Patent ID: 8585891

Claim:
A method of recovering and upgrading bitumen from oil sands, comprising: preheating oil sands to a target temperature of not less than 150 degrees C. and not more than 350 degrees C. in order to vaporize water and hydrocarbon fractions having a boiling point that is less than the target temperature in the oil sands; feeding dewatered oil sands with residual hydrocarbon fractions having a boiling point that is greater than the target temperature through an inlet at the top of a pulsed enhanced steam reforming reactor, the reactor having at least two sections, a vaporization and cracking section and a steam reforming section, the steam reforming section including a fluidised bed heated by at least one pulse enhanced combustor heat exchanger immersed in the fluidised bed, the vaporization and cracking section is vertically spaced from the steam reforming section, the inlet for the oil sands being positioned in the vaporization and cracking section, the vaporization and cracking section being in communication with the steam reforming section such that the oil sands passes through the vaporization section to reach the steam reforming section, the vaporization and cracking section being maintained at a vaporization and cracking temperature that is less than a steam reforming temperature maintained in the steam reforming section to provide an opportunity for vaporization of lighter hydrocarbon fractions and cracking of heavier hydrocarbon fractions prior to entering the steam reforming section, an outlet being provided for vaporized hydrocarbon fractions, at least one heat exchanger for temperature control purposes is positioned in the vaporization and cracking section; controlling a temperature gradient within the vaporization and cracking section of the reactor by selectively controlling the rate of flow of coolant through the heat exchanger to remove excess heat from the vaporization and cracking section; controlling temperature in the steam reforming section by selectively controlling fuel gas flow to a specific burner or burners; and producing hydrogen in situ within the steam reforming section of the reactor by indirect heating steam reforming and water-gas shift reactions and using the natural bifunctional catalyst present in the oil sands to assist in hydrogenation; and controlling hydrogen generation rate by controlling temperature in the cracking section and steam flow rates.