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Effects of Coal Particles on Microbubble-Enhanced Bitumen Separation in the Concentrated Slurry Flow of Oil Sands Tailings

Yiyi Huo, Mohammadhossein Golchin, Kaiyu Zhou, Ashwin Abraham, Somasekhara Goud Sontti, Xuehua Zhang

Abstract

Our study investigates the segregation of bitumen residues within the transport pipeline before disposal in the presence of coal particles in carriers and microbubbles. Coal particles decreased the bitumen recovery by 17% without the injection of microbubbles. In addition, the improvement in bitumen recovery efficiency by 6 mL of H2O2 is negligible due to a small number of bubbles formed from H2O2 decomposition in the flow. However, tremendous enhancement in the recovery efficiency was achieved with the simultaneous addition of coal particles and H2O2. Further increase in recovery was noted as a larger volume of H2O2 was injected to form more microbubbles. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations were conducted to help understand the effects of coal particles and microbubbles. The simulation results illustrated that the introduction of coal particles caused bitumen contents to accumulate in the middle of the pipe. Furthermore, an increased volume fraction of microbubbles contributed to a higher distribution of bitumen at the top of the pipe. This study not only offers valuable insights for developing an innovative strategy to enhance the efficiency of bitumen separation in hydrotransport processes but also contributes to a deeper understanding of the intricate interactions among bubbles, bitumen, and coal particles in a slurry flow.

Effects of Coal Particles on Microbubble-Enhanced Bitumen Separation in the Concentrated Slurry Flow of Oil Sands Tailings

Abstract

Our study investigates the segregation of bitumen residues within the transport pipeline before disposal in the presence of coal particles in carriers and microbubbles. Coal particles decreased the bitumen recovery by 17% without the injection of microbubbles. In addition, the improvement in bitumen recovery efficiency by 6 mL of H2O2 is negligible due to a small number of bubbles formed from H2O2 decomposition in the flow. However, tremendous enhancement in the recovery efficiency was achieved with the simultaneous addition of coal particles and H2O2. Further increase in recovery was noted as a larger volume of H2O2 was injected to form more microbubbles. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations were conducted to help understand the effects of coal particles and microbubbles. The simulation results illustrated that the introduction of coal particles caused bitumen contents to accumulate in the middle of the pipe. Furthermore, an increased volume fraction of microbubbles contributed to a higher distribution of bitumen at the top of the pipe. This study not only offers valuable insights for developing an innovative strategy to enhance the efficiency of bitumen separation in hydrotransport processes but also contributes to a deeper understanding of the intricate interactions among bubbles, bitumen, and coal particles in a slurry flow.
Paper Structure (22 sections, 7 equations, 10 figures, 8 tables)

This paper contains 22 sections, 7 equations, 10 figures, 8 tables.

Table of Contents

  1. INTRODUCTION
  2. MATERIALS AND METHODOLOGY
  3. Laboratory-Scale Pipeline Loop
  4. Preparation of Artificial Oil Sands Tailings
  5. Bitumen Separation and Quantification of Recovered Froth
  6. NUMERICAL SIMULATION
  7. Multi-Fluid Model
  8. Turbulence Model
  9. Carrier Fluid Rheological Model
  10. Computational Domain and Boundary Conditions
  11. Simulation Method
  12. Computational Mesh Study
  13. Model Validation
  14. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
  15. Bitumen Removal with Separate Addition of Coal and Microbubbles
  16. ...and 7 more sections

Figures (10)

  • Figure 1: Computational model mesh structures (A) coarse mesh, (B) fine mesh, (C) extra fine mesh, and (D) 3D computational structure.
  • Figure 2: Velocity profile for different mesh sizes for case 1. The corresponding operating conditions for case 1 are bitumen volume fraction of 0.0032, solid volume fraction of 0.1376, coal volume fraction of 0.0044, and 500$\mu$m bubble with the volume fraction of 0.0032 with a constant velocity of 2 $m/s$ at Z = 1.98 $m$.
  • Figure 3: Froth observation in the trough at various intervals: (A) case a and (B) case c, and (C) bitumen recovery as a function of time under conditions of case a,b and c.
  • Figure 4: Compositions of the froth in the blank case and cases where only coal or bubbles were added: (A) solid, (B) water, and (C) coal.
  • Figure 5: Observation of froth in the trough at intervals: (A) case d and (B) case e, and (C) bitumen recovery as a function of time under conditions of case d and e.
  • ...and 5 more figures