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Characterising rag‐forming solids

2013; Wiley; Volume: 91; Issue: 8 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1002/cjce.21842

1939-019X

Morvarid Madjlessi Kupai, Fan Yang, David Harbottle, Kevin Moran, Jacob H. Masliyah, Zhenghe Xu,

Pickering emulsions and particle stabilization

Abstract In oil sands froth treatment, an undesirable intermediate layer, often accumulates during the separation of water–oil emulsions. The layer referred to as rag layer is a complex mixture of water, oil, solids and interfacially active components. The presence of a rag layer has a detrimental impact on the separation of water and fine solids from diluted bitumen. The current study focuses on characterisation of solids from a rag layer forming stream of a naphthenic froth treatment plant in an attempt to understand the mechanism of rag layer formation. Through detailed characterisation of rag‐forming and non‐rag‐forming solids, the mineralogy of solids and their contamination were shown to be critical to rag layer formation. The iron‐based minerals such as siderite and pyrite were found to be enriched within the rag layer. Analysis of surface organic complexes confirms a high level of organic matter associated with these solids through the binding of carboxylic acid group with iron on solids, resulting in a surface hydrophobicity susceptible for rag layer formation.