Patent ID: 7141162

Claim:
An apparatus to remove water and solids from a bitumen froth comprising: (i) a bitumen froth processing circuit having a circuit inlet to receive bitumen froth to be processed, a circuit product outlet to provide bitumen product and a circuit tails outlet to provide material removed from the bitumen froth to be processed; (ii) a primary inclined plate separator stage having a primary IPS input coupled to said circuit inlet, a primary IPS overflow output coupled to said circuit product outlet and a primary IPS underflow output; (iii) a recycle path coupled to said primary IPS input; (iv) a primary cyclone stage having a primary HCS input coupled to said primary IPS underflow output, a primary HCS overflow output and a primary HCS underflow output; (v) means to couple said primary HCS overflow output to said recycle path; (vi) a secondary cyclone stage having a secondary HCS input coupled to said primary HCS underflow output, a secondary HCS overflow output coupled to said recycle path and a secondary HCS underflow output; and (vii) means to couple said secondary HCS underflow output to said circuit tails outlet.