EXTRACTION PROCESS

摘要

. In the extraction of bitumen oils from oil sands, the raw material is first slurried with a stream of hot water under conditions promoting the release of the bitumen oils without disintegration of clay in the raw material; the water to raw material is at least 1:1 by weight. The slurry is separated into an oil-rich component, a solids component, and a middlings component containing essentially water and fines with only minor proportions of oil and solids. The middlings component, after removal of the contained fines and the solids is recycled as a part of the slurrying water.