Patent ID: 7438807

Claim:
An apparatus for separating bitumen from a bitumen feed comprising a mixture of bitumen, water and mineral, the apparatus comprising: (a) an inclined plate separator (IPS) for providing a first bitumen separation stage, the IPS having an inlet for receiving the bitumen feed in a hybrid emulsion phase comprising a melange of water-continuous and oil-continuous emulsions, an overflow outlet for providing a first bitumen-enriched stream separated from the hybrid emulsion phase of the bitumen feed, and an underflow outlet for providing a first bitumen-lean stream separated from the hybrid emulsion phase of the bitumen feed, the first bitumen-lean stream comprising primarily a water-continuous emulsion; (b) a first cyclone for providing a second bitumen separation stage, the first cyclone having a first cyclone inlet for receiving the first bitumen-lean stream, a first cyclone overflow outlet for providing a second bitumen-enriched stream separated from the first bitumen-lean stream, and a first cyclone underflow outlet for providing a second bitumen-lean stream separated from the first bitumen-lean stream; and (c) a recycle path for communicating the second bitumen-enriched stream for further processing upstream of the first cyclone.