Rapid Oil Sands Extraction Processing Stream Composition Determination by a ¹⁹ Fluorine Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectrometer with Fluorinated Tracers

A benchtop ¹⁹F-NMR spectrometer, coupled with the addition of fluorine-containing tracers (hereafter referred to as the ¹⁹F-NMR method), was explored as an alternative to the conventional Dean-Stark method for determining the composition of the oil sands slurry. Trifluorotoluene and sodium trifluoroacetate were identified as oleophilic and hydrophilic tracers, respectively, enabling accurate quantification of bitumen and water in both synthetic and real oil sands samples. Bitumen (0.5-90 wt %) and water (5-95 wt %) were accurately measured, demonstrating the method's suitability for a broad range of slurry types, including oil sands ore, bitumen froth, middlings, fluid fine tailings, and coarse sand tailings. For samples containing bitumen <0.5 wt %, significant deviations were observed due to insufficient tracer dilution from the small bitumen volume, leading to minimal change of signal integrated intensity and high fluctuations that hindered reliable detection. Solid content was calculated by mass balance, eliminating the need for thermal drying. The ¹⁹F-NMR method provides significant advantages over the Dean-Stark method in terms of analysis time, cost, safety, and environmental impact; however, unlike the Dean-Stark method, it is not suitable for slurry samples with under 0.5 wt % bitumen. Overall, this study highlights the ¹⁹F-NMR method as a promising and sustainable alternative for oil sands composition analysis suitable for both laboratory and potential on-site applications.