on the bitumen was determined. However, at lower level of caustic addition illite was shown to attach to the bitumen, with the interaction potential decreasing with increasing caustic dosage. Increasing concentration of humic acids as a result of increasing caustic dosage was identified to limit the interaction potential of illite with bitumen.2 This fundamental study clearly shows that the critical role of caustics in modulating interactions of clays with bitumen depends on the type of clays, guiding the multi-billion dollar oil sands industry to identify clay type as a key operational variable.

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Flocculation of kaolinite clay suspensions using a temperature‐sensitive polymer

Long

et al. 2006

AIChE Journal

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in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com).A temperature-sensitive polymer, poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) [poly(NIPAM)], was tested to flocculate kaolinite clay suspensions. Settling tests at both room temperature and 408C were carried out. The results show that settling at 408C resulted in significantly higher settling rates and smaller sediment volumes. This behavior indicates that the polymer molecules changed from a stretched structure to a coil-like conformation with increasing temperature. It is the change in conformation that induced more compacted flocs, thus resulting in faster settling. To understand the role of temperature in the flocculation, the long-range interaction and adhesion forces between kaolinite clay particles in the polymer solutions at both room temperature and 408C were measured using an atomic force microscope (AFM). The measured adhesion forces correlated well with the settling characteristics: a stronger adhesion led to a higher initial settling rate. The retraction force profiles obtained at different temperatures confirmed the conformational change of the polymer with temperature.

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Role of fine clays in bitumen extraction from oil sands

Cited by 127 publications

References 25 publications

Studying bubble–particle interactions by zeta potential distribution analysis

Studying bubble–particle interactions by zeta potential distribution analysis

Role of Caustic Addition in Bitumen–Clay Interactions

Flocculation of kaolinite clay suspensions using a temperature‐sensitive polymer

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