Separation of oil from sand via liquid salt.

LOG · Mar 18, 2011

Known as the Penn State separation method.

the production of petroleum from tar sands causes environmental damage. Part of the damage comes from the storage of contaminated wastewater from the separation process in large open air ponds. Wastewater from the ponds can seep into groundwater and pollute lakes and rivers. In addition, the requirement for large amounts of water can deplete the supply of local fresh water resources. The Penn State separation method uses very little energy and water, and all solvents are recycled and reused.

The separation takes place at room temperature without the generation of waste process water.
“Essentially, all of the bitumen is recovered in a very clean form, without any contamination from the ionic liquids,” Painter explained. Because the bitumen, solvents and sand/clay mixture separate into three distinct phases, each can be removed separately and the solvent can be reused.

Well it works, now all that's needed is for them to be able to put it in a marketable form.
It holds potential for use in oil cleanup on beaches, as well as oil extraction from oil beaches.
The major problem I see is a matter of scale: cleaning the amount of sand in a beaker is quite different from cleaning a whole beach...I'm thinking dumptrucks will be involved.

blacbird · Mar 18, 2011

LOG said:
Well it works, now all that's needed is for them to be able to put it in a marketable form.
It holds potential for use in oil cleanup on beaches, as well as oil extraction from oil beaches.
The major problem I see is a matter of scale: cleaning the amount of sand in a beaker is quite different from cleaning a whole beach...I'm thinking dumptrucks will be involved.

The transition of this technology from lab to the real world is not going to be easy. The beach clean-up concept is likely more close to practicality than subsurface recovery of heavy oil deposits like the Alberta tar sands. A huge slug of new engineering will need to be developed before the latter can be done.

Plot Device · Mar 18, 2011

blacbird said:
The transition of this technology from lab to the real world is not going to be easy. The beach clean-up concept is likely more close to practicality than subsurface recovery of heavy oil deposits like the Alberta tar sands. A huge slug of new engineering will need to be developed before the latter can be done.

Are you comfortable hazarding a guess at a time frame?

LMILLER111 · Mar 18, 2011

very cool. I hope they can come up with a practical way to apply that technology. Could be a very exciting breakthrough.

waylander · Mar 18, 2011

And ionic liquids are really cheap and easy to use.......not

blacbird · Mar 18, 2011

Plot Device said:
Are you comfortable hazarding a guess at a time frame?

Nope. When one of the biggies (ExxonMobil, Shell, etc.) antes up a significant chunk of research change to fund a move toward industrial application, we'll know something is moving in that direction. Until then, it's lab work. Now, it may well have other applications, and in smaller arenas than a beach oil-spill cleanup (which would still be a vast undertaking). Remediation of small-scale hydrocarbon spillage and pollution is certainly worthwhile. But it ain't as sexy a thing for public news consumption as a giant beach swarming with oiled birds.

And there are unquestionably side effects of a procedure like this. I can't image plant or microorganism life would care for it very much.

LOG · Mar 18, 2011

waylander said:
And ionic liquids are really cheap and easy to use.......not

The solvent is reusable.

The Penn State separation method uses very little energy and water, and all solvents are recycled and reused.

waylander · Mar 18, 2011

reusable on a lab scale, not the same as reusable in a large scale environment

Rufus Coppertop · Mar 18, 2011

waylander said:
reusable on a lab scale, not the same as reusable in a large scale environment

But it could be. Theoretically.It would be a matter of engineering and economics.

Separation of oil from sand via liquid salt.

LOG

Lagrangian

blacbird

Plot Device

A woman said to write like a man.

LMILLER111

New kid, be gentle!

waylander

Who's going for a beer?

blacbird

LOG

Lagrangian

waylander

Who's going for a beer?

Rufus Coppertop