| Certain oil sand ores are deemed to be "poor processing". Markers of poor processability include high levels of fine particles or elevated concentrations of di-valent cations such as calcium and magnesium. On an industrial level, it is often difficult to obtain good bitumen recovery and/or froth quality from poor processing ores.Atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) was used to examine the precipitation behavior of calcium and magnesium as a function of both pH and bicarbonate concentration to help understand the action of bicarbonate ions in extraction systems.Finally, Denver Cell extraction tests were performed to evaluate the effects of montmorillonite and calcium addition on bitumen recovery and froth quality for two different types of ore.The tendency of montmorillonite to slime coat onto bitumen in various electrolytes (including potassium, calcium, magnesium, and bicarbonate ions) was observed from zeta potential distribution measurements. |
