US 12,319,876 B2
Mechanically resilient bitumen microcapsules for midstream transport
Subodh Gupta, Calgary (CA); Anita, College Station, TX (US); Sarbajit Banerjee, College Station, TX (US); and Wasif Zaheer, College Station, TX (US)
Assigned to Cenovus Energy Inc., Calgary (CA)
Filed by Cenovus Energy Inc., Calgary (CA)
Filed on Oct. 16, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/380,561.
Application 18/380,561 is a division of application No. 17/518,398, filed on Nov. 3, 2021, granted, now 11,820,945.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/109,262, filed on Nov. 3, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2024/0336847 A1, Oct. 10, 2024
Int. Cl. C10C 3/16 (2006.01); C08L 95/00 (2006.01); C10G 1/00 (2006.01)
CPC C10C 3/16 (2013.01) [C08L 95/00 (2013.01); C10G 1/00 (2013.01); C10G 2300/4075 (2013.01)] 14 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method for transporting bitumen, comprising:
generating a plurality of asphaltene-coated bitumen microcapsules comprising a plurality of microcapsule cores and a plurality of microcapsule shells, wherein: (i) the microcapsule cores comprise bitumen, deasphalted oil, or a combination thereof, (ii) the microcapsule shells comprise asphaltenes, and (iii) the microcapsule cores and the microcapsule shells are substantially derived from the same origin;
curing the asphaltenes, the bitumen, the deasphalted oil, or the combination thereof by aging under a set of conditions such that the asphaltene-coated bitumen microcapsules are, on average, sufficiently mechanically resilient to surpass a threshold for transportation, wherein the threshold for transportation is defined as a velocity-impact resiliency of at least about 10 m/s and/or a compression-stress resiliency of at least about 50 KN/m2; and
transporting the plurality of asphaltene-coated bitumen microcapsules in a transportation vessel and under conditions that specify the threshold for transportation.