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Oil sand from the Syncrude mine, in Alberta, is crushed, trucked to a surge facility, processed as a slurry and fed to the bitumen extraction plant. A major problem is the high degree of variation in the mix of mined ore materials, making it extremely difficult to characterise and predict processing behaviour. The Quality Production Database (QPD) has been successfully used to predict and transfer information regarding the quality of the ore being delivered to the hydrotransport and extraction unit operators. QPD can communicate seamlessly with many different databases, making the collection, searching and reviewing of data extremely easy. No additional software is required, as QPD is accessible through a standard web browser. It can consolidate data from the SURPAC mine planning and geology software, the WENCO computerised truck production system, and the hydroprocessing and extraction plant instrument readings., Oil sand from the Syncrude mine, in Alberta, is crushed, trucked to a surge facility, processed as a slurry and fed to the bitumen extraction plant. A major problem is the high degree of variation in the mix of mined ore materials, making it extremely difficult to characterise and predict processing behaviour. The Quality Production Database (QPD) has been successfully used to predict and transfer information regarding the quality of the ore being delivered to the hydrotransport and extraction unit operators. QPD can communicate seamlessly with many different databases, making the collection, searching and reviewing of data extremely easy. No additional software is required, as QPD is accessible through a standard web browser. It can consolidate data from the SURPAC mine planning and geology software, the WENCO computerised truck production system, and the hydroprocessing and extraction plant instrument readings.

Hydrotransport is the process of combining oil sand and hot water to create a slurry which is able to be screened as well as pumped through centrifugal pumps and pipelines. All slurry passing through the screening process at the Syncrude mine in Alberta collects in a pumpbox, which recirculates some of the slurry back to the cyclofeeder to increase the vortex intensity and to agitate the pumpbox to prevent settling of sand. The North Mine system uses four 1 840 kW pumps to raise the slurry 50 m and transport it for a distance of 5 km through a 0.686 m diameter pipe to the extraction plant. The key operating variables include particle size distribution, slurry temperature, slurry density, pump wear, and oil sand type. Some difficulties still exist: increased amounts of bitumen found in tailings construction; settling of sand in the line; poor separation of material in the primary separation vessels; high reject rates; and ores with high fines contents or low oil contents., Hydrotransport is the process of combining oil sand and hot water to create a slurry which is able to be screened as well as pumped through centrifugal pumps and pipelines. All slurry passing through the screening process at the Syncrude mine in Alberta collects in a pumpbox, which recirculates some of the slurry back to the cyclofeeder to increase the vortex intensity and to agitate the pumpbox to prevent settling of sand. The North Mine system uses four 1 840 kW pumps to raise the slurry 50 m and transport it for a distance of 5 km through a 0.686 m diameter pipe to the extraction plant. The key operating variables include particle size distribution, slurry temperature, slurry density, pump wear, and oil sand type. Some difficulties still exist: increased amounts of bitumen found in tailings construction; settling of sand in the line; poor separation of material in the primary separation vessels; high reject rates; and ores with high fines contents or low oil contents.