PATENT: Titanium wins final Canadian recognition for oil sands tailings treatment

CALGARY - Titanium Corporation has been awarded the final of the three core Canadian patents that together secure its innovative green oil sands technology. The new patent (No. 2662346 Moran et al) was awarded for a novel process that recovers bitumen from froth treatment tailings.

By recovering residual bitumen, solvents and minerals from oil sands tails, this process can be commercialized as a sustainable and profitable business that extracts value from industrial waste and reduces emissions, according to Titanium president and CEO Scott Nelson.

In pilot plant tests conducted by CanmetENERGY, a branch of Natural Resources Canada, up to 82% of residual bitumen and 98% of the solvents were extracted. The resulting concentrate contains heavy minerals including zircon, essential to the ceramics industry.

Titanium says that to commercialize the process, a pair of plants will need to be built – one for hydrocarbon and water recovery and a second for mineral separation. A flowsheet of the two is posted at TitaniumCorporation.com.