Emulsions in Bitumen Froth Treatment and Methods for Demulsification and Fines Removal in Naphthenic Froth Treatment: Review and Perspectives

Abstract

Petroleum refining and downstream facilities cannot handle excessive water, solids, and salts as they increase the refining operational costs and damage the equipment through various interfacial phenomena such as fouling, corrosion, and catalyst poisoning. Thus, producers must dehydrate the crude and remove the fine solids in the extraction and treatment processes. However, the presence of interfacially active species in the bitumen composition such as asphaltenes, resins, and fine solids results in the formation of stable emulsions that are difficult to treat. This phenomenon is indeed the case in the bitumen froth treatment, where asphaltenes and fine solids found in abundance in the bitumen composition hinder the oil/water/solid phase separation, particularly in the naphthenic froth treatment (NFT). This work systematically reviews the progress in the bitumen froth treatment in the oil sands surface mining process, influential factors in stabilizing/destabilizing the emulsions in these operations, the conventional emulsion treatment methods, and their effectiveness in the ultimate oil–water phase separation in the NFT process. The review attempts to summarize the up-to-date understanding of the origins of emulsion stability in the NFT and specify the research gaps in this area and also discusses overlooked technologies, methods, and future research perspectives which may be useful in implementing improved demulsification and fine solids removal strategies.