PROCESS FOR SEPARATING BITUMEN FROM OTHER CONSTITUENTS IN MINED, BITUMEN RICH ORE

摘要

Separation of bitumen from mined ore employs cooling of the mined ore at atemperaturewhere all the species contained in the ore become solid and brittle. Ore ismaintained solid byappropriate continuous injection of cold air and/or carbon dioxide in theprocessing plant throughthe process. Difference in thermal expansion coefficient between bitumen andother ore speciescreates thermal stresses at interfaces of bitumen and other materials. Thestresses favorseparation of bitumen from other materials along species interfaces duringcomminution. Thebreaking of existing ore particles tends to occur at interfaces betweendifferent species, creating amix of particles where bitumen particles are not aggregated with any other oreconstituents suchas ice or sand particles. The particles are maintained cold, loose andunattached. Ore particlesare sorted and separated while still frozen in solid phase, creating a streamof frozen bitumenparticles. The process is stopped when bitumen concentration is large enoughfor economicaltreatment by other bitumen existing processing techniques.