Pre-concentration and residual bitumen removal from Athabasca oilsands froth treatment tailings by a Falcon centrifugal concentrator

Abstract

Both froth flotation and centrifugal concentration were used to pre-concentrate the oil sands froth treatment tailings prior to the recovery of heavy minerals (titanium and zirconium minerals). Over 90% of the heavy minerals were recovered into a bulk flotation concentrate that was about 50% of the feed mass at 85 °C without any reagents. The same recoveries were obtained at 50 °C with the addition of NaOH and/or sodium oleate. However, the flotation concentrate also recovered over 90% of the residual bitumen and much of the clays/slimes. Subsequent treatment of the flotation concentrate such as dewatering and bitumen removal would be difficult due to these residual bitumen and clays. On the other hand, a SB40 centrifugal concentrator recovered over 85% of the heavy minerals but less than 30% of the residual bitumen. With improved liberation the recovery of the residual bitumen into the concentrate could be further reduced. The particle sizes of the SB40 concentrates were also larger than the flotation concentrates, making subsequent processing much easier.