Sorption of Cyclohexane on Oil Sands Tailings

• Author / Creator

  Vagi, Lisa

• The use of solvents for extraction of bitumen is attractive because no wet tailings are produced. Studies have already shown that hydrocarbon solvents can achieve the same level of bitumen recovery as the current aqueous extraction method. However, solvent recovery must be very efficient to avoid environmental impact and economic feasibility. In order to scale up solvent extraction processes, the adsorption and desorption interactions with mineral surfaces must be quantified. In this study, cyclohexane adsorption and desorption behaviour on clay is characterized by sorption isotherms performed at constant pressure for temperatures from 20 to 40°C, partial pressures of cyclohexane in nitrogen gas up to 10 kPa, and sample sizes from 50 mg to 2000 mg. The average monolayer coverage was calculated to be 0.056 mmol/g for a 50 mg sample. The average enthalpy of sorption was calculated to be about 40 kJ/mol.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Sorption
  • Oil sands
  • Non aqueous extraction

• Graduation date

  Fall 2012

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Science

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3DT30

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.