Patent ID: 8128786
Filing Date: 2012-03-06
Classification: C10G

Abstract:
1. In equipment for separating bitumen from oil sand in a process stream, comprising: a slurrying vessel for forming a slurry of oil sand ore in water, the slurrying vessel having an ore inlet, a water inlet, and a slurry outlet; a separation vessel for separating a bitumen froth from the slurry, the separation vessel having a slurry inlet, a bitumen froth outlet, a sand outlet, and a middlings outlet; a deaerator for removing air from the bitumen froth, forming a bitumen slurry, the deaerator having a bitumen froth inlet and a bitumen slurry outlet; and a particle remover for removing foreign particles from the bitumen slurry, the particle remover having a bitumen slurry inlet, a bitumen slurry outlet, and a sludge outlet; the improvement comprising: a local area radio frequency applicator having an RF-AC power inlet and a radiating surface configured and positioned to selectively heat the process stream in a local area adjacent to a location selected from: