Patent ID: 7641770

Claim:
A system for recovering hydrocarbons from tar sands, the system comprising: a stationary heated enclosure having an interior chamber and a plurality of internal baffles within the heated chamber; one or more input conveyors for inputting tar sands to the heated enclosure, the heated enclosure housing a flow line positioned with respect to the plurality of baffles to provide a temperature gradient along the flow line of at least 150° F., thereby producing hydrocarbon vapors and stripped sands, the input conveyors mechanically moving the tar sands and the stripped sands along the flow line; a heated rotary drum in fluid communication with the flow line for receiving the tar sands from the flow line and rotating within the enclosure, the rotary drum having an interior temperature of from 760° F. to 840° F. for generating hydrocarbon vapors and stripped sands; a condenser in fluid communication with both the flow line and the rotary drum for receiving the vapors from the flow line and the rotary drum and outputting liquids including hydrocarbons; one or more discharge conveyors for discharging the stripped sands from the rotary drum; one or more input control valves for sealing vacuum downstream from the one or more input conveyors, each input control valve having two or more axially spaced closure gates for redundant sealing downstream from the one or more input conveyors; one or more discharge control valves for sealing vacuum upstream from the one or more discharge conveyors, each discharge control valve having two or more axially spaced closure gates for the redundant sealing upstream from the one or more discharge conveyors; and a vacuum pump for maintaining a selected vacuum of less than 5 inches of water between the one or more input valves and the one or more discharge valves, such that hydrocarbon vapors are drawn from the flow line and the rotary drum into the condenser.