Apparatus, processes, and systems for removal of solids from a hydrocarbon stream. The present disclosure utilizes a surfactant to reduce interfacial tension between a hydrocarbon phase and a water (or aqueous) phase to promote solids to be pulled by gravity out of the hydrocarbon phase and into the water phase.

A process and process line is provided for the removal of a hydrocarbon diluent such as naphtha from hydrocarbon diluent diluted bitumen (“dilbit”) to produce a high viscosity non-hazardous bitumen product for transport, for example, in a railcar, tanker ship or barge. In particular, dilbit is fed into a fractionator having a plurality of steam stripping trays and is evenly distributed along the surface of the trays to increase the surface contact between the steam and dilbit. Steam is introduced below the trays such that the steam flows upward and counter-currently contacts the dilbit distributed on the trays to strip the diluent therefrom and produce the high viscosity non-hazardous bitumen product suitable for transport, for example, in railcars.

An installation (1) and method for treating composite products (2) based on thermoplastic material(s) for recycling purposes, the installation at least comprising means (3, 4, 4′, 5, 6) for heating, for reducing size, for crushing and for separating, said means being arranged to form at least one line (1′) for treating and extracting material(s) to be reused, operating as a continuous or intermittent flow, and regulated if necessary. The installation (1) is characterised in that the means (3) for heating and reducing size comprise at least one heated screw mixer, the crushing means comprise at least one roll crusher (4, 4′) comprising two rolling rollers (7 and 7′) that are heated and set into rotation in opposite directions, the separating means (5, 6) comprise at least one macroscopic separating means (5) in the form of a device for discharging macroscopic polluting particles present in the output (3′), and the separating

The present disclosure sets out a method for processing bituminous road surfacing material from a road demolition. The bituminous road surfacing material is in the form of break out material and/or milled material. The following steps are carried out as part of the method: mixing the bituminous road surfacing material with water to form a mixture and adding a peroxide and/or a bicarbonate to the water and/or the mixture, in particular hydrogen peroxide and/or a bicarbonate.

Disclosed are process and system for making an asphalt product and an olefin product from an asphaltenes-rich feed without using a vacuum distillation column. The feed is first deep stripped in a first stripping column using a stripping vapor such as steam and/or a C2-C3 paraffins-rich stream to obtain a bottoms liquid effluent having a high cutpoint and an overheads effluent comprising gas oil, lighter hydrocarbons, and the stripping vapor. The high-boiling point bottoms liquids effluent, with optional additional separation and/or treatment, can be used as asphalt products. The overheads effluent, with optional additional separation, can be fed into a pyrolysis furnace cracker, where it is converted into a cracker product mixture comprising olefins, lighter hydrocarbons, hydrogen, and the like, which can be recovered in a products recovery subsystem.

Apparatus and method for recycling asphalt millings containing bitumen and stone. A milling tube is provided having an outer tube and an inner tube axially aligned with and substantially contained within the outer tube, the inner tube having a diameter less that a diameter of the outer tube to thus define a mixing space between the inner and outer tubes. At least one of the inner and outer tubes is adapted to rotate relative to the other. An inlet is provided to the mixing space to receive the asphalt millings. A plurality of inner tube projections project radially outward from a surface of the inner tube toward the outer tube, and a plurality of outer tube projections project radially inward from a surface of the outer tube toward the inner tube. The milling tube facilitates the separation of the asphalt millings into bitumen and stone as one of the inner and outer tubes rotates relative to the other. Preferably, at least one of the outer and inner tubes contains an abrasive coating on a surface thereof, the inner tube projections and outer tube projections are comprised of wire rope, and an inlet is provided in the outer tube through which cold air can be applied to the mixing space.

The invention relates to a surfactant composition comprising an ionic liquid prepared from an unsubstituted or substituted primary, secondary or tertiary amine, or from an unsubstituted or substituted pyridine, amidine or guanidine with at least one fatty acid and/or resin acid. The invention also relates to a method for treating bitumen froth from a separation process, where bitumen is separated from mineral solids. The method comprises addition of said surfactant composition to the diluent and/or to the froth before phase separation.

The use of recycled materials can have significant economic value. With the increasing quantity of recycled material used in viscoelastic materials, especially asphalt mixture, understanding how they interact with original materials to produce a mixture that performs successfully, becomes critical. Currently, the technology to determine the effect of additives on the performance of asphalt mixture is lacking. The present invention relates to a new unified methodology for mechanical testing of asphalt mixture and other viscoelastic materials that improves the current practice in speed, convenience, and accuracy. A new improved specimen mounting method on Dynamic Shear Rheometer (DSR), a new recovery method for fine portion of asphalt mixture, and three new tests for the performance of recovered material using DSR is disclosed. The new methods provide performance grading of asphalt mixtures that is new to the industry and provide necessary tools for determining the effect of recycled materials on performance.

Method and apparatus to facilitate recycling of at least one fraction of bitumen-containing materials. This can be accomplished by dissolving the at least one fraction, for example, maltenes or asphaltenes in roofing shingles, into at least one solvent. In one aspect, the apparatus comprises a dissolution vessel, a tumbler positioned therein, and at least one solvent distributor. The tumbler is configured to facilitate wetting the bitumen-containing materials with solvent. In a second aspect, a system comprises the apparatus, a solid-liquid separator, for example, a vibratory screen, and at least one solvent-fraction separator, for example, a flash drum. The at least one solvent can comprise one or more solvents useful to extract the at least one fraction. In a third aspect, a first fraction is extracted from the bitumen-containing materials with a first solvent composition, then a second fraction is extracted from the remaining bitumen-containing materials with a second solvent composition.

The use of recycled materials can have significant economic value. With the increasing quantity of recycled material used in viscoelastic materials, especially asphalt mixture, understanding how they interact with original materials to produce a mixture that performs successfully, becomes critical. Currently, the technology to determine the effect of additives on the performance of asphalt mixture is lacking. The present invention relates to a new unified methodology for mechanical testing of asphalt mixture and other viscoelastic materials that improves the current practice in speed, convenience, and accuracy. A new improved specimen mounting method on Dynamic Shear Rheometer (DSR), a new recovery method for fine portion of asphalt mixture, and three new tests for the performance of recovered material using DSR is disclosed. The new methods provide performance grading of asphalt mixtures that is new to the industry and provide necessary tools for determining the effect of recycled materials on performance.