Conical filtering centrifuge for separation of solvent‐diluted bitumen from oil sand mineral particles.

The development of a continuous process for the separation of solvent‐diluted bitumen from mineral particles is an important step for the development of solvent‐based extraction technology of bitumen from mined oil sands. In this work, a custom‐made conical filtering centrifuge is used to separate toluene‐diluted bitumen from oil sand mineral particles. Compositions of wet granular samples are analyzed before and after centrifugation for three different oil sand ores. Results suggest that conical filtering centrifuges could be used for continuous separation of solvent‐diluted bitumen from oil sand ores with relatively coarse particles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]