Laboratory and Pilot Experience for a Conventional Water Based Extraction Process for the Utah Asphalt Ridge Tar Sands

摘要

The belief that unconventional tar sands deposits are oil-wet has led to a focus on solvent-based bitumen extraction processes for these types of materials. Utah's Asphalt Ridge deposit is a case in point, except that, under certain conditions, this ore is in fact amenable to a conventional water-based extraction process. The thermal, mechanical, and chemical environments necessary to make the Asphalt Ridge ore behave like an Alberta Athabasca oil sand are outlined, along with the typical criteria which must be satisfied for a novel extraction process to be viable. Laboratory-scale demonstrations of the efficacy of a Clark-style hot water extraction process for the Asphalt Ridge tar sands were subsequently confirmed on a twenty ton per hour pilot scale. In addition, the scarcity of water at the mining and extraction operation in Utah led to the development of an aggressive tailings treatment process, which also offers lessons for tailings handling in the surface mining of oil sands in Alberta.