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    Enhanced bitumen extraction from oil sands using CO2-responsive surfactant combined with low-salinity brine: Toward cleaner production via CO2 utilization

    Year: 2023

    Journal: Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects, Volume 670, 2023-08-05, page 131617

    Authors: Tosuai, Teerapat; Thanasaksukthawee, Vorasate; Lu, Yi; Akamine, Thakheru; Somprasong, Komsoon; Tangparitkul, Suparit

    Keywords: Bitumen liberation; CO utilization; CO-responsive surfactant; Interfacial tension; Oil sands; Wettability alteration

    With a recent concern on more sustainable production, oil sands as an affordable energy resource requires more efficient and cleaner technology to extract bitumen from its deposits. Recent study conceptualized the combination of greener bitumen recovery and CO2 utilization, which shows promising potential. Using CO2-responsive surfactants that could ‘switch’ the bitumen-water interfacial behavior, oil-water separation process can be greatly improved, although its workability in bitumen aeration stage and co-presence with brines are not yet fully examined. In the current study, influence of a combination of CO2-responsive surfactant and NaCl brine fluids to bitumen liberation and aeration stages were investigated. Two interfacial phenomena (i.e., bitumen-water interfacial tension and bitumen-water-substrate contact angle) were studied as dominant parameters to oil sands processing. Although an ultra-low interfacial tension at high mixture concentration (6 mM surfactant + 500 mM NaCl) promises an advantage for bitumen extraction via a spontaneous bitumen pinch-off, some bitumen residual was left unproduced on substrate. While the low-salinity brine at the same surfactant concentration (6 mM surfactant + 10 mM NaCl) resulted in a much-reduced bitumen-substate contact area, which could practically enhance bitumen liberation. Furthermore, CO2-responsive surfactant suggests a good switchability in such a high-salinity environment for bitumen-water demulsification, owing to the CO2-induced acidification. In aeration stage, CO2 bubble was found a greater ‘attachability’ to bitumen surface compared to typical air bubble. This observation suggests a promising CO2 utilization as an alternative flotation gas carrier for bitumen aeration. The findings in the current study provide fundamental guidance on bitumen extraction process enhanced by both surfactant and brine fluids. The study also confirms a holistic improvement for the whole extraction process with CO2 utilization toward a cleaner production that couples both climate action and affordable energy sustainable goals.
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