Apparatus and methods for hydrocarbon extraction
View Patent ↗Systems and methods for hydrocarbon extraction from hydrocarbon-containing material. Such systems and methods relate to extracting hydrocarbon from hydrocarbon-containing material employing a non-aqueous extractant. Additionally, such systems and methods relate to recovering and reusing non-aqueous extractant employed for extracting hydrocarbon from hydrocarbon-containing material.
1. A method for separating hydrocarbon from hydrocarbon-containing material, said method comprising:
(a) drying said hydrocarbon-containing material in a drying zone thereby producing dried hydrocarbon-containing material;
(b) contacting via a substantially countercurrent flow, said dried hydrocarbon-containing material with a non-aqueous extractant thereby separating at least a portion of said hydrocarbon from said dried hydrocarbon-containing material and producing an extract stream and a residual stream, wherein said extract stream comprises at least a portion of said hydrocarbon and at least a portion of said non-aqueous extractant, wherein said residual stream comprises at least a portion of said dried hydrocarbon-containing material and at least a portion of said non-aqueous extractant; and
(c) contacting at least a portion of said residual stream with an extractant recovery fluid thereby producing a recovered extractant stream and a cleaned hydrocarbon-containing material.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein said non-aqueous extractant has a boiling point of at least 100° F.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein said extractant is food safe.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein said non-aqueous extractant comprises a terpene.
5. The method of claim 4 , wherein said non-aqueous extractant comprises limonene.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein said extractant recovery fluid comprises liquid or supercritical carbon dioxide.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein said hydrocarbon-containing material comprises oil sands ore, wherein said hydrocarbon comprises bitumen.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein said cleaned hydrocarbon-containing material comprises said hydrocarbon in an amount of less than 0.5 weight percent.
9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising (d) treating said extract stream in a hydrocarbon separation zone to separate at least a portion of said non-aqueous extractant from said hydrocarbon in said extract stream.
10. The method of claim 9 , wherein said hydrocarbon separation zone is defined within a distillation still or distillation column.
11. The method of claim 1 , wherein steps (b) and (c) combined remove at least 95 weight percent of said hydrocarbon from said hydrocarbon-containing material.
12. The method of claim 1 , wherein said recovered extractant stream comprises at least a portion of said non--aqueous extractant and at least a portion of said hydrocarbon, said method further comprising separating at least a portion of said non-aqueous extractant from said hydrocarbon in said recovered extractant stream.
13. The method of claim 1 , wherein said drying of step (a) is performed by maintaining the temperature in said drying zone at an average of between 80 and 160° F. during said drying.
14. A method for recovering heavy oil from tar sands, said method comprising:
(a) contacting said tar sands comprising heavy oil with heated air to thereby produce dried tar sands;
(b) contacting via a substantially countercurrent flow, at least a portion of said dried tar sands with limonene in an extraction vessel to thereby remove at least a portion of said heavy oil from said dried tar sands and produce a first stream comprising heavy oil and limonene and a second stream comprising residual tar sands and limonene; and
(c) separating at least a portion of said limonene from said residual tar sands in said second stream.
15. The method of claim 14 , wherein said separating of step (c) comprises contacting said residual tar sands with liquid or supercritical carbon dioxide.
16. The method of claim 14 , further comprising directly or indirectly routing at least a portion of said limonene separated in step (c) back to said extraction vessel.
17. The method of claim 14 . further comprising (d) separating at least a portion of said heavy oil from said limonene in said first stream.
18. The method of claim 17 , further comprising directly or indirectly routing at least a portion of said limonene separated in step (d) back to said extraction vessel.
19. The method of claim 17 , wherein said separating of step (d) is performed via distillation.
20. The method of claim 14 , wherein said drying of step (a) is performed in a rotary dryer.