The role played by oil-containing sands in obtaining crude oil should not be underestimated. Oil sands in the Canadian province of Alberta (Athabasca region), for example, have a mineral oil content which can be as high as approximately 20 percent, depending on region. The crude oil takes the form of sticky bitumen which is released from the sand by what is known as the hot water method.

 

Before the diluted bitumen can be processed into asphalt, roofing felt or other crude oil products, it has to have water and solids removed from it. Nozzle separators from GEA Westfalia Separator are ideal for this. Another sphere of application for these separators is for treating produced water, oil-containing water which occurs when synthetic crude oil is obtained from oil sands in various production stages.

 

The diluted bitumen usually has a water fraction of 30 to 40 percent and up to four percent fine sand and earth. However, water content needs to be reduced to below three percent and mineral content to below 0.5 percent. Nozzle separators from GEA Westfalia Separator achieve these targets at a throughput of up to 250 m³ an hour.

 

Their second sphere of application is treatment of the produced water, a by-product from obtaining bitumen. The water can contain up to 2000 ppm of oil, a proportion reduced to below 100 ppm by the use of separators. The nozzle separators work at an output of up to 200 m³ an hour and separate the produced water into clean oil and water phases.

 

This treatment is linked on the one hand to an economic effect, as the recovered oil increases overall profit. On the other hand, however, the method is also relevant on ecological grounds, as now only non-hazardous traces of oil can reach the environment with the water.